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The Long, Long List
“I count sixteen big ears!” the Lady reported, her eyes glued to her see mores. I was making dinner inside our camper. The Lady was just outside the camper using it for a windbreak and keeping track of the eight mule deer less than a hundred yards to our north. “They all laid down up close to the rock outcrop. They want to get out of the wind too. That’s why I only see ears now. But they’re still watching us and looking this way.” The Lady continued her report. A storm front was blowing through and the wind, out of the west, was brutal.
We were back in the Volcanic Tablelands north of Bishop, California. We were back to search for several ancient rock art sites in the Owens Valley area, to try to whittle down that long, long list of sites our research has turned up and accumulated over many years.
The storm winds raced over the Sierra Nevada and created lenticular clouds to the east of the crest.
We had intentionally pointed the truck and camper into the wind.
The wind, of course, did not keep us from a long walk in the evening after our dinner. We watched for breaks in the clouds for possible shafts of sunlight that may provide dramatic light.
Because of the wind we kept to the gullies and discovered the migrating mule deer – starting their move back up into the high country – were doing the same as we encountered two more groups of eight deer.
Being very used to being rocked to sleep by the wind, we slept well. The wind had calmed and the clouds had cleared at dawn the next morning.
Note – The Lady and I found and visited 28 archeological sites during this week-long adventure. This was our focus. I will post several photos of the sites in Part Four of this narrative, but will provide little information as to the locations and will not have them in order with our travels.
This second day in the Volcanic Tablelands we did several cross-country hikes. It is our habit to stop often, orient ourselves with our map and the terrain, and “stay found”.
The tablelands were alive with wildflowers and reptiles, in fact stunningly so.
Scale Bud (Anisocoma acaulis)
Venus Blazing Star (Mentzelia nitens)
Whitedaisy Tidytips (Layia glandulosa)
A small zebra-tailed lizard
Horned Lizard aka baby dinosaur.
We had an encounter with young cowboys. Cows were recently moved onto the BLM grazing allotments. In places they were still bunched up. Our search for one site was interrupted – our choice, we did not want to get in the way - by cowboys working with the cattle.
These two were young, fearless, and at home in the saddle. We moved to a high point on an outcrop of Bishop Tuff and watched the two rope and tie up two cows. They left them in place on the ground in different areas and moved on. Having seen us, they took a break and rode over to check us out.
“Did you GPS your cows?” the Lady asked.
The two boys looked puzzled.
“So, you can find them later,” the Lady explained.
“Naw. We can find ‘em,” one answered with confidence.
“Are you branding?” I asked.
“Yup. There’s only a few that need branding. Not enough to do a round up and bring ‘em all to the corral. But we want to get it done now before they scatter more.” I was curious why it was large cows that needed branding and not young ones, but I failed to ask that question.
“We’ll come back and brand them. And we’ll find ‘em all.” He gave the Lady a smile.
They were joined by a friend, out of uniform wearing a baseball cap, and the three rode back to their parked stock trailer.
Later we watched them rope and bring down a cow in the middle of Fish Slough Road, tie it up, and get a small hot branding fire going in the graded wide edge of the road – they used a torch out in the sage – much to the surprise of an urban visitor driving up in a brand new, spotless 4 Runner.
On our next stops we continued to encounter lizards. Here’s another small zebra-tailed.
Here’s a female Leopard Lizard decked out in her vivid breeding colors.
Our second night found us back at one of our favorite secluded spots in the Volcanic Tablelands.
The brutal wind was back, but this time out of the north. It did not keep us from our long evening walk.
We came upon several flowering bushes among the sage we do not remember seeing before. A high ISO and very fast shutter enabled me to get a decent photo in the wind.
Giant Four O'clock (Mirabilis multiflora)
The next morning was glorious and I suspect you can see why we enjoy this spot so much. It is worth putting up with the wind.
I wandered at dawn before the aroma of Peets coffee brought me back to the camper.
Desert Larkspur (Delphinium parishii)
Evening Snow (Linanthus dichotomus)
The Lady handed me our mugs of coffee, climbed out of the camper, and announced, “Let’s walk up the road!”
We did.
The abundant Scale Buds had not yet opened to the
morning’s sun. The flowers were still closed from overnight. Note: the Lady says, "They're still sleeping."
We reached the end of the road and continued on, climbed a cliff band, and topped out with a nice view of the Sierra Nevada.
“Let’s do a big circle back to the truck!” was the Lady’s announcement this time. I cautioned, “We’ll have to handle the cliff band we just climbed and I expect a higher one in about a half mile.”
“We’ll handle them,” I heard as she took off to the south.
About a half mile further, we came to the top of a major cliff band.
As I was surveying our options, I heard, “We can get down here.”
The Scale Buds were beginning to open as we crossed the flats.
We had an interesting sight as we returned to our campsite. Off and on during the early morning, we’d heard the sounds of a small airplane. Our campsite was on a low ridge top with a swale to the east. As we approached camp the airplane sound increased and we were surprised when a bush plane rose into sight out of the swale, did a U turn at truck level, and passed within 50 feet of our truck and camper, checking it out. By the time I recovered from the surprise and grabbed the camera, it had gained altitude and was headed back to the small airport in Bishop.
We spent most of the day searching for sites in the Tablelands. It was an outstanding day with clear skies and pleasant temperatures.
We were always surrounded by flowers, including more dandy Scale Buds.
Our third night was a romantic and restorative retreat back to the magical hot spring waters at Benton.
We enjoy walking up the grade of highway 120 west of Benton. The evening views are wondrous. Many times, we’ll return downhill via a short steep dirt road.
Since 120 has been closed for repairs from the washouts, now with very little traffic, we’ve consistently found new mountain lion tracks along the shoulder of the highway and down this dirt road. The big cat has been making its rounds.
The wind was still ever present as evidenced by the lenticulars beyond the White Mountain's Montgomery and Boundary Peaks.
The next morning, with all ills healed and all cares soaked away, we headed south to further whittle away at that long, long list.
Our adventure continues. Please click here for - Part Two
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