Las Uvas Canyons-Broad Canyon Wilderness, OMDPNM

 Had to get out last Thursday, so I did this morning hike out in the Sierra de las Uvas. It was already pretty hot at about a quarter past eight when I arrived,but I pushed on. I went up livestock trail in one grassy little canyon, crossed over a ridge and down into a much larger canyon, This one was scraped down to clean bedrock in its box section and pools of water lingered from recent rains. Patches of vibrant green grass growing at their edges, huge dragonflies buzzing back and forth, and the desert skies reflecting on their surfaces brought a smile to my face, and seem to make braving the heat worth the trip, at least for a little while.

I hiked further down past huge junipers, over boulders, and through scrubby oaks and even a few mountain mahogany ( common in the Organs,but not so much here),but by 9:30 it was time to turn around. I had my eyes on some interesting places high up on the ridge,but it was just not going to happen today. On the way back, I soaked my tee shirt in one of the puddles, which helped on my hike back up to the saddle, which was nothing but hot and slow. Once on level ground, and then even better, going downhill, I realized it wasn't so much the heat and the sun, as the going uphill the really had been getting to me. Still, back at my vehicle, I felt like it had been a nice couple of hours out with the lizards, quail, bunnies and jackrabbits. Any longer would have just become an exercise in endurance.