Two firsts

Did you notice that the title of my last blog had nothing to do with what I wrote about? I noticed that when I was finished but I was too lazy to change it. Maybe I was tired. The days are too short to do much hiking after work. I have to cut the hike short because it gets dark. Today I left the house around 2, though. It was nice to see that area of Bulldog Canyon OHV area in sunlight. I was going to climb this hill today. It turns out that it is a lot bigger than it looks in the picture.

From 2009_01_17

I followed the road around to where I would start up.

From 2009_01_17

Shortly after I left the road, I saw something white about 50 yards to my left. In the past, all the white things I've seen in the distance in the desert were underwear. Tighty whiteys. I don't know why so many people leave their underwear in the desert. I almost kept walking but decided to see if it was underwear or something more interesting. Turns out it was the first skull I have ever found in the desert.

From 2009_01_17

There are more pictures in the web album. Somebody identify it for me. I'm guessing deer.

I'd better say what the other first is before I forget to. I got to the top of that hill for the first time. This was my third attempt.

I found this beautiful desert plant out there. There were some of these in our yard. I pulled them all this morning.

From 2009_01_17

On the way up a steep, slippery slope, I came across several dug up areas.

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I'm pretty sure a skunk did that. I say that because I could smell it. I'm glad I didn't wake it up.

It was pretty steep most of the way up. The view was wonderful once I got up there. It was noisy, though. It's right next to Apache Trail so I had the constant noise from Harleys and sport bikes.

As I was moving from peak to peak up there, I went past a teddy bear cholla. I heard my backpack brush against it. A little later I moved my arm back that way and look what happened.

From 2009_01_17

I had to get my pliers out of my left pocket with my right hand. I would pull one spine out and the ball would swing and jab another spine or two into my elbow. It took a while to get that thing off.

Have you ever seen something and then wished that you hadn't? I was on the way down when I looked to my right and saw something shiny in a bush. I didn't want to walk all the way over there to see what it was so I zoomed in with the camera. I still couldn't tell what it was.

From 2009_01_17

So I had to go over there. Turns out that it was a stake marking a mining claim. There seem to be a lot of those in this area.

The saguaros in this area have been shot a lot. On the way down, I came across this one that has a hole all the way through. I was there at just the right time to get this picture.

From 2009_01_17

There's more commentary on the @trip version.

2009_01_17