Lee had taken some pictures on our trip to Las Cruces that I didn’t see until after I posted mine to the blog. This one was too beautiful not to share. It was taken Friday evening after we were leaving the parking lot where we did the Soledad Canyon hike. The sun was setting and the clouds cleared just enough for the sun’s rays to reach part way up the slope towards the Organ Mountains. Thank you, Lee, for sharing the photo.
And I will take this opportunity to tell you an interesting episode that ended our Tonuco Mountain adventure Saturday.
After the harrowing experience of driving through the muddy tunnel on the trip back from the trailhead, we still had to drive the 10-mile dirt road to return to the interstate. About halfway there, I was startled to see this odd looking animal flopping around at the side of the road. Lee hadn’t seen it and I wasn’t sure what I was seeing so I didn’t say anything until we had already passed it.
But I couldn’t get the image out of my mind so I made Lee back up to see if I could find where it was. He stopped at a sandy place in the road because he didn’t want to back up any further and risk getting stuck. I jumped out of the car to run back and see what it was.
OMG, it was a large orange cat that had its head stuck inside of a glass jar! It was terrified and ran for a mesquite bush when I tried to grab it. I was screaming for Lee and grabbing for the cat and trying to avoid getting scratched by the mesquite thorns and the flailing claws of the panicked cat.
I finally managed to get ahold of the jar and the cat pulled and I pulled until I thought I would break its neck. But, out it popped, and away the cat ran across the desert just as Lee came running up to see what was going on. I was so relieved to have rescued that doomed critter. How awful it must have been for the poor thing. It looked like its head had been in there for quite awhile. We were in the middle of nowhere and it never would have freed its head from the jar by itself. My good deed for the day.
Living Wonderously 
What a story! I’m so happy you were successful. Of course, no “thank you” from the cat!
Wow! so glad you went back! Another story to demonstrate why we should dispose/recycle our garbage more carefully.