GO WEST WITH VIC AND PAULA: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Not the Day We Expected

My Thanksgiving weekend request was to take a drive down to the Black Mountains to see the new bridge being built at Hoover Dam from an off-road vantage point. Power lines abound everywhere. This was the initial route and could be driven by any vehicle provided that it was not wet.

The overlook road is a shelf road - meaning that it is one vehicle wide with the mountain hugging you on one side and a drop-off to oblivion on the other for 2.4 miles. I prayed that we would not meet a vehicle coming the other way as we would be required to back up to nearly the beginning. We were in luck as we didn't see another soul the entire time we were out there. It is extremely rugged country.

When we rounded a tight curve I spotted a desert bighorn sheep near the road. I was so excited! I shoved the camera at Vic to take a photo as it was on his side. He got this shot right through his side window. You will need to double click to see it clearly. Then as he wasn't sure what he had gotten (he had not used the new camera yet) he handed it back to me. We were in luck as the following photos show. He crossed the shelf right in front of us and browsed on the hillside as though he had not a care in the world. I was so thrilled, it's a wonder I could hold the camera still.

Darrick, a biologist here at the refuge, showed me how to age a ram by looking at the horns. We "guesstimate" that he is 5-6 years old.

You will need to double click to see these antiquated phone poles go down, then across and out of sight. They had to set by hand and the cable run by manpower alone. One wonders how men did this and why they chose to run the line up this steep, steep slope.

The ram was such a thrill that I really was not too badly disappointed to be unable to see the entire dam and only one span of the new bridge. It was also one of those unusual cloudy days.

Lake Mead in the background

Here is a small section of the shelf road. Vic is parked off to one side at my request. I wanted to get out without risk of losing my footing and going over the side.

More power lines on the way back to the pavement.

We spotted this fellow working to smooth a jump. We had to stick around to see him use it.

The gap is 80 ft. He looks near the wires but is not.

The Inyo Mine to Echo Canyon

The Inyo Mine and Echo Canyon are both in Death Valley National Park and are reached by using this high clearance 4x4 road.

The Eye of the Needle

We got to visiting with a lady here. She is a Nevadan and told us that the azure-colored sky is called Nevada blue (although the park is in CA). This is the same color as the NV state flag. One of those interesting tidbits of info......

Many structures remain at this site in varying stages of decay.

Vic scoped Echo Canyon out on foot before attempting to drive it and found this critter. He put his keys down to give scale to my photo and the tarantula immediately crawled onto the keytag. He stayed there for several minutes - until Vic nudged him gently with a stick. We don't know if he liked the white color (do spiders see in color?) or perhaps the warmth from having been in Vic's pocket or some other unfathomable reason.

Last year our first trip out with the jeep was to Echo Canyon but that time we ran it downhill. There is a 4-5 foot dry waterfall that is easier to negotiate downhill. Since that time he has wanted to try it uphill so......here goes

That was just about a piece of cake!

Another area that was rocky and fun but not so steep and not narrow at all.

Burros

How pleased I was to see this burro at the very beginning of the day. It's not often that we get this near to one. Little did I dream that we would see many more not a great deal later.

In the late 1800s a few burros were turned loose by prospectors and flourished in the desert environment. Their population reached nearly 3,000. They look cute but overgraze thus reducing the already scant food supply for the naturally-occuring desert bighorn sheep. The National Park Service has significantly reduced the burro population to slightly over 100 within Death Valley National Park.