Perfect weather

Saturday was perfect weather for a hike. It was in the low 70's with a light breeze. There were almost no clouds. I headed for Bulldog Canyon. There was something I saw in one of my pictures from about a year ago that I wanted to check out. It looks like a large natural cave in the picture.

I was a little concerned about going in at the Wolverine Pass entrance. With the beautiful weather, I thought there would be lots of people there and the gate would be left open and there would be dirt bikes tearing up the desert. Strangely, there were just two vehicles in the parking lot (one with Alaska plates) and no people to be seen. There were no dirt bikes or ATV's tearing up the desert. It was like the twilight zone. I saw that a lot of "area closed" signs had been put up in all the places people shouldn't drive, but the people that drive out there never let stuff like that stop them. They just use the signs for target practice. Maybe a bunch of people got ticketed and that put a damper on things. Hope so.

I didn't see or hear anybody all the way out to where I parked. As I started my hike, I heard an engine that sounded an awful lot like a WWII plane. Turns out it was.

Something you see surprisingly often out here.

I headed up the wash where the "cave" should be. It was very rocky and, of course, full of thorny plants. They didn't get me too bad. They did get my lens cap, though. I didn't notice when it fell off, so I've got to head to the store for another one.

Rocky path.

Every time I get scratched, I think about the first guy to be given penicillin. He had a garden and was working in it one day and got scratched on the face by a rose bush thorn. The scratch got infected and he was going to die, so he got to be the first guinea pig for the new drug. He was making a miraculous recovery when they ran out of penicillin (a manufacturing process hadn't been worked out), so he died. When I first read that story, I thought that it must have been scary to live in a world in which a tiny scratch could kill you. It turns out that can still happen today, though, especially with all the drug resistant bugs that are evolving. That's one reason I no longer like to use antibacterial soap. I figure the bugs I've got are good ones that will keep the bad ones at bay, so I need to leave them alone. Yes, there is such a thing as being too clean. I'm getting way off-track, though.

It was pretty up there, but I didn't get any good pictures.

I never did find the cave. Maybe it was just a shadow.

The first Mexican Gold Poppy of the season.

As I was standing on a small ridge trying to decide whether to continue uphill (I was tired after having a cold and two weeks of slothfulness), I made a noise (long story) that bothered something on the other side of a nearby wash. I thought I saw something move under a tree, but it wouldn't move again. I took some pictures thinking I might be able to see what it was later. Turns out it was a javelina. I saw several of them running off later.

Javelina hiding under a tree.

I encountered four vehicles on the drive to the gate as I left. All were on the road. The gate was locked when I got to it. Strange happenings. Click below to see all of the pictures.

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