Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
Friday afternoon I took Bear into the desert, choosing an initial loop that wouldn’t take him too far in case he got tired. But his energy was high so I expanded the loop and added a short nature trail. At the end we were treated to this red-tailed hawk up on Bobcat Rocks (I saw a bobcat there once), having hiked 5.1 miles in total. I took him on an easy 3 mile jaunt in the neighborhood yesterday, not sure what we’ll do today.
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-200mm
🗓️: December 20, 2024
📷: Sony A6700 | Sony-Zeiss 24mm f/1.8
🗓️: November 8, 2024
The weather cooled down briefly last weekend so I took Bear on a couple of hikes. When we’re at Brown’s Ranch if we have time & he has the energy, I often finish off with the short Jane Rau Trail. There’s an overlook half-way round I call the Jane Rau Station, we stop here for water and snacks before heading home. This is from last weekend, he was pretty gassed this morning so we went straight to the car. He loves the desert, this pup.
📷: Sony A6700 | Sigma 19mm f/2.8
🗓️: October 19, 2024
📷: Sony A6600 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: October 31, 2021
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
🗓️: January 27, 2024
When I saw the damaged end of a saguaro arm where the blackened protective material had cracked, showing the lighter material underneath, I was reminded of lava lakes in Hawaii and Iceland. The lava on the surface cools and hardens and can sink into the less dense molten lava via a process called crustal foundering. It took me a while to find the time to bring my macro setup on a day when there was little wind, and even then it took me a few attempts as the breeze was often stronger than predicted.
The National Park Service has a description on their page about Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: May 12, 2024
Bear and I take a water break in a spot where perhaps neither human nor dog has ever set foot before. I so miss being able to take him hiking every day! We were back here yesterday, I didn’t think we’d have time for this short trail at the end but he charged around our favorite loop so fast that even after stopping to watch a herd of deer we still had plenty of time to come up here and take a water break before heading home.
📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50 DX
🗓️: January 19, 2024
They may not be the best for exercise or for feeling like you’re alone in the wilderness, but I’m a huge fan of nature / interpretive trails. They’re accessible to a wide range of people and are great if you’re short on time, and often have a good sampling of the local flora. This is Bear at the Jane Rau Trail in February, I wanted to see how he’d do going over the bridge over the wash (he was unfazed). This loop is really short but a nice addition to the start or end of a longer hike and can offer up some pretty cool wildlife, I’ve seen a bobcat and a gila monster here.
A gilded flicker uses saguaro fruit as a perch, taken a couple of weeks ago while the fruit was ripening. Taken at the end of a short sunrise hike after barely sleeping the night before.
People often wonder how tall saguaros can grow as it can be hard to grasp from pictures. The rule of thumb is the old giants can grow so tall as to almost touch the moon. So, pretty tall. You do have to be careful though as some saguaros use a technique known as heightening, where they convince a desert denizen to perch up top to make them look taller.
Boolie 