Palo Verdes in Bloom

The Palo Verde trees are the ones with the yellow flowers. I love these trees because they also have green bark. And they reseed easily. I think this picture shows nicely that the plants by the wash are more lush as we enter the hot and dry season. Apparently, I missed seeing a very large rattlesnake on the trail as it crossed the wash by just a couple of minutes. Dog walkers coming from the other direction warned me about him. Then the next group said he went into a hole on the right. Do you know how many holes there were on the right? I went through with a jogger, 4 eyes were no better at finding it than 2, so we decided that he had probably had decided to stay in his lair (or perhaps that was just what we hoped he had decided). Fortunately, I made it back to the car without meeting the large reptile. I took this hike on a whim because I had some extra time. I was wearing my sandals (they are rather rugged). But I won't hike without my hiking boots from now on. An extra layer of protection seems like a good idea.