A quiet place

The days are getting long enough that it's possible to go for a short hike after work. The past two hikes I went on, near Canyon Lake, were near a road (Apache Trail) that is very popular with bikers. There's the constant thumping of Harley's and the whine of crotch rockets. After work on Wednesday I needed to go someplace quiet, so I drove out to the middle of Bulldog Canyon and went for a short hike there. On the way in, a guy passed me on his way out. That was the only other person I saw there. Boy, it's nice to have several hundred (or maybe it's several thousand) acres of desert to yourself to help you unwind after a stressful day.

I didn't hike far, because there wasn't much light left. I just wandered a little ways and took a few pictures.

I see lots of these beside roads, but this is the first time I remember seeing them where I could get a picture.

The first hedgehog cactus flower of the season.

My truck is the only vehicle out there.

Stewart Mountain, but you should know that by now.

On the way back to the truck I spotted an unbroken Michelob bottle. I reached down to pick it up and hurl it against a rock to smash it to smithereens. Just kidding. I took it home and put it in the recycling bin, but that doesn't make a very interesting story. Oh, but there was something that made it mildly interesting. When I reached down to pick it up, I got a cactus thorn under the fingernail of my middle finger. Yes, hiking in the desert is dangerous. I refrained from pushing the 911 button on my SPOT, though. The thorn is still there. I figured it would turn red and swell up today and then I'd be able to get it out just by squeezing it, but it didn't. Must not be very deep. It would do more damage to dig it out so I'm going to leave it there unless it gets too painful to type.

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