Rincon Hills - canyon exploring

I had forgotten my hiking poles which was awkward at first,
 but eventually found a nice sotol stalk.

Climbing a small ridge just east of the pullout where I parked, I began seeing many large pieces of fossilized coral and realized I'd been here before, many years ago when still in my rockhound days, and had collected one of those same pieces. We had also found strange chunks of opalized twigs. I still have the coral, but I wish I could find those weird twigs again. That day we didn't venture too far from the road, but on this warm winter Sunday I was headed for one of the larger feeder stream courses that empty into the Rincon Arroyo from the north.

 In and  out of a couple of short ravines and then I was looking down on the rocks and sand of the canyon of  my plans 70 feet below. I slipped and slid to the bottom and then headed upstream. I was enjoying the cross bedding of sandstones and pebbly conglomerates in the enormous boulders that had tumbled down from the cliffs and just enjoying the look of a landscape of sedimentary rock. It was easy walking and a pleasant day to be down in a desert canyon. I was in a long sleeved tee shirt and never felt cold the whole afternoon.

Before the canyon opened up into a wide shallow wash, it went through very narrow section that took some minor scrambling to get out of at its back end. 

Now the scenery wasn't quite as nice but I  ambled along, spotting a buck deer darting off on the low mesas above me. Junipers and huge javelina bushes appeared. I walked up on the dark hills on the west side, but quickly realized two things: first there was another narrow, deep section of the canyon in the distance and second; walking in the canyon itself was the fastest way to get there despite its winding ways.

 Cliffs of layered rock rose above me when I arrived. I climbed up one dry cascade, and then negotiated my way through the boulders of very narrow section and made it up a second one.

 I realized I was getting close to my turnaround point from a hike several weeks ago where I had explored the uppermost reaches of the canyon  I was in. I saw a doe make her way up a rocky ravine to the top of a narrow mesa and shortly after I did the same. I'm not sure why. I walked out to a point and then made my way very, very carefully down the steep slopes on the other side. From the there I decided to make my way across the mesa of dark rock just below the Rincon Hills highpoint where the various communications towers are installed. The broken, rocky terrain wasn't the best for cross- country walking but along the way there were interesting rock formations in red and nuggets of jasper to keep the mood light. 

 Three buck deer headed off in the distance back down to the canyon. It was plain, as the last one turned, that he had an enormous set of antlers, like two human arms attached to his head. Eventually I got onto a road that has long ago fallen into disuse, which led directly back to my truck.