Matt and I went out late, around 10:00am with no real agenda other than hiking about 10 miles. Originally we planned to start from first water, but decided on canyon lake instead. We hiked the boulder canyon trail, picked up the second water trail #236 and turned around at the junction of the black mesa trail #241 approximately 6 miles in.

We were casually hiking along a steep slope about 1.5 miles until the trailhead, enjoying the view of Canyon lake, then Matt nearly tripped over a desert tortoise right in the middle of the trail. Both of us were very excited to see such a large turtle, and it was actually the first one I've ever seen in the wild. (Pictures will be posted soon)