Desert tortoises are somewhat rare and not seen that much. It's not as though you're likely
to startle one out of a bush and have it go racing away in front of you while you're hiking.

The last evening we were in Joshua Tree, we'd returned to camp and were sitting reading
when I got antsy and asked Patrick if he'd like to go and ride part of a trail about five miles
away that we knew about but hadn't ridden because it was so exposed and would have
been too hot to ride during the day.

He sighed a little, but eventually got enthused enough and off we went. We were riding at
dusk and had completed the three miles we were intending to ride, but as usual, I
wasn't quite ready to "go in" yet. So I talked him into showing me another half mile
section of trail that he'd ridden a few days earlier (I'd played shuttle and picked him up
at the other end). So off we went "just to the ridge". Patrick was in the lead and started
down the hill when suddenly he was skidding to a halt and I couldn't figure out why. It
turned out this little guy was on the trail right in front of him, stomping along cheerfully.