Lots of walking today, visit with a friend, and writing on the .....stones...

Our Location: Saddle Mountain BLM, Tonopah, AZ

A cool morning but not overly cold, heavier jacket and my little mini gloves were more than sufficient to ward off the cold this morning during my picture taking. 

On my way up the mountain side to take sunrise pictures...

 

It was around 7:15 am when I stepped outside this morning, it was light outside but the sun wasn't yet up and I decided I'd try to catch it from a higher view point. Crossing the two washes directly beside the Igloo I headed a bit upwards nearing the base of the jutting rock top seen out our door step. There I took my sunrise shots and some of the views you see in the pictures. 

It was a kind of easy going thing, no clouds or other distractions...

 

Back home we changed plans from heading into Buckeye since it wasn't too cold and there was little to no wind it was a perfect day to walk. After our morning hot cuppa we headed off to see if we could find the desert tortoises we've head about. Our walk took us over a few washes and along a few rocky outcroppings but I will say we didn't see any evidence of any tortoise, living or other wise. We must not be in the right area. Oh well, it was a nice walk. 

It just kind of popped over the edge with no fanfare....

We headed back toward the jeep road and toward home before deciding we'd drop by to see Doug & Yuma for a bit. The walk to their location was a bit of a leg stretch, a few cross country areas were a bit hard to slither across but we made it. We were greeted by an excited Mr. Yuma complete with tail wags and nose high jumps. Our first sighting of Doug was him coming around the corner calling Yuma back to the MH. Yuma however knew we were going there and just kept pace with us, all the time looking at Doug as if to say," But dad, they're coming to our place anyway." 

This is the view toward Courthouse Road and I-10...

This looking a bit to the north of our location in a northeast direction...

Doug brought out his extra chairs as we didn't have any with us since it wasn't in our plans to visit anyone when we left home. Conversation flowed easily with Doug pointing out his mountain goat like climbing trail up the huge mountain out his doorway. He lead the way back to the markings on the stones which appear to have slid down or toppled down the mountain side. The petroglyphs are not easy to find, and our first visit here to Saddle Mountain I walked past them but I was much lower down. 

I think the desert may start to bloom soon....

More blooms coming....

 

Yuma lead the way and the three of us hiked along behind with Doug pointing out various sights. The views are amazing from there. I left Doug and Riley down below and climbed a little further up hoping to find more petroglyphs but I didn't see anything else. Yuma didn't find any either.  Back down at the MH we said our goodbyes and head home. About a mile and a half maybe but fairly easy walking as we stuck to the road most of the way. 

 

The Petroglyphs, obviously a huge animal perhaps some kind of elephant or rhino relation as this one has what appears to be tusks of some sort...

I wonder if that is a person being knocked into the air after being charged by the animal? I also wonder what kind of story this might be, if the many dots may be rain or perhaps snow and if this was perhaps all one story instead of individual pictures.

Back home we could smell the veggie soup we had going in the crock pot. Smelled wonderful. Perfect time to make soup with not a single cloud in the brilliant blue overhead, our solar panels had no trouble topping the batteries and cooking our soup at the same time. I had my usual green salad and Riley had a small snack of humus and baby carrots while we waited for a little over an hour for the soup to finish. 

This the view of the cliffs near the petroglyphs.

 

There is the mountain goat path  in that jumble of rocks...can you see it?

Can you see the kneeling man?

It must have been really good as I had one bowl but Riley had three for her lunch. Enough for one more meal and then it's gone. I tidied up a bit, then rested on my bed for an hour or so. I think the walk tired me more than I thought. With the sun shining through my bedroom window it wasn't long before I was hot, and tossed off the fleece blanket but I was finished resting by then anyway. 

Love these views here....

Just amazing to see this so close...

We whiled away the rest of the day reading and Riley is watching the series Numbers on her computer. I just didn't have the energy to walk tonight to take sunset pictures and with no clouds in the sky I think it'll be a pretty straight forward sinking of the big yellow ball. Instead I started this post and editing my pictures almost 2 hours before I normal time. It's now almost the time I would be starting to edit and write but tonight I'm almost ready to post. I'm going to have an entire evening free to read or do something else. I won't know what to do with myself. Hahaha...

View looking down from higher up than the petroglyphs...see those folks in the corner?

Such a view, don't you think?

So there you have it, our busy, exhausting day. We enjoyed it a great deal and are looking forward to a few more days here at Saddle Mountain before we once again pull up the jacks and point the Big Dog's nose eastward. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to drop a comment. 

Those folks are waiting down there for me....

Doug even brought his coffee....

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

I love this cacti, see the two faces?

Deb