Living in the desert with the wild animals is a treat; you hear them at night time, you see evidence of them in the mornings, you know that they are living among you but it is still unbelievable when you see them up close and enjoy them in person, animal, creature, critter!
Hiking the trails this time of the year you'd better have a camera,
for you don't know what you will run into! At the trail head you enter right before sunrise for more than one reason: first, to hear the wakening of the desert, and second, if you are heading east you want to be far in before you are blinded by the sun and miss something out there. The camera likes the light best one hour before sunrise and one hour before sunset. My favorite reason--the trails are empty!
As you start your hike you may hear the hooting of the owl as it gets ready to retire for the day, or the coyotes howling in the distance, or the awakening birds, singing "Good Morning!" You have to watch carefully because things happen so fast: you hear the snapping of a branch, you look around and before you can take the lens cap off, focus the camera and shoot, you miss the big picture but maybe you get the back end of that buck with a rack too large to carry!
It doesn't happen often but your hike ends this morning with three hikers right in front of you on the trail but these aren't your everyday average hikers. They are beautiful four legged coyotes!
