BIG SKIES AND LITTLE CREATURES

This bee photo-bombed my shot of a pink cactus blossom - the nerve!

Yesterday was a dark and cloudy day, so we took a drive and thought we'd do a short hike to look for some more tinajas (water tanks). The day turned into a wonderful kaleidoscope of stormy clouds, bright white puffies, distant thunderstorms, scattered raindrops, unexpected colorful flowers, tiny animals, and striking rock and geological features (including tinajas) - from the largest of vistas to the smallest of the earth's creatures.  Copious photos below (I've kindly omitted all the barrel cactus photos, for your added enjoyment).
Our first stop was Little White Tank, which Bighorn Sheep and other large animals frequent:

This was the first tank we saw - note teeny jeep parked above, left

This is the tank that's just above the first one

Another view that shows the underground part of the white tank to the left

We didn't see any bighorn sheep, but this little frog hopped onto a rock for a quick photo shoot

And this colorful guy posed for a moment, too.

We found this grasshopper (about 4 inches long!) in the drier part of the area (the micro-climates here are amazing!)

These small red buds on a woody shrub were growing right near the water

The next tank (Figueroa Tank) wasn't as interesting, but the hiking we did around it was outstanding. Darell went up to the top of tall ridge and said he saw the best views he's seen this trip! I stayed lower and sat with the flowers.

These orange flowers are common near any point of moisture around washes or tanks

Many Ocatillo are in bloom here, the most we've seen

The buds remind me of lipstick!

It's hard to believe these flowers live at the tips of the thorniest branches you can imagine (I call them Poke-atillo, or OW-catillo)

Where all these colorful flowers bloom is a huge part of the story

This common plant grows wherever it can...

Close up, you'd think it lived in an English garden

We saw a cactus with a few yellow blooms, and then, just like when you buy a new car, we saw them everywhere!

Our first view of the yellow bloomer, in its context

This one was blooming all over the place!

These were blooming yellow and red at the same time - the show-offs!

The buds are fascinating, too

And the spines!

And the buds with spines!

This is the last rock wash we hiked down to go back to the jeep - you can't see them well, but raindrops are starting to plop onto the surface of these puddles (and onto us, as well!)

On the way home we were treated to a rainbow - truly a magical ending to a day filled with fabulous sights, from the tiniest to the grandest!