Kim told me about this place.

I scouted the area for hiking yesterday and saw an interesting animal (the one I emailed about).  I saw a large track and shortly after that I heard heavy footsteps. The animal came from behind a dune 25 or 30 feet from me, stopped for a moment and looked at me, then ran behind another dune. So, I returned today to hike and hopefully photograph the animal.

I started around 3pm. It was 98 to 99 degrees most of the time. The ground is sand with dunes stabilized by mesquite and other plants. I saw some hawks, lizards, and jackrabbits that I didn’t get pictures of. I went about 4.5 miles in all.

This is facing east. There are two whirlwinds just right of center in the distance and the big cloud is raining on the mountains. The mountains are about 10 to 15 miles away. The highway is 1 mile away.

Here is a pedestal about 1.5 feet tall. There is a sage plant next to it. I don’t know the name of the plants on top. Plant’s roots hold the sand together. That keeps the dunes from drifting but the areas between still drift in the wind leaving a pedestal. Animals dig burrows in the sides. Most of the features stay dune shaped and pedestals are uncommon. There are two about 10 or 15 feet tall in an off road atv, truck, and motorcycle recreation area near here.

The yucca is the state flower of New Mexico. They are starting to bloom now. The tall one is 11 or 12 feet high.

This is dried animal dung. The pellets are about 1/4 to 3/8 inches in diameter. Jackrabbit droppings I believe. I think the wind moves them and that is why I find pools of them like this.

A collection of small tracks. I saw tracks like these often on this hike. I think the tracks with a line between are from lizards. Their tails would leave the line. One set might from an insect since the prints are so close together. The bottom two pictures are bird tracks. Birds have four toes — three forward and one back but roadrunners are different. They have two forward and two back. Notice the roadrunner’s long stride.

Facing south. The farther dunes are around 15 feet tall. Mountains in the distance. The are open spots on top of these. The mesquite on top of most of them prevented me from getting on top.

I often stepped on pieces of mesquite. I wore my regular shoes because my boots would be hot. Some of the thorns broke off and some of those wouldn’t come out. Fortunately, the only ones that stuck through to my foot came out easily. I’ll wear my boots and bring pliers next time.

From here I went to a hill about 75 feet high. There was a dirt road that went onto the hill and I could see the city dump, which is far from town, in the distance toward the highway. The hill is 2.25 miles from the highway. The view from the top of the hill revealed two things to the west. A vast sea of mesquite and dunes with no roads and two familiar but mysterious objects in the forbidden zone (the off limits military reservation). The mysterious objects can be seen from much farther away along a highway. From there they look like two huge dark rectangles. From the hill, with my small telescope, they looked like giant fences with objects inside that might be buildings and radar or telescope dishes. I didn’t take any pictures of them. From there I started back to the truck. Later I saw on maps that there are miles of wilderness past the hill before reaching the military reservation. I might explore that some time. I’ll use my gps to be sure I don’t go where I shouldn’t.

I saw the cow bones going in and the coyote jaw on the way out. I wonder about the split fangs. Other teeth have a split too. I saw cow pies but none fresh and no live cattle.

This devil’s claw seed pod is about as big as the palm of your hand. It is hard like wood. The horns hook onto an animal’s hoof. If the pod is broken open then its seeds will be distributed. They can get lodged in fur too.

A half mile to three quarters of a mile from the highway I saw the tracks of the animal. I followed them all the way to within a quarter mile of where I parked my truck! I didn’t see one though. I’m going to research their behavior before I look for them again. I think they are not aggressive but caution is called for. They are large, fast, and have fearsome armament.