Fall River Valley in the Snow

Fall River Valley, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Published in the December 2012 Enjoy magazine.

I took this from the bench overlooking the valley.

Geocaching With Katelyn

Katelyn with her first "treasure" find. I took her out this morning to do some geocaching. We found this one but it started raining a little too much right afterwards so we went home and helped Auntie make cakes.

We found the treasure in the hollow log by her right foot. She also found a duck feather nearby.

Ferndale Cemetery and Downtown

Ferndale, CA, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Mary wanted a picture of Ferndale from the hill above the cemetery. I was hoping for drifting, hanging fog in exactly the area it was. I spent an hour and a half in the cemetery while Mary sat in the warm car.

Eight Nights Camping in Nevada & Poop in the Road

One of the larger herds.

Now the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge was created mostly for Pronghorn. The few times I have been there I have seen but few antelope though. One of the hosts told me that after they removed the cattle from grazing there the Pronghorn moved too. Interesting.

There are horses though. Lots of horses as evidenced by the Nevada speed bumps we saw (I'll get to that later though). On our last day we saw at least 200 horses. They were loners, small herds of 2-4, and larger herds of 30+. The horses were curious about us but not very comfortable with us nearby. I did get some photographs of them though. It was funny because both Bruce and I were thinking beautiful, perfect, mighty wild horses, but they were pretty rough with bite marks and mud. Other than that they were healthy looking.

Most of these horses were within three miles of an area around three springs. These were Little Buckaroo, Big Buckaroo, and Porcupine Springs. But, they were sporadic all around the Devaney Springs in a ten mile radius.

These were in the Virgin Valley.

Very healthy looking too.

We pulled up beside a a lone stallion on the passenger side and I gave Bruce the camera. I told him to get some shots. The stallion was just standing profile at the time. Bruce said he didn't know how. I told him to get the horse in the viewfinder, push, and hold the button (I know it's a shutter release, but Bruce thinks it is a button). Anyway, this is what he got. Wonderful.

The best shot of our trip. His tail was sticking straight out too, but the zoom was too tight.

We spent our days exploring tracks that are on old USGS maps and rock hunting. My poor old Samurai was loaded to it's limit with us and our gear let alone a hundred pounds of petrified wood and other rocks. We did bring home our government allotted daily allowance of rocks (+ or - a little). Who carries scales in the desert?

Our biggest perplexity was the strange potty habits of the horses. They poop in the road! There is a lot of poop in the roads. We even watched one lone stallion race us to a spot in the road so he could poop there before we got there. Not kidding, he galloped. I did stop so he could finish his business somewhat undisturbed.

A very large but old speed bump.

Every fifty yards or so there is a speed bump.

Smaller but newer.

Around twelve inches high.

Fresh.

So much for horse poop pictures. I decided they are Nevada speed bumps, they are that big, on roads that don't need speed bumps. If anyone can explain why horses use the road as their toilet please let me know. I'll pass it on to Bruce.

Mare and three mules.

These were Hollywood equine. This mare always had these three mules with her at the same spring. They were also by themselves. On our way back to camp one afternoon I decided to photograph this rock outcrop with it's lichen. These four were nearby on my backside at the spring. After setting up a tripod and camera I noticed them running around us to get in the picture. They first ran from the left to right then turned and ran right back, to make sure I got it I guess. Then they meandered back to spring.

Our camp at Devaney Springs.

Some kind of old mine.

Find the Samurai.

One of the trips we went on took us about thirty miles to get within 1.5 to 2 miles of our camp. On the map it looked like we could make it clear through. Since I'm writing this you can guess we couldn't. We backtracked partly then went up a hill that you shouldn't go up in a vehicle. Especially a very short wheelbase vehicle like a Samurai. We would have been in trouble if Samurai couldn't make it. Like tip over trouble. But, with our weight and the weight of the rocks, tools, etc. we made it. Another fifty miles and we were back at camp. When I say fifty miles I am talking rocky, pounding miles in a stiff suspension, short wheelbase, 4x4. We were beat.

Virgin Creek above Virgin Valley.

Mary's cowboy clouds.

Crack for Virgin Creek above the valley.

Wet spot in the rocks.

Unfortunately it was quite windy and had stormed so I didn't get any colorful sunrise or sunsets. Most days were pretty cloudy. The above four pictures are on our way to Virgin Valley. We did get a shower at the RV park there.

After eight nights we had had enough and came home totally happy with our trip.

Nevada Trip, Spring 2012

First night at Steven's Camp, High Rock Canyon area.

This trip was over a year in the planning which was mostly due to an unexpected postponement of the original date. Now I have delayed posting for over three months.

My brother, Bruce, and I planned to make a week to ten day camping trip in the Nevada desert (which could be anywhere in Nevada I guess). And we were going to tent camp with two vehicles. I wanted to take the Samurai over so we could visit rougher areas than we could take my truck. I have a tent and large air mattress for the back of the truck and Bruce would tent on the ground. Our desire was not to rough it too much but also get into some rough country. We did that.

The truck and Samurai were stuffed with supplies, tools, fuel, etc. A week or ten days is a long time when there will be no stores to replenish our stocks, or get a shower. I towed the Samurai as it is not a fun ride on a long highway trip.

Holey Rocks!

We began our stay near the upper end of High Rock Canyon at Steven's Camp. There was a nice very small stream and poplar trees. It was cold, windy and a tiny bit wet. We tried to time the trip before the desert got hot so we wouldn't need showers as bad or as often (we did sponge bath in frigid water).

It is a pretty cool ride through the canyon, but you do need some clearance. I used low transfer case gears because first gear in high was a little too fast over the rough rocky road.

Spent three days exploring around this area and rock-hounding.  Many of the roads we wanted to explore are now closed off by BLM. It can't be from overuse as they are deplorable (just what we wanted) and we only saw two other rigs in four days. I guess someone decided it is good to shut us out of most of the area.

Obviously the entrance to Yellow Rock Canyon.

Bruce in the emigrant wagon wheel tracks.

A nice overlook of the meadow to have lunch.

Living room size cave. Blackened with fire smoke inside.

Emigrant graffiti with my watermark :) near the cave.

Bighorn sheep, ewes and lambs.

There were at least five lambs.

On the morning we left this camp it was sleeting, raining, blowing, and dusty all at once. We traveled up into the Sheldon Antelope Refuge at Devaney Springs. It was grassy here but no creek. I'll post the rest of the trip soon. Lots of horses here.

Blue Moon (or the day after)

_DSC3103, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

The day after the blue moon. The moon was smoke orange both days though due to wildfires.

Male Hooded Oriole

Male Hooded Oriole, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I think Redding is almost the far northern limit of the Hooded Oriole. We get them every year. They nest in neighborhood palm trees.

The male is very shy and flighty. He doesn't like to land on props we put up and won't even come around if there is too much extra stuff around the feeder. The female doesn't seem to care all that much.

Two Outta Three

Two Outta Three, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the evening a couple of nights ago shooting owls. I only got these two of three owlets at one time. To view more owl shots visit my Flickr Photostream.

Owls Too

Great Horned Owl on her nest.

More Turkey Shoot

What Turkey?

Shooting turkey's in Palo Cedro today. They are so common and prolific these days that it is hard to believe they weren't 20-30 years ago. Perfect cloud cover for rich saturated color too.