August - January 2020 -- The Last of the 2019 Highlights, Now It's Back on the Road...

More catching up to do as I'll be leaving tomorrow (January 28, 2020) for another boondocking stay at the mesa south of the town of Overton, Nevada for the month of February then be on the road with my 2015 Lance 1685 travel trailer that I've named "Discovery" until the end of June, visiting Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument, then east to Texas and Big Bend Nat'l Park, the Rio Grande Valley and South Padre Island for birding, then north to Utah, Colorado, back down to New Mexico for exploring petroglyph and pictograph rock art sites, then home. So without further ado --

August 6 -- I'd seen male Painted Buntings in Texas and here at Willow Tank, but this one did me a favor and came to my back yard water feature. 

August 14 -- While on a hike to Ash Spring to see a rare White-eared hummingbird nest, Winn Falls (the locals prefer to call it by its old name of Sally Falls) was a shade of green and purple that was probably due to the angle of sunlight we were viewing it from. 

August 20 -- Along with the White-eared hummingbird we were privileged with the presence of a Berylline. Circumstances led us to believe there were two, a male and a female, though they weren't seen together. 

September 1 -- The female White-eared hummingbird successfully fledged two nestlings. Here's one of them shortly after fledging. 

Also on September 1, an adult male Blue Grosbeak made an appearance at the backyard water feature, 

October 9 -- It was a late summer and early fall for birds rarely seen here. This female Prothonotary Warbler was at a friend's backyard feeders for about 2 weeks.

November 10 -- I had been selected for a federal trial in Tucson so decided to take my trailer instead of staying in a motel.  One of the campgrounds was Gilbert Ray, south of Tucson in Tucson Mountain Park. We had a few spectacular "saguaro sunsets". 

November 10 -- I was dismissed from the trial during jury selection -- shucks! -- and arrived back home to view some fall color. This is the venerable Arizona sycamore tree at our post office.

December 4 -- I met some full-time RVing friends at Roosevelt Lake northeast of Phoenix and stayed there for about a week. During one of our drives around the area we found a campground that had 2 male Vermilion Flycatchers. They put on quite a show, sallying forth from eye-level tree branches and not bothered by our being close to them. I cropped this photo; we weren't THIS near to them, but it's probably the best Vermilion portrait I'll ever get.

December 6 -- A sunrise over Roosevelt Lake as viewed from one of our campsites. 

December 28 -- I visit my dad during the Christmas holidays and his condo has a great view of the Los Angeles basin. Here are the snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains and the skyscrapers of downtown LA. You can even see the planes coming in for a landing at LAX, out of sight on the left. 

December 28 -- Coming home; this is looking into Cave Creek Canyon from Highway 80. 

December 31 -- I volunteered at our visitor info center that day; here's how it looks inside.

January 4 2020 -- My camera "arsenal" that I'll be taking with me on my 5-month road trip. From left to right, the 500 f/4 MK II lens, the 7D MK II body with a 17-55 f/2.8 lens, and the 7D with a 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 lens. It's all Canon equipment which makes me a "Canonite". 

Whew!  Now I'm caught up and ready for the adventures to come. Stay tuned...

May-August 2019 -- Lizards and Bobcats and Birds, Oh My! -- Back Home in Portal

OMG, it's already January 9, 2020!  I have to get caught up with what I've been doing since my last post here that ended with spending part of last year's spring in Overton, Nevada, if only because I'm going back to Overton in a little over 3 weeks' time. So let's pick up where I left off, shall we? 

April 30 -- After spending nearly 4 months on the Overton mesa I made my way back home. One of the places I visited what is probably my favorite national park --  Capitol Reef.  I boondocked at this spot close to the park's east entrance. 

May 4th -- From Capitol Reef I drove along one of the last original sections of Route 66 and ended up in Winslow, Arizona. Though a bit kitschy, one of the sights that brings tourists to Winslow is "Standin' On A Corner", a homage to the Eagle's song "Take It Easy"("Well I'm standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona"). Lyrics from the song are depicted by painted scenes on the side of a building.

May 7 -- One of the most fascinating places I've been to is El Morro Nat'l Monument in northwestern New Mexico.  El Morro is a sandstone bluff that juts above the surrounding landscape and has a 700-year-old pueblo on top. There's a pool of water alongside the bluff that passersby used as a reliable source of water, and they sometimes inscribed their names and stories on the rock walls. Petroglyphs are here along with the writings of Spanish conquistadors  and pioneers on their way west. This is the oldest inscription, made in 1605 by the first governor of New Mexico,  Don Juan de Onate.  

May 27th -- Back home in Portal.  Living here makes me want to try things I would never have dreamed of doing while living in Southern California. A fellow "Portalite" took me horseback riding with her. It was the first time I've been on a horse and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I wasn't even sore the day after. 

July 7th -- I had a roadrunner family running around my property

during summer, terrorizing the birds and trying to pick off hummingbirds by jumping off the roof and hoping to snag one on the hummingbird feeder. I had a Clark's Spiny Lizard I'd see on the house -- literally, as I would see it getting some sun on the roof. Until this day when one of the roadrunners presented its lifeless body to me. RIP.

July 17 -- I was watching a local bobcat family grow up. Here's one of the "bobkittens" in its blue-eyed stage. 

July 24 -- During summer I had two close encounters with Western Diamondback rattlesnakes in my back yard.  One I nearly stepped on just after sunset when it was starting to get dark, and here's the other that I saw underneath my side porch. Needless to say I wasn't this close to it; I used my 100-400 lens for the photo. A good reason to have a telephoto lens. 

August 6th -- It was a good year to see Elegant Trogons in Cave Creek Canyon. I even saw this juvenile Trogon.  Juveniles look like female adults except for the dots of white on the sides. 

August 12 -- One of the high spots of 2019 was finding two baby Texas horned lizards near the garage. They looked like perfect miniatures of the adult. Alas, they disappeared the next day and I bet they were -- well, you know. :o( 

I promise I'll get caught up to the present on my next post....

March-April 2019 -- Spring In The Nevada Desert

My apologies as it's now October 19 and I'm just getting around to posting about the rest of my boondocking stay at the Overton mesa earlier this year. What can I say except time flies and I get lazy. So without further ado here's a brief conclusion to the transition from winter to spring in the SE Nevada desert. 

March 7 -- It's been two weeks since the rare snowfall at the Valley of Fire but the rain sticks around for awhile longer. This was taken at one of my favorite spots for reflections and it's right along the White Domes Scenic Byway road. 

March 8 -- My friends Reb and Romain Babcock are also boondocking on the mesa; here's Reb after we hiked to the hills in the background looking for photo-ops. 

March 18 -- I'm a member of Lance Owners of America and posted about the Overton area on the online forum.  A few other "Lancers" came by for a few days to check things out. Here's Harriet,  a member who like me owns a Lance 1685 trailer. I took her to see some of my favorite areas including Gold Butte National Monument's Falling Man. 

March 26 -- The record-breaking wet winter is finally over and the wildflowers start to come out. Silverleaf Sunray is unique to the area around Lake Mead, growing only in gypsum-rich soil. This was taken along Northshore Road about 5 miles from the boondocking mesa. Those are the Virgin Mountains in the far distance. 

April 2 -- This desert horned lizard was only about 100 yards from my boondocking site. I nearly stepped on him as he blended in perfectly with the rocky ground. Desert horned lizards are referred to as "horny toads" but they're lizards, not toads. Go figure. 

Also on April 2 this is my boondocking site at sunset, looking to the east. There was only one other RVer this far out on the mesa.

April 6 -- California Bearpoppy, also called Las Vegas Bearpoppy, is similar to Silverleaf Sunray in that it grows in gypsum-rich soils. In fact, both forbs can sometimes be found near each other. It's a rare plant that has been considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

April 12 -- I usually head back home after my stay at Overton around the middle of March but it had been such a wet winter that I wanted to see the wildflowers set in the unique landscape of the Valley of Fire.  It wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, but it was still a sight that's rarely seen  in that abundance. Here are Desert Primrose along the White Domes Scenic Byway. 

April 14 -- I did quite a few hikes along the Northshore Road, looking for wildflowers.  This is gravel ghost, also known as tobacco weed and parachute plant. It prefers living in gravelly washes which is where I found it. 

April 22 -- On this day I did a drive to the high-desert corner of southwest Utah near the Nevada border and came upon this huge area of lupine. Hoping to come across scenes like this is why I extended my stay in SE Nevada.  Success!  

Also on April 22 -- It's an unusual sight to see wildflowers you usually associate with higher elevations mixed in with cactus, and the cactus blooms made it extra special. 

I finally headed in the direction of home at the beginning of May but I had a few more adventures along the way; next up, ambling along the old Route 66 and a visit to Petrified Forest National Park.

Nov-February 2019 -- After Alaska, A Rare White Winter in the Desert Southwest

I didn't stay very long back home in Portal before taking off again to southern California to spend the holidays with my dad. I'd dropped my trailer "Discovery" off at the Lance factory in Lancaster, CA in early November, thinking it would only take a few days to repair the damage done during the bone-rattling trip to Alaska and back, but was told that it would take 6 to 8 weeks (it turned out to be 3 months). While I was in Southern California  it snowed in Portal, the Chiricahuas and the San Simon Valley after Christmas -- a lot. 

This photo was taken by my friend Lori in Portal, showing Faranuf dusted in snow. As it turned out this was just the prelude to the big snowstorm, one of the biggest in years. 

The Storm Of January 2019. This is down in the San Simon Valley about 2 miles from Rodeo, New Mexico. Sky Island Grocery and Grill is a welcome eatery and grocery store for us, especially since the one in Rodeo closed. We now have 3 places to eat within a 20-mile radius. But this was a day to stay inside; it's a scene we don't see that often. This was taken by the Sky Island's owner, Jeff Gee. 

3 months and thousands of dollars later -- most of it thankfully paid by the insurance company -- I picked up Discovery and went to our usual late-winter hangout in SE Nevada near the town of Overton. It's adjacent to Valley of Fire State Park, one of my favorite areas for hiking and photography, though the entire area is visually stunning, especially if you like landscapes with very little or no signs of "development".  I've usually stayed at an RV park in town, but since Discovery is fully self-contained and has battery power re-charged by 2 solar panels I decided to boondock, i.e, go off-the-grid on a mesa south of Overton. I had spectacular views and privacy yet the town was only about 10 miles away if I needed gas, propane, groceries -- or a haircut. After the first few days of staying on the mesa for free -- and I would eventually stay for over 3 months -- I found myself wondering why I didn't do this long ago.

The boodocking mesa south of Overton. Discovery is the white dot on the lower right. The skies were dramatic with the winter being much colder and wetter than usual. 

The aftermath of one of the many storms that came through the area in February. 

By the middle of February the snow level had dropped to about 3000 feet; these are the Virgin Mountains. 

Then lower; Hurricane Cliffs in Arizona as seen from my boondock site using the 100-400 lens. 

On February 20 I went to the Lance dealership in Mesquite, about 40 miles from Overton, to get some work done on Discovery. By that time the snow level had nearly dropped all the way down to the desert floor. This is looking south from Interstate 15 to the Virgin Mountains. 

It snowed in Mesquite on the morning of the 21st. Palm trees dusted with snow? Residents said it hadn't snowed this much in over 40 years. 

After the work on Discovery was done I called up Valley of Fire State Park to see if it had snowed there, too. It had, another extremely rare event, so though I was staying at the RV park in Mesquite I raced back over there before it melted -- and this was all gone the next day. I'd waited years to see the Valley of Fire in snow. 

Looking south from Fire Canyon Road with the mountains of the Valley of Fire in the background. 

From Seven Sisters along the Valley of Fire Highway. 

This was near the end of February. By the middle of March the weather was warmer and the wildflowers started to come out, making for a colorful spring spectacle in the Desert Southwest that hadn't been seen in years. But that's for the next post...

North To, Then South From, Alaska July-October 2018

Time flies and here I am, back home at Faranuf in Portal on the east side of Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains after spending 4 months on the road going to, and from, Alaska.  A lot of things happened, some good, some bad, but I never regretted a moment of it. Here are some of the highlights. 

On the trail up Thomas Canyon in Nevada's Ruby Mountains, July 12.  The wildflower display was spectacular.

The Canadian Rockies in Jasper and Banff National Parks were one of the high points of the trip. 

Mt. Robson in the Canadian Rockies is the most impressive mountain I've ever seen, a true jaw dropper.  From July 24. 

Salmon Glacier, near Hyder, Alaska, July 27. 

Fireweed in bloom along the Glennallen Highway, August 11.  The Chugach Mountains are in the background. 

The Alaska Range as seen from the Richardson Highway south of Delta Junction. That's glacial silt blowing in the air on the Delta River. 

I turned 62 on August 20, so I went to get my America The Beautiful pass when I was in Fairbanks. 

 Denali was "out" for a few days,  just like during my 2016 North To Alaska trip.  This is along the Denali Highway near Cantwell. 

A closeup of Denali. 

As in 2016, I boondocked along Alaska's Denali Highway for a few days. 

One of my favorite off-the-grid sites was a pullout along the road to Lake Louise (the one in Alaska, not Canada). You can see vehicles on the Glennallen Highway and that's Tazlina Glacier and Tazlina Lake. August 24. 

Worthington Glacier, along the highway to Valdez, August 25. 

Meziadin Lake, along the Stewart-Cassiar Highway in British Columbia, September 12.  

Undoubtedly the best sunset I saw during the trip -- at Fraser Lake in British Columbia, September 13.  

Uh-oh...From September 30, Lamoille Canyon in Nevada's Ruby Mountains was on fire. It ended up burning nearly half of the canyon including Thomas Canyon, where I took the first photo in the post. 

Autumn puts on a dazzling display in NE Nevada's East Humboldt range, October 4. 

Along the trail to Winchell Lake in the East Humboldts, October 5. 

One of the most spectacular cloud displays I've ever seen, at Overton, Nevada, October 7. 

At Nevada's Valley Of Fire, October 25.