My real goal today was finding a good access point to Davidson Canyon, but instead I wasted precious daylight driving down dirtroads that ended in dead ends. (The northern access point to the canyon, near the Cienega Preserve, is the only other point I know, but I wanted the southern terminus). Every turn-off I pulled off on to explore ended in dead ends or private property, and I didn't want to spend all day driving. I gave up looking for Davidson canyon and took the rest of the day to explore lesser-known trails.
I stopped in a few isolated turn-outs to exercise the dogs. At one point I encountered a Lesser Eared Lizard. In the eastern Santa Ritas I came across a very disgruntled skunk, the #1 mammal in our country that has been found rabid. I left Mr Stinky alone.
I wanted something isolated so I opted to try the Cienega Conservation Area, an area that includes a "working ranch," horse trails and ATV trails. I'm not so sure I understand why ATVs are allowed in a conservation area, but I also can't admit that I saw any ATVs. I came across several horseback riders and a few lonely RVs parked at primitive sites.
The dogs had fun in the water of Cienega creek before we left for our hot and dry drive back home. The wind that blew Friday and Saturday was gone today, thank goodness, and we were able to do some decent gardening late in the afternoon. We got a bumper carrot harvest and Kevin's proud of his few beets and turnips.
I did more driving than I did hiking today, and my exploratory driving didn't yield much. The land I really wanted to get in, I found out, was controlled by the State Trust Land, a state agency that holds land until miners or developers buy it.
We certainly live in an interesting neighborhood. One of our neighbors with whom we occassionally chat with told us that the street just north of us had a safe house with over 80 illegals busted two days ago. I've been walking the dogs every few days here and never noticed suspicious behavior? And this was after the Catholic Church (Our Lady of the Mountain) was found harboring illegals a few months ago. When that made the local newspaper a lot of locals were quite pissed. I'm sure this news will remain unreported. All this just falls into the other local and state news of more and increased arrests of illegals and drug runners.
Oh well. At least I can report my first hummingbird in the front yard today. It looked like a black-chinned little guy.
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