Sunday photoblogging: early morning ridge-walking in the high desert

i haven't been getting any exercise since i got back from argentina and it's been gnawing at me... most of the places i like to walk here, i have to drive to get to and that's just plain annoying... for sure, i don't like walking up and down suburban streets lined with houses that are all desperately trying NOT to look alike... i can head up to the high desert ridges that surround the neighborhood and i've done that quite a number of times, altho', on a still-summer weekend, unless you get out about the time the sun comes up, the heat and the omnipresent wind kind of take the fun out of it... what takes the fun out of it even more is the #%$^&*@#$ 4-wheelers and dirt bikers that zoom all over the place, tearing up the vegetation, throwing up clouds of dust, belching fumes, and generating ear-shattering engine noise...

this morning, however, i decided to get out early and, as i was enjoying the cool and the quiet, i realized that this was the first time i had done this walk in the summer... all the other times, it's been late fall, winter or early spring... anyway, it was a real pleasure, and i must be sure to do it again soon...

here's some photos to soak up on a late summer afternoon...



high desert vegetation, while plentiful, tends to be on the scrubby, understated side, and you have to get up close to appreciate just how lovely it is... the early morning light sets off these two quite nicely, don't you think...?



this is the 'burb where i live with my son his family when i'm in the u.s... yes, folks, it's definitely a suburb...



nevada and the great basin are full of dry lake beds... there's one not too far from the house that we have to drive by on our way to and from town... in the photo on the left, you can also see how the off-roaders tear up the trails and, when it rains, the water creates gullies... the photo on the right is a close-up from the photo on the left showing vehicles lined up on the bed of the dry lake, preparing, i would assume, for some sort of rally...



unfortunately, besides generating a lot of environmental destruction and noise pollution, the off-roaders are also very heedless about their trash... the collection of garbage in this photo just so happens to lie at the bottom of the winter sledding hill... sigh...



this is a nasty, spiny, prickly little plant that, when the cold weather comes, will dry out and become a tumbleweed... however, if you look close, you can see that it's completely covered with the tiniest little purple blossoms... just goes to show ya, huh...?

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