Desert Bighorn Sheep

Today we ran into two men on quads who told us of having lunch and spotting five bighorn rams not more than 100 ft from them.  They said they took pictures of them for about 45 minutes.  We never dreamed we would be so lucky to come across them ourselves several miles later.

But here are two of them.

then three

Six - hmm, they said five.....

And finally, eight - five rams and three ewes. It's always such a thrill.

 

Notice the photographer on the left.  I was dying of a major case of lens envy.  He had a 500mm!  And we couldn't believe how near to the sheep he was able to get without spooking them.

It doesn't get better than a day like this.

Hoodoos ......

......and other unique formations.

 

We came upon some climbers. 

 This fellow reached the top quickly when I wasn't watching.

Climber #2 begins

Here she has to work her way over the bulge in the formation using just finger and footholds.  Yes, there is a rope but, it's purpose is not to help her climb.  It is there to save her from a fall.

Made it over that hard part!

Almost there - Oh, did I forget to mention that she is only 10 years old?  She has been climbing for two years now.

Now it's her mom's turn.

This little guy enjoyed climbing on the rocks too and sunning himself.



Views

                      These are a just a few of the nice views we've experienced lately.

Our friend George is leading and reached the end of this trail.

This was taken from inside of a mining shack.

Here we weren't sure if we had reached the end of the line or not.  Vic went down to check and, sure enough, the only traffic in recent history has

d been quads.  Our trail quickly became too narrow.   It was time to turn around.

Striped rocks fascinate me. 

There were four hawks to start.  I felt lucky to capture these three.

Elephant Rock.  The tree makes it difficult to see his eye and trunk to the right. 

Anyone know if this is a moth or a butterfly?