Rich and I were dropped off at **a road** (a ‘concerned citizen’ has asked that I change names of places) at about 7:30 in the morning yesterday, and hiked home.  It was a long day, involving a few twisted ankles, a scraped shin, a little sunburn, some hot and tired paws, and a great time!  Below is a view from the top, looking down toward **our town** from the top of the canyon we hiked.  **Our town** rim is the highest thing on the right-side horizon.

We saw lots of lizards (but nothing exciting like a collared lizard), lots of birds, a cute little toad (which I think is a Great Basin Spadefoot toad), but no furry wildlife.  Also, there was lots of evidence of others who had been there.

The wildflowers are still beautiful out there in the desert.  Below are a Sand Verbena (Abronia fragrans), some yellow beeplants (Cleome lutea) with globe mallows (Sphaeralcea coccinea), an unidentified purple flower (in the hope that someone out there will know what it is…sorry for the bad photo!), and Anderson’s larkspur (Delphinium andersonii) with a Yucca.

Some Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius), Sand Dock (Rumex something), and a Penstemon I can’t identify.  The Penstemon was the most true shade of blue you can imagine!:

A woolly locoweed (Astragalus mollissimus), and some Skyrockets (Gilia aggregata):

Opuntia erinacea v. ursina times 2, and I am embarrassed to admit how bad I am with the names of our native Opuntias, but here is one with a Silvery Townsendia (Townsendia incana):

These are painted milk vetch (Astragalus ceramicus) pods.  The plants themselves aren’t much to look at, but the pods are spectacular!

Here’s some of the MASS of poison ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii) we walked through (without any casualties, mind you):

Mindy did very well, for someone with legs only 8 inches long.  If we walked 10 miles, I can’t even imagine what that equals for 8″ legs.  She loves the water, and gets in at every possible chance.  In the end, Rich ended up carrying her for about the last 3/4 of a mile home.

I love the view from above the canyon.  Any way you look, it’s beautiful!  I particularly liked this view, because if you look closely, you’ll see a nice big patch of Opuntia (prickly pears) hanging over the sandy edge of the wash in the foreground:

Here are some more views from the hike:

Down in the canyon is beautiful, too.

Well, that’s about all for this hike report.

P.S.  Did you all enjoy the action shot of Mindy shaking the water off after her swim?  A whirl of black fur!

P.P.S.  Oh, and the name ‘Toxicodendron‘ for poison ivy makes me laugh!  Not to be confused with a Rhododendron, this is a TOXICodendron!