Canadian-Traveler

A beautiful Desert Day It seemed that finally the weather gods had calmed down. A blue sky and a mild temperature this morning were calling for a discovery walk with Molly. And if she had known it, she was already all gung-ho for the excursion. I drove a bit farther up the road to the point where it was impossible to go any farther with my car.   The path, which is still drivable with 4x4 leads       first down into a depression, then up again to the top of a plateau. At the outer edge I discovered a narrow trail, obviously used by riders, leading downwards again between beautiful cacti. What makes this area special are the open green patches in between the vegetation. So we followed the trail which finally joined up with a wider 4x4 trail also originating from the plateau.   Unfortunately we came to a fence barring a farther exploration. OK, there was a gate, but I have a lot of respect for gates in this country. They may be there to hold cattle inside, but they may as well be there to keep intruders like me on the outside. Even though this morning walk wasn’t too long, I made plans to do a drive to the Vulture Mine, down Vulture Mine Rd. As I got there, I realized that the gate was closed. A sign read that it would be open from Wednesday to Saturday from 9:30am and be closed again after 10:00am.  Walking Tours across the mine would be possible within that time frame. I looked at at my watch and it showed 10:30am. I was 30 minutes late!  Better chance tomorrow I promised myself.   On the return trip I stopped at a 14-day BLM-area. A few campers ha set up her and here was also the trailhead of the Vulture Peak Trail. Another few miles down the road and almost home again I saw a dirt road branching off the left. A few vehicles were parked here, and a bit farther in I saw a number of bigger RVs parked. When driving up the road I met a whole group of hikers. I stopped, wishing them a Good Morning. They had been hiking up to a rock arch about 2 miles off.  I made a mental note of it for one of the coming days when i would be out early to beat the heat. Over the weekend the temps will rise up to 80F and that is more than enough for me and Molly. Thanks for stopping by!

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