An Afternoon hike below the Whetstones

[dog.breath]

My mom came down for a few day's visit over the holidays. One afternoon we were able to get together with my uncle, aunt & cousin for an afternoon hike near the Whetstone Mountains, south of Benson, AZ. It was a nice day to be out for a walk.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6594280259_c537ddc731_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594280259/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6594281263_d1b8016a26_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594281263/)

Looking east at the Dragoon Mountains.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6594283057_c93855a69c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594283057/)

There are a lot of mine shafts & adits in this area.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6594286229_28531a66ba_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594286229/)

I think this is some variety of mammillaria
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6594288589_70ee0b858c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594288589/)

Plenty of agave about.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6594289261_838bae9aba_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594289261/)

And prickly pear, too.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6594290177_a98a20fbde_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594290177/)

This may be a rainbow cactus, but I'm not certain.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6594291809_04f5186f2a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594291809/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6594293295_8e409fb869_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594293295/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6594294063_dbcd4e7735_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594294063/)

All in all, a good day for a bit of a wander.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6594297297_854a65f916_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spirituscanis/6594297297/)

Thanks for looking.

[Ben Casey]

Really nice I need to move countries :)

[Martin]

That was great, thanks for sharing. The terrain looks so arid, what was the temperature that day?

Martin

[dog.breath]

That was great, thanks for sharing. The terrain looks so arid, what was the temperature that day?

Martin

I think it was about 64F. Just about perfect, really :)

[Shewie]

Very nice, I take it there are Whetstones to be found there then?

[dog.breath]

Very nice, I take it there are Whetstones to be found there then?

Oooh, that's a good question. I can't honestly say I knew the origin of the name before looking it up just now. A local environmental group has this to say:

"The Whetstones are named after a deposit in the mountain range called novaculite. This hard, fine-grained rock is used for making whetstones for sharpening blades."
http://www.skyislandalliance.org/legends.htm

You learn something new every day :D!

[luresalive]

Great Pictures!