My extended DV stay

[Brice]

With Furnace hitting 100 degrees for the first time this year I retreated to Racetrack valley area to beat the heat and focused on bagging some peaks in the area.

I hit a couple of minor high points on the way out there.  This horned lizard near Crater benchmark was annoyed by my presence.



Next up was Tin Mountain.  There was a north facing slope to climb where the snow was knee deep, but it was a short section and I was able to avoid the snow in all other places.  I think mountains look their best when they have lingering snow fields.  This is looking south from Tin Mountain at the White Top area.



Had a bunch of hummingbird moths (white-lined sphinx moth) hanging out in the bushes next to my campsite later that day. 




A large collared lizard also paid me a visit and was happy to pose for a photo.



Here's the west side of Ubehebe from Cameo benchmark.   It was a little hazy, but the next day would be even worse. 




On the way out of Racetrack I tackled Dry mountain, plus two other nearby summits in what ended up being a fairly difficult day.



This sinuous juniper got my attention.  Dry mountain in the background.



Desert spiny lizard (I think).  Unfortunately the photo didn't pick up the iridescent green in its scales.



Old boundary sign.



Camouflage hall of shame communication antenna on top of Peak 8565.



Dry mountain had a 20mm ammo box containing what looks to be an old canteen that I thought was neat.  I didn't want to pull anything out of the container to get a closer look.



Flowering Joshua trees



Before getting back to the car I stopped to check for hitchhikers and found one that my camera wouldn't focus on.  It's that time of year I guess.