Rock cleaning

Sorry I haven't posted earlier, I spent the morning washing the mountains and picking up all the rocks that fell off them (we joke about this as being a job for the 'new' volunteers). Actually, we just dug up rocks from the lawns, much of the plumbing at the station has been re-done recently, so there are lots of dirt trails and rocks lying around. However that isnt very exciting and I didnt get any photos.

I did get some photos from our hike yesterday. There are two other girls here from Denmark, they are volunteering while working on an Owl project. They always seem up for a hike and yesterday we went out walking. It was incredibly hot so we all wore shorts, and though we didnt intend to, we ended up climbing up to the top of a very large hill. The vegetation around Arizona is not known for being friendly and its gets less so as you climb higher. More cactuses, nettles, and bushes with very large hooked thorns that catch in your skin and rip it (not kidding) make climbing tough. As well, the mountains around here are only solid rock at their highest points, the footing on the way up tends to be like gravel, with small round rocks or sheets of rock that slip beneath the feet. Anyway, depsite all these difficulties and the blood lost, the view is totally worth it

Here is a photo of Nynne and Payanna, the two girls from Denmark, you can see the research station in the background

Hope things are well with everyone, this one way communication is sorta weird.