CERBAT MOUNTAINS
My 2016 trip was from May 30 - June 4. The trip started in the Cerbat Mountains (AZ). Daytime temperatures started out in the 90s and made it up into the 100s as the days went by.

There were many flowers in bloom and it appeared that more-than-usual rain had fallen in the previous weeks.

Plateau Fence Lizards (Sceloporus tristichus) were seen basking on the rocks.

Desert Cows.

A Water Boatman in a cattle water trough.

Hedgehog Cactus.

Large Bee-flies (Bombylius major).

Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana) were not as common as Fence Lizards, but there were some to be found.

House Finch.

My first Snake of the trip was a "lifer" - Arizona Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus).

Another photo of the same snake.

Common Thread-waisted Wasp (Ammophila procera).

A group of Ornate Tree Lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) were scampering about large rocks in the mountains.

I caught one for a closer look.

California Goldfields were in bloom at many of the places that I visited throughout the trip.

I had my first-ever encounter with a Cactus Longhorn Beetle (Moneilema gigas).

Eventually it began to get dark.

A young Arizona Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans).

Jackrabbit.

Giant Carolina Wolf Spiders (Hogna carolinensis) patrolled the roads at night, you could see the reflection of the car's headlights in their eyes while driving.

A juvenile Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox).

And a juvenile Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) too.

A Desert Banded Gecko (Coleonyx variegatus) that got quite fat from eating insects that were attracted to a light on a small cinder block building in the middle of nowhere. After I took a couple of photos, it retreated under the locked metal door of the building - a pretty nice living arrangement for the little lizard.