The next morning, we drove over to Tucson Mountain Park, on the west side of the city. We stopped near the Arizona -Sonora Desert Museum, intending to hike on one of the many trails in the park. The morning was again sunny, and this would prove to be the only day we did not get rained on at some point.

We picked a trail that wound along a small hill covered with saguaro cactus. We were all looking forward to exploring this new 'forest' habitat. Along with the saguaro, prickly pear, cholla and fish-hook cactus were also common. A prominent tree was the palo verde, which often served as a 'nursery' for young saguaro, which need to start life out in the partial shade.

Lizards were out in force this morning - Utas and Tiger Whiptails, primarily, and we had a great time trying to get close enough for a picture or two. We found an Earless Lizard that gave us some trouble in identification, being drab on the dorsal and sporting a salmon-colored patch under the chin and behind the front leg. Later we keyed this out to be a Greater (Chihuahuan) Earless Lizard, and a female, which can be somewhat drab and still exhibit the bright patches during breeding season.

Cophosaurus texanus scitulus

The trail wound along the hillside, perhaps halfway up, and the sun was heating up a bit. We had brought plenty of water and our wide-brimmed hats, so we were in good shape for a while.  We were thoroughly enjoying the Sonoran desertscrub habitat, and it seemed like every few feet of travel brought something new to our attention.

Coming up over a saddle we found ourselves near the back of the Desert Museum, perhaps a half mile away from us. Here we made an exciting discovery - a young adult Desert Tortoise, out for a crawl near the trail. This was a first for all of us, and I was quite overwhelmed - here was an animal I had wanted to see for many years. It appeared to be a female, and as she crawled away I circled her, shooting pictures as she crawled into the shade under a palo verde. We did not pick her up or even touch her - our presence was disturbing enough.  Her beak was stained green with whatever plant she had been munching on that morning. I thought she was beautiful, and for me she was the best find of the trip.

Desert Tortoise, as we found her

Morning gave way to noon, and it was getting pretty hot. The trail reached a junction and we had to either head up the trail towards the hilltop, down the trail towards the museum, or back the way we came. We opted for going back; we had three or four miles to cover to get back to the car. Lizards were still out and about, and we added the Elegant Earless Lizard to our total on the way back, an aptly named little saurian. The sun was beating down, and we stopped several times for 'shade breaks' under a handy palo verde tree. Their bark was quite beautiful, and no two were the same.