Last night, the wind was indefatigable. (I’ve always wondered about that word. Why not infatigable or defatigable? Oh well, the spell checker agrees so who’s to argue?)

Howie gently rocked us to sleep, and jostled us through the night. In the morning, he jostled us awake. Just an attitude adjustment – it was all just jostling. So today, we kind of wandered outside, checked it all out, and wandered back inside. The Internet helped keep us entertained, and finally we decided (at 2PM) that we’d better get our butts out walking or the camp police would come and arrest us for over-sequesterization. (spell checker flunked that one)

We hiked up the drainage away from camp and looked around for anything interesting. We’re actually camped in a serene, pleasant, but fairly drab area, interest-wise. You can see from the photo that it’s pretty much just desert. Well, we like the desert a lot, but it’s hard to argue its merits from this particular locale. All that said, we will spend three pretty pleasant days here. Go figure.

One of the things about hiking in the desert is the way the terrain masks itself. In this long shot of our camp, you can see the microscopic white rectangle that is Howie. But you can’t see the three sand-washes that intervene in between. Desert hiking, even in relatively flat surrounds, can be arduous.

I needed a rest. Karin told me to watch out, but did I listen?

Dry, sere, desiccated – – – and sporting some of the prettiest flowers you’ll find. This is a shot of some un-named (to me) plant at the side of a sand-wash. Everything else around it is a bone-dry, gray-green tint. This guy must have collected a few raindrops last month, and decided to blossom. The buds are about 3/8” across, the flowers almost 2” long.

Here’s a natural structure, a rocky outcropping across a steep drainage (lower right in the photo). The Indians used to use these as natural funnels to drive and collect rabbits. The drivers would walk abreast uphill, and there would be snares, or maybe one or two “clubbers” just behind the outcropping. The snares or clubbers would harvest the rabbits as they ran through the narrow passage. “Harvest” means strangle or kill, of course. Tough image – – but you have to eat, y’know. I don’t think there were a lot of Vegan aborigines.

Everywhere we hiked, the ground was absolutely riddled with tiny little diggings. Crunch, crunch, we felt like we were walking across the apartment roofs of a miniature rodent city. We would occasionally actually see a little furry scurrying critter – all of this evidence that the larger burrow residents in the area (coyotes, badgers) would have ample food-chain animals to eat.

Back at camp, the wind continued to wear us down, so we retreated into our wonderful Howie to rest and enjoy the waning day. Life is good.