Back to the Salt

The weather is warming up. It was around 90 when I went for a hike today. That wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't started out at 1 in the afternoon. The sun felt hot. Good thing there were some clouds (thin, but anything helps) in front of it now and then. There was also a very nice breeze most of the time.

I decided to work on finding a route to that canyon I want to get to. I thought I might be able to get some pictures of red winged blackbirds, too. Near the beginning of the hike, I saw a red tailed hawk. I think I've seen it in this area before. I got a few pictures of it this time.

It was keeping an eye on me.

I followed a route closer to the river this time. I got to a point where progress was blocked by a forest. The annoying thing about these trees is their branches hang down to chest high or lower, so you have to keep ducking to get through. Speaking of ducks, I heard some noisy ones but didn't get any pictures of them.

Wandering through a forest.

Along the way I found a shady spot with a nice view of the river (the view is usually blocked by bamboo (or maybe it's just reeds) or trees). Somebody had made a bench out of an old tree trunk. There was a cool breeze coming off of the water. Every once in a while, beautiful girls would float by in inner tubes. Actually, it's more like every once in a great while. Four attractive, friendly, and sober girls did float by. Judging by what I saw and heard the rest of the day, they were the only sober people on the river.

I also saw several red winged blackbirds while I was there. They fly by too fast for me to get a picture, but I really want to get them in flight. I got some pictures of one perched across the river, but that's it.

A cool, shady spot.

I came across an entertaining lizard. Most lizards run away when they seen me coming. This one ran back and forth a few times, then ran past me (within a couple of feet), then zipped on down the trail. It was hard to get pictures of him.

Speedy the lizard charging towards me...

... and then charging past me.

I got to the place where I thought I should turn south. It looked like I had a clear shot at the canyon. I couldn't tell that there was a dense stand of trees in the way until I was almost in them. I pushed through and encountered the next obstacle; a wall of rock. That stopped me.

I turned right here.

The only route up this rock wall was blocked by trees and cacti.

I don't like pushing through those trees. I'm paranoid about ticks. Actually, it's Lyme disease that's got me worried. I'd had enough trees for one day, and I still had to get back to the truck. I took the route further away from the river as soon as I could get on it. I looked at Google Earth when I got home and saw the error of my ways. I need to go a little further east before turning south. Maybe next time.

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