My good friend came out from Michigan and in spite of having to dodge rain from time to time, we got in a whole lotta hiking. Because I had to work on Friday he was able to pick up 3 or 4 more miles than me and I clocked in with 21 miles. We did 8 miles on Saturday, 7.5 on Sunday including a march up the mountain, and a morning quickie of 5.5 miles on Monday.
I dropped him at the airport at 1:00 in the afternoon and then decided it was time for a afternoon at rest.
Strawberry Cactus
The field guide says that the “desert landscape is punctuated with showy, rose-pink flowers.”
What I say is that the color is a bit off in the photo, it shows a tad too purple in this image.
This plant is one of the many that grace the spring trails in the Sandias and is more commonly known as Apache plume. After the flowers blossom a fine light pink plume emerges from the plant.
I looked today through the Field Guide to the Sandias and could not really identify these flowers, primarily because they have not yet opened. I suspect they are Golden Peas, but I’ll have to wait till next weekend and try to climb on back to the summit to check. these plants were at about 10,100 feet, just below the level of the Tram.
Plume drops after an early morning rain.
by admin
no comments
link to this post email a friend