Lots of photos today...

Our Location: AZ 95 BLM, near Quartzsite, AZ

 

 

The mornings are cooler here than in California but still very nice. We both slept well last night and enjoyed the calm, peaceful evening with the door open until just after dark. 

 

 

The dry spines of a dead saguaro cactus. 

I have an idea how they got back there but I haven't checked it out yet. 

This is our new site. We are quite literally parked from where I stood to take this photo. 

 

 

This morning we took a walk to check out an entrance way to a much nicer spot not far from us, and we wanted to check it out for a couple of reasons. I can tell you now that it checked out well, except for cell service which seems spotty in the high winds. 

 

 

 I have photographed numerous saguaros in the past few years but I've never witnessed anything like this.

 It is all one. It appears that one of the 'arms' fell down and another set of trunks grew from it. 

I think it's the most fascinating growth I've seen.

 

 

To keep you from being in suspense any longer, yes we moved. As the crow flies, probably a half mile or close. Driving of course would be longer as we one cannot drive as straight as the crow flies.

 

 

 The sun is directly behind this middle 'arms' of the above saguaro. I love the spines in the sunlight. They are so easy to see and glistening as they are, makes them look transparent, which they aren't.

 This little figure 8 of sunlight shows just how closely these arms are all growing to each other but yet they don't fuse, they remain individual with very little space in between.

 

 

 Can you see the bird's nest up there between these three arms?

 

 

We parked easily and we both think this spot is the one we will use when in this area. It's a prefect spot for us. Of course we noticed that the cell service is a bit up and down and even climbed into the Dogsled to check it out. It's spotty everywhere here, even in our old spot, so I think the high winds may contribute to this. Of course I could be wrong but it's my belief and so we'll see how it works after the winds calm down. As long as we can internet, we will make due. Although the internet comes over the phone and so it doesn't make sense that we get internet but no phone.  I did call my dad and left a message telling him about the spotty service, just in case. My other two daughters never worry about us and so I'm not worried about letting them know but if we remain here for a while I will do so.

This is the top of the above saguaro, as you can see it's hard to believe that these arms come from the same root.

 We are now parked back there, although not when this photo was taken.

If it's true that saguaros only grown an inch a year, this one is a couple of years older than I am.

 

 

High winds this afternoon have us with the door open but the big slide pulled in. How funny is that? The wind is forecast to lessen steadily as the day goes on and hopefully by bedtime there will be only gentle breezes. Wouldn't that be nice? I have a number of photos of the sunset last night (Sun Jan 26) and I can't decide which are best, so I'll include them. I warn you there are lots of them. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a wonderful day. 

 

 

From this moment the darkness came quickly, the pinks faded to black and very quickly the night sky was bathed in blackness. 

 

 

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

 

Deb

 

 

What a beautiful day, a hike and a chat with dad......

Our Location: Near Tonopah, Arizona

 

A wonderful day today, warmish, sunny and blue, blue, blue skies. Riley headed off first for her hike, she headed back toward the dead end plateau but didn't make it all the way, although maybe tomorrow she will or so she said. 

There is indeed snow on that mountain over there.

The stately Native American Indian standing guard.....do you think?

I'm heading for that flat looking ledge in the middle of the photo.

You can see us way off in the distance in the middle of the photo. 

 

Riley and I met on the roadway, she on the way back and me on the way out. We chatted for a minute and then each off in our direction of choice. I hiked just over 3.5 miles today, I was out about an hour and a half.  Similar views as I'm hiking in the same general area. 

That trail leads to the dead end plateau over there. Riley didn't go this far today but maybe tomorrow.

That motorhome way  down there is at the base of the mountain.

That brownish dirt looking area just over that little hump of rock in the lower middle of the photo is where Riley and I climbed the other day.

That's us to the right of middle way off by those short little peaks. The folks with the dog too big to handle is the rig on the left side of the picture.

 

A chat with my dad today had me hearing about more snow coming their way, strong high winds as well (100 KM/60 mph), and as soon as the storm is over the temperatures will drop like a stone from the freezing mark which is where they sit now. 

This was as high as I climbed but I did go further to the north from this location.

From higher up, that's us on the right, a semi truck on Salome Highway  (that long slim white line) and the dog trailer on the left. Way off that line of slim white lines which is transports moving along I-10. Those two paths that you can see in the bottom of the photo are easily walkable but otherwise suited mostly for off roaders.

This is right on top of that flat looking area, which wasn't so flat and filled with small stones that would roll under foot, I stayed way back from the landing and was actually higher up than where it sits. The motor home down there on the brown patch of dirt.

 

Riley and I enjoyed a nice BBQ lunch and tried our new Jack Daniels Kentucky Bourbon BBQ sauce. Oh my, I think we may just put in a glass and drink it. It's very yummy!!!! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your day, we certainly did ours. 

My favourite mountain just over top of that Saguaro. This is looking north, north east.

I followed that hint of a trail which is more likely a water way.

I was up as high as that large black looking rock outcropping on the left and over behind that Saguaro you can see on the flat rock.

 

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

Deb