Valley of Fire - December 2018 - Part Two

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Part Two of Our Winter Break Trip

 

Twenty-three Sheep for Christmas

The sky was dark Christmas morning. Clouds hung low in the sky. The Lady and I began our morning walk with our coffee mugs but made a quick retreat back to the camper as the first raindrops spattered on the ground around us.

The squall pounded the camper with rain and the wind rocked us.

"Time to make you pancakes for Christmas morning!" I announced to the Lady.

She put together all the needed ingredients on the counter and I got to work. Her eyes were glued to the window, scanning for anything of interest.

"A pickup stopped on the road into the campground," she noted her observation. "I suspect sheep are out."

The Lady was correct. A band of rams was slowly moving through the flats east of the campground. There was a knock on our door. I beat Wandering Sagebrush to the punch.

"Have you seen one with a red nose?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh, I get your joke," Steve quickly replied. "I wanted to point out the two rams that are walking right by our campers."

Two additional rams moved along our camper.

"Thanks Steve, but I'm in the middle of making pancakes for Julie."

The Lady hopped out of the camper. The squall had passed leaving in its wake the smell of desert rain and damp red earth.

"I'm going to follow the boys," the Lady announced. "Can I take the camera and try to shoot some pictures?"

"You bet!" I answered as I handed her the camera.

The Lady returned just as the blueberry pancakes were ready. "I hope the photos are good," she said. "The boys were pretty calm." She had returned with the best photo from our entire trip.

We were not going stay in the camper with the weather. We'd find out how the weather developed by being out in it. With our packs on and bundled in our rain gear, we started out from camp. Julie wanted to hike the Prospect Trail but no need to drive to the trailhead. We hiked cross country until we intersected the trail, happy to add the distance. We looked back at the distant campground.

The storm was breaking. We removed layers and resumed our adventure winding through amazing red rock - ancient buried sand dunes now exposed and eroded by wind and water.

We hiked in solitude. As we neared the north end of the trail at White Domes, we began to encounter small groups of hikers that entered from that trailhead. We turned off trail into a side canyon to explore and continue in quiet. This canyon held some of the most colorful and beautiful sandstone we had ever experienced.

We wandered. The Lady led the way. We were very happy kids.

We made a long loop to the north and then turned west. We needed to then head back to the south to intersect our trail back to the campground. Dropping in and out of deep red gullies made our route finding wonderful and exciting.

I've written many times in the past about the Lady's magical relationship with bighorn sheep. They seem to know when she is about. We stopped for a quick break along the trail and the group of girls popped over the hill to say hello.

This was a Christmas to remember with exquisite rock and bighorn. We could not have asked for a more spectacular day.

Are you getting sleepy? Have you been counting sheep?

We encountered number 23, a young ram, just as the trail descended out of the rocks on our way back across to the campground.

Yes, it was twenty-three sheep for Christmas. We hope that your holidays were as magical as this.

Wednesday morning we said goodbye to the Sagebrushers and thanked them for their gracious hospitality. Our quick decision to bypass Death Valley had turned out just right.

We loaded into the truck and headed toward Arizona. What lay ahead for us?

Our Winter Break adventure continues. Please click here for - Part Three