These are new photos from Ned Houk Park burn area, just north of Clovis, NM. Not much has changed since my blog entry of 23 April, but that is hardly surprising since it still hasn't rained. I recall a late April hike in the same area a couple of years ago, when we were just stunned by the waving fields of purple and pink grasses and different wild flowers. This year? not so much...
These elms haven't sprouted leaves yet, but elsewhere elms are pretty leafed out already, so these trees may be done for. This particular piece of land was used as a motorcross track a few decades ago, and old tires had been used to mark the course. Most of the rubber burned away, but their steel belts remain. A big piece of pvc pipe got a giraffe's spot pattern. A few of the southwest incredibly drought-resistant plants are starting to come back, defying logic. It seems far-fetched that anything could live and grow out of bare sand and zero water, but a few representatives of three hardy plants dot the otherwise barren wasteland.
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