RHH's photos

These Screwbean Mesquite pods were photographed at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge on the south end of the Salton Sea in southern California.

Our last night in Joshua Tree National Park we spent hiking up Ryan Mountain and watching the sunset as we came down again. The photo was taken near the trailhead.

Skull Rock is along the main road in Joshua Tree National Park and is a favorite stopping place for those visiting the park. We stopped briefly on our way out of the park and on our way to Sedona, Arizona.

We are home again after two weeks on the road. Eager to get home and tired of sleeping in the back of the car and eating camping food, we drove through the night and arrived home about 5 am. Looking at these photos, however, gives me the urge to travel once again. We did one last hike in the Sedona, Arizona, area on Friday, a loop that took us on three trails, the Soldier Pass, Brins Mesa and Cibola Pass trails. The photo is a sample of the spectacular formations through which and around which we hiked.

Friday we did our last hike before returning home, a hike that took us on three trails in the Sedona, Arizona, area. We hiked a loop on the Soldier Pass, Brins Mesa and Cibola Pass trails, the photo taken on the second of the three trails. That brought our total hiking mileage to around 50 miles.

Because we were traveling in January we saw very few wildflowers anywhere. These were among the few we saw in Joshua Tree National Park, and this was the only plant of the species we found in bloom. It is Phacelia campanularia, The plant itself has a foul smell and we learned later can cause a skin rash.

This was one of the few wildflowers we saw on our trip and it was blooming everywhere in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. It is the shrubby Chuparosa, a favorite of hummingbirds.

We traveled Wednesday from Joshua Tree National Park to Flagstaff and from California to Arizona. Yesterday I hiked in the Sedona area south of Flagstaff and did about nine miles of trail near Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock, including a climb of Bell Rock. The view here is from the south side of Bell Rock and the formation is Courthouse Butte.

The photo was taken along the Big Park Loop south of Sedona, Arizona, where I hiked yesterday. The loop is part of system of trails in the most popular hiking area near Sedona. When the photo was taken I had finished climbing Bell Rock, the formation in the photo and had circled the rock just below the vertical top park, a rather daunting endeavor for me.