Friday, March 9, 2012

DESERT…FULL OF BEAUTY AND DANGER

Tuesday, March 12 Part III - Our day was not quite finished. One of the “pluses” of staying at Justin's Diamond J RV Park is its location at the edge of the desert and the many nearby hiking trails.

We headed out for a mid-day hike to enjoy the desert environment. What a beautiful place. All types of cactus, blowing wild flowers, and RATTLERS!!!!

Yep, you got it right....Paul finally got to see a rattlesnake in the wild. We had no sooner mentioned to each other that it was probably too early in the year for snakes to be a worry , when we nearly stepped on a rattlesnake sunny himself in the middle of the path. We came within about five feet of this HUGE snake when we heard the rattle.

Not a good picture. We were both trying to recover from the sound of the rattlers!
snake-1

It was at least ten feet long and as big around as your arm. Paul even cashed-in one of his Man Cards by screaming like a little girl :-)) OK....it was only about 4 or 5 feet long but it scared the crap out of us anyway. You can't see those suckers! They blend in perfectly with the sand and surrounding rocks! And Paul was only screaming to warn Marsha to LOOKOUT!!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!!!!

snake-2

There's that rattler.
snake-3

We were brave enough to continue on down the trail for about an hour and a half before finishing up back at the campground. It was a an exciting day in Tucson, Arizona. One we won't soon forget!

Here are some not-so-scary sights…just beauty all around.

Simple beauty.
mts

Jumping Cholla
beauty

We call this the Praying Cactus.praying-cactus

Needles on a Fish-hook Barrel cactuslong-needles

Got to love all those arms.
cactus

Home Sweet Home
bird

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!