Also know as, Prickly pear cactus. Quail love to eat the fruit and get their face stained red.Paddle Cactus trying it's best to hang onto the blossoms... The first 105+ degree days have arrived for 2023!
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That's awesome. I remember a similar trip when I was 13 and my brother was 16. It was my first backcountry trip without adults, but we were on horses. Sadly I don't have any photos of that trip, only fond memories sleeping under a tarp and roasting fish over the fire in the Uintas. There's no way I could talk my wife into letting my kids do that now...This photo is pretty special to me. Taken by my brother in August of 1999 at Gilmore Lake, Desolation Wilderness, 8,300 feet. I was 14 and my brother had just turned 13; this was our first overnight backpacking trip without an adult with us. An 18 mile out and back trip with 3,900 feet of elevation gain, where we spent one night at neighboring Fontanillis lake. I don't think I've ever seen my Dad smile as big as when we walked up to the old GMC suburban at the trailhead.
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