Howdy! This post is long overdue. I've just been laying low at Tucson friends' place this last week so most of the pictures document the final stage of my return from southern California, which was the week before last. I revisited some of my favorite camping spots on the way here, explored some new places, and took several beautiful hikes and spotted lots of flowering cacti, most notably the hedgehogs, as above, but of course tons of ocotillo and the occasional cholla. I'm resting up now before heading out to meet my family (Max, Owen, Darcy, and Eddie) who are coming down from Denver in two separate pickup trucks for a week to hang out, explore, and camp with me and see some flowering cacti at the end of this month. I'm really looking forward to seeing them, even if we will be keeping our distance!
Last year at this time I was already in Michigan for two weeks, getting snowed on. So I'm excited to see the desert in spring when it's starting to bloom. Of course different species of cacti bloom at different times and I think the organ pipe, saguaro, and maybe even the prickly pears go later, possibly in May or even June. I don't think I'll last that long down here though as it's already starting to warm up pretty significantly, though it's still quite nice as long as you're not in the direct sun. And in the last few days we've had another system move in from California so it actually got a little chilly again and I was moved to break out the sweats the other night. So each day is a surprise and often an adventure. I hope your sheltering in place is going reasonably well. Stay healthy, everyone.
Enjoy the pics (here)!
Chris
