A warm sunshine filled day....

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

A coolish night but no wind or at least none to speak of, hardly even a breeze. The day dawned wonderfully beautiful with the promise of warmer weather again today, warmer even than yesterday. This is the weather we’ve been expecting all winter and we are now finally getting it. 

 

That's Riley way down there, she's heading off toward the plateau following that path.

 

 

I'm walking up the spine of rock that sticks out of the mountainside. This is a very deep valley on the left.

 

Way over there is the sleeping giant I mentioned a while ago that guards the hole in the stone.

 

After morning routines and some breakfast Riley headed off in the direction of the plateau once again today, while I finished catching up with folks this morning on line. I wasn’t too far behind her and I too headed out the door following in her footsteps as we headed for almost the same location.

Keep note of that saguaro cactus you see. I'm climbing upward and it's much steeper than it looks.

That same Saguaro is on the left, so you see I've climbed much higher. The flat area I climbed to the other day is about the middle of the photo.

 

The sun was warm but the morning kept things cool until around 10:30 am or so and then it started heating up. A slight breeze kept things from getting too warm but it was sure nice to feel the sun’s rays and the heat provided. I veered left of the trail and climbed up the spine that you can see in so many photos, it runs along but a bit of a distance from the roadway Riley would take to reach the plateau. At one point I saw her standing down below on the roadway and we had a short conversation before we both continued on our way. She along the path and me upwards to the mountain top.

 

That same Saguaro down there as I keep going upwards. The motor home at the foot of the mountain is that small dot at the edge of the brown dirt patch off in the distance.

I'm still going upward, we are off in that direction but I can't point us out.

 

I hauled my hoodie off and continued to climb with bare arms, it was pretty warm up there and the breeze kept me from overheating. The climb was steep, very steep in some places and just steep in other places. I scrambled over some rough ground and continued to make my way upwards. Soon I realized that I was on the ‘mountain goat’ path that I had mentioned when I had climbed to the plateau. I wondered if I could make it across in time to meet up with Riley and we could walk home together and so I headed off across the peaks. It was pretty rough going in some places but I finally made it only to find the place empty. 

Higher up and that white dot way off in the middle is the Igloo.

There is no where to climb up over in that area so I'll just admire it from afar.

 

My feet followed the downward path until I passed the road that leads to the folks with the ‘too big to handle’ dog and from there I headed off cross country home to the Igloo. It was pretty easy going and I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the bright blue skies. A wonderful day for certain.

That is a baby Saguaro on the right, the other one is way below me.

So this will give you an idea of how high I am. That is my sleeping giant guarding the hole in the rock.

 

Back at the Igloo I arrived shortly after noon and enjoyed sitting down for a nice long drink and chatting with Riley about her hike. She did indeed make it to the top of the plateau and enjoyed the views. I’m so proud of her for her achievement. It was a tough climb up and down but she made it and is looking forward to more exploring. I walked just a little under 4 miles but most of it was up or down hill, I was gone for about an hour and 45 minutes. All together not too bad for a Sunday morning stroll.

I have reached the top and am looking down into the valley in behind the mountains we see out the window.

 

I headed across these peaks to the whitish spot over on the far right.

Lunch over, we cleaned up and then I headed outside to sit in the sun and read a book. A breeze made it cool and so I parked myself beside the Dogsled out of the wind and enjoyed the warmth for about an hour before it became too warm but sitting in the shade isn’t an option as we are having an issue with flies. They seem to love the shade and you just can’t sit there, they also bother you in the sun but not as badly. So back inside for a while with the windows open but soon it started to cool off and so while I edited photos and write this post the sun is sinking and bringing to an end a glorious day with warmth, sunshine and hiking. No complaints on this end of things. We are enjoying our little piece of desert dirt and look forward to more exploring tomorrow. 

 

I walked along here too.

 

It was tough going in a few spots.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit and your day.

 

I'm heading for the whitish spot just beyond that brown outcropping in the lower middle of the photo.

What a view.

 

Until next time… take care, be safe, 

Turning around this is what I witnessed.

 

I climbed way up there to that peak and crossed over to the right and out of the photo before coming back down.

 

Deb