Hiking Suprises

Yesterday’s Nature Hike contained, well for lack of a better word, many surprises. First was the number of hikers. I had not done any extra promoting, like knocking on doors to remind people there was a hike, so I was surprised when a record 17 people showed up including two French-speaking people from Quebec and two German-speaking people from the Netherlands. The second surprise was to find our first Beavertail Cactus in bloom. It was not there the last day I hiked the trail. Next was my first sighting of a Chuckwalla, up to this point I have only seen the small Side-blotched Lizards. And then the event that confounded me for the rest of the day was when the two people who had lagged behind all the way, causing the whole group to wait up, opted to not take the loop back, but extend their hike. I guess one needs to expect the unexpected. Speaking of surprises, it’s supposed to rain today!