Desert Critter Wuss

When it comes to critters that live in the desert, I am a confirmed wuss. I proved it last night. One thing I know about desert critters is that a whole bunch of them are venomous. What I don't know is how many are venomous and which ones they are. Of course there are the obvious ones, like rattlesnakes, scorpions, gila monsters, but what about all those other creepy crawly things?

So there I was, out riding around last night up in the PMP. I swung my leg over and hopped off my bike to carry it across a section I'm too old and wimpy to ride. Something bumped into my inner calf. Didn't think too much about it until I crossed the section and started to get back on the bike. I looked down and, in the dark, saw some furry thing about the size of a vole attached to my leg. Wuss that I am, my immediate reaction was to panic and swat the thing away. As soon as I hit it, I realized just how stupid that was. My leg had bumped into a Cholla and taken away a pretty good chunk of it (cholla, not leg). If I had realized what it was, I may have handled it differently.

For the those not familiar with Cholla cactus, here's a pic I took last fall at White Tank Mtns:

All those little spiny things are an inch or so long, sharp as surgical needles, and scaled so they go in a lot easier than they come out.

I do not recommend that you swat these things away, even with gloves, let alone fingerless gloves like I was wearing. The chunk of cholla came off my leg, leaving only a few spines behind, since it was mostly attached to my sock rather than my leg. Unfortunately, I managed to embed a bunch of spines in my fingers. Out came the multi-tool and I spent maybe 10 minutes yanking those devil spines out of my fingers and leg. I can tell you from experience that pulling them out of my leg didn't hurt much, in comparison to my fingers.

Later in the ride, I came across my second gila monster. This one was about 14 inches long and probably a lot younger than the one I saw a few weeks ago. I took a couple pictures, but neither came out very good.

Even in the heat, I like night riding better than early mornings. First thing out of bed, it seems to take a lot to get going and my energy level never cranks up to make me feel good on the trail. In the evenings, I get energized just thinking about it. Hills that are nothing but struggle in the morning rides are actually enjoyable in the evenings. Last night was a couple degrees below 100, and humidity was pretty high, but even with those conditions, the ride was great. I'm going to ride again this evening, but its back to early AM during the week.