A naturalist is stationed at this mobile visitor center in the spring months. He told us this tortoise is a female and he'd been calling her Pat. She is about 30 years old, he's estimated, and she is wild, but apparently likes people not to mention the shade of the motorhome visitor center. I took some photos of Pat, then Todd and I ate a picnic lunch, then we set off to walk on the preserve's trails. We didn't see any more tortoises, unfortunately, so we headed back to the visitor center. Some dirt bike riders had come by and Pat walked right up to them, then she walked right up to me and gave my boot toe a nudge!
She seemed to like having her photo taken! After a few more pics, though, she headed off to the shelter of a creosote bush and we headed back home, taking a back road neither of us had been on before. Once we were back on Hwy 395 I was amazed at the wildflowers along the road - I'd never seen so many desert mallows and desert dandelions! It's gorgeous up here right now.
Anyway, hope you enjoy my pics - there are many more on my Flickr page
:)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarol/sets/72157623900242929/
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