Walnut Canyon Desert Drive


Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Yesterday the temperatures never reached 20 degrees.  We sat with long sleeved shirts and long pants on.  We are not complaining though.  It rained a little bit.  You must realize that it rarely rains in this area.  It is a desert.  Leave it to us to bring rain.  When we crossed Canada on the bikes, we had a friend refer to us as the ‘rainmakers’.  We are not complaining though.  It is presently 34 degrees.  It is a good thing there is a breeze.

Today we took the Walnut Canyon Desert Drive.  It was quite the drive!  It is only 10 miles long but what an adventure.  It is a one-way loop out through the desert/mountain.  It is advertised that most passenger vehicles could travel this narrow, twisting route.  I was glad we were driving a vehicle with high clearance because we had to jump rocks exposed in this gravel trail.  We can only imagine how many people will have damaged the undercarriage of their vehicles trying this route.  The switchbacks were interesting as you wound your way down into the canyon and back up again.  What a blast!  And I cannot forget to mention the scenery.  It is impressive to drive down the highway and look out the window at the terrain from a distance.  This drive let you get up and personal with the desert/mountain.  Again, we hope the pictures can give but a small peek into what we have been experiencing the last 2 days.

The rest of the day was spent (unfortunately) doing chores like buying groceries and doing laundry.  It really is unfortunate that clothes get so smelly!

Tomorrow we are pushing further west into New Mexico.

Distance Traveled = 159 km.  Wildlife Sightings = Eurasian-collared Dove, Curve-billed Thrasher, Great Tailed Grackle, White-winged Dove, Western Kingbird, Scaled Quail, Rabbit, Mule Deer, Black Throated Sparrow.


Guadalupe Mountains


Windy road we traveled....


Mule Deer


Odd sign for a drive through the desert!

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