river vignette 12 – the Rio Grande

I've posted all the sketches I have. This is a picture of the cactus and flower mentioned below.

We had a layover day so we took a hike on part of the Marufu Vega hiking trail up the canyon to a point just off the path that provides a majestic view of the river downstream from where we have camped. About halfway back down we strike off the trail to blaze our own. We picked our way up to the crest of a saddle and startled a really beautiful desert lizard, all pastels of pink and blue with faint spots, which served to draw our attention to the ground where bloomed the most luminous pink cactus flowers, apparently springing from the earth. On closer inspection the cactus itself was there, flush with the ground, with stony looking leaves. Once we saw them, we saw that there were lots of them, but only on the crest of this saddle between two buttes. Crossing over the saddle between peaks to come back down a different side canyon than the one we went up in we paused to admire the view which, looking in the opposite direction than before, is awesome. On the way down the other side, we spotted a fox running off on the farther slope. It stopped and looked at us long and hard before deciding that we were not a threat. After returning to camp we lazed the rest of the day away. The moon finally rose full and bright washing out all but the most brilliant stars.