Favorite Pictures of Animals--Reptiles and Birds

One amazing thing about the desert is the amount of wildlife. Most people think of the desert as a dry and lifeless, sandy and remote area of land but it is really an incredible wellspring of life. There were very few days that I did not encounter some type of animal and often the creatures I did come across were the highlight of my adventure. Here are a few of the birds and reptiles I saw on my outings.

I saw a lot of hawks this past year but couldn't get any real good pictures of them. They fly high and fast and I wasn't able to get the camera on them but they are a pleasure to watch.

Roadrunners are a different matter. I could probably take a hundred pictures of them. In fact, I have a pair that live on my street that I see almost every day. They are fun to watch and when you see one you know you're in the desert.

Hummingbirds are another desert bird that are difficult to photograph for an amateur like me although they are plentiful. These guys move FAST and when you think you've got a good picture they're gone. I was lucky to find this one actually perched for a second while I got my camera ready.

Hummingbirds are usually seen around flowers as this one hovers near this Palo Verde.

One of the best bird sightings of this year for me was this juvenile Great Horned Owl that Carl Garczynski and I saw on a hike in Joshua Tree National Park. He showed very little fear of us and Carl suggested that we were probably the only humans that he had ever seen and didn't know what to make of us.

Here he is just a bit closer.

Probably my favorite bird sighting this year was this Falcon that I saw near the start of the Art Smith Trail. He had a freshly killed Chuckwalla in his talon and had must have had a nest nearby because he hung around for a while even after leaving this spot.

Lizards were the most frequently spotted animal during my year of hiking. I probably spotted lizards on at least 75% of my outings. Most of the time I just let them be but Nikolas wanted to catch one so I let him. He also wanted to take him home but I insisted we let him go.

This Desert Iguana was lucky to get away from being caught. He was spotted on a hike when I had three boys along but he managed to escape.

Banded lizards, like this one, were the most plentiful and easily recognized.

Other than running under rocks the most frequent thing I saw lizards do were push-ups.

I saw a couple of Horned Toads (or Horny Toads as we called them when we were kids) and of the lizards I spotted, I most wanted to take on of these home.

I know frogs aren't really Reptiles but I didn't have enough amphibians to up them in their own category so this one goes here.

One of the most frequent questions I got about hiking every day was, "Have you seen any rattlesnakes?". Hiking hundreds of miles over three hundred and sixty-five days I saw one. Amazingly, I saw it on an evening in August when I thought it would be WAY too hot for a rattler. It was way too hot for me and I had Gatorade.

With Hope Unwavering

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR

Way back in January when I started this endeavor I went and hiked up the hill behind Saint Francis of Assisi Church here in La Quinta. There's a cross at the top of the hill and I thought that would be fun to hike up to. I was wrong. The hillside was mostly loose rocks and not fun at all. The view was good but that was about all. On top of that, I lost my keys. I went back a few times to try and find them but no luck. I figured I'd try one more time.

Find the original story here.

I'm looking up the chute that I have to climb and I feel like I've returned to a bad dream. These rocks are not made for climbing. They are loose and unstable, not fun.

The climbing goes quickly and I get to where I have to traverse to the cross. I won't be going down this way and I'm glad.

I traverse over to the cross and climb the final slope to the top. This is terrible climbing with loose rocks on top of loose dirt. I have to commend whoever it was that hauled a cross up here.

The view, however, is wonderful.

I hear a screech from the north and see a couple of Red Tail Hawks dancing on the breeze.

I watch them for several minutes until they disappear into the heavens.

I know my keys are somewhere on this face but I am not looking forward to the climb down.

I did come better prepared this time, though. I brought a collapsible ski pole to help my balance on the way down. I also say a prayer as well, just in case.

I hike down the face and get to the cross just above the church parking lot and while I saw old cans and tatters of mylar balloons there are no keys. I leave to hike down to the parking lot and wonder if it's really worth another trip up here. I get to where I'm about fifteen feet above the parking lot and realize I'm off route. I start to move over to get back on course and...

Oh My God! It's a miracle! I cannot believe what I am seeing but it is my keys. They are here in plain view and I cannot believe that I nor anyone else ever spotted them. They have been sitting here, exposed to the elements, for almost a full year. Even more unbelievable is when I get home the keyless remote still opens The Wife's minivan.

I have just one day left and I will have succeeded in hiking every day for this entire year. It's been an incredible experience and one I don't plan on doing again...like this hike. When you've done what you've set out to do, why do it again?

That doesn't mean I don't have plans for next year and beyond. Stay tuned for what's next. Hiking every day for a year is only the beginning.

Hidden In Plain Sight

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE

With work and kids taking most of my time, my dream of traveling around the country and doing hikes in America's most beautiful places has been put on hold. Probably forever. Oh well. At least I live in a place with seemingly unending options for place to hike.

I headed up to the top of the La Quinta Cove, a place I've hiked about a half a million times this year so far.

This trail up to the Bear Creek Oasis is widely traveled. When I first moved to La Quinta over twenty years ago very few people hiked back here. Of course, that was because you could drive your 4WD most of the way back into the wash so what was the point of walking?

As I hit the wash I take an immediate right turn and head to a wash heading up toward Coyote Mountain. Since I almost always have headed straight up the wash, I have never hiked up this canyon. This is yet another first for me.

The canyon gets narrow and rocky fairly quickly. Up beyond are steep cliffs and canyons. I wonder how far I can actually get.

There are some very deep clefts in the mountain that may possibly house tinajas, tanks that hold water for months.

But it looks like I maybe not be able to get too much further due to dry falls and loose rocks.

This dry fall may be passable but I'm not going to try it alone just in case I fall. No one knows where I am and it's getting warm. If I fall off and break my leg I don't want to sit here and bake. I'll have to come back and try another time.

There is another canyon that may also be passable and which will also have to wait for another day. Maybe later in the year if we have some summer rainstorms I'd like to come up here and see if I can find some water holes.

Standing deep in the canyon I hear a shrieking overhead. Two Red Tail hawks circle around the steep cliffs above. I imagine they probably have a nest way up on the mountainside. They are too high, however, for me to get a good picture of them so I just sit back and enjoy their aerial dance. The canyon is not far from the main trail but it seems far away. I hike back on the upper ridges above the canyon hoping to find a trail but I don't have any luck with that. If Indians came up here they followed the canyon itself. I'll have to come and explore further to see if I can find any evidence of that possibility.