April 25, 2012

Today was park cleanup day, and a bunch of park employees met at 8am and dispersed across the park to spend about 6 hours cleaning. I went with the paleo group, and we covered Conata Road, Conata picnic area, and the loop road from Conata to the Pinnacles entrance. If you know the park you know that this is a very large area. There were six of us and two trucks, and we walked the sides of the road in pairs. The trucks were shuttled so that you'd walk a ways, reach a truck, drive it past the other pairs, park, then keep cleaning until you met up with the next truck that was driven ahead. Worked great. Probably walked a good four miles or more, cleaning. The most interesting part was at the end, by the Pinnacles entrance. Yesterday there was a prescribed burn up there, from sage creek road to the pinnacles entrance. Ryan had helped with that, so we got the stories last night. Was interesting to see the freshly charred prairie and walk along the soot. We found a bunch of old fencing pieces, metal stakes, and thick wires in the burned area, and worked to clean those up. In the process we discovered a few rattle snakes. Two were dead, charred in the burn. Photos below. One had bit itself, the other looked to be trying to find something to bite. With our group was the head of resources management, and he told us there's a rattlesnake den nearby, which the paleos found. There was at least one still alive in there, we could hear him rattling. After the cleanup, everyone met in the visitor's center for a nacho snack. I then headed to my apartment to finish putting labels on all the kids' paintings, and brought those over to the VC. Then spent a couple hours painting, had dinner, and noticed a spectacular sunset. Ran out to take photos and found Ed along the way, who hiked with me. On the way back to the quad, I went to take a step and shrieked. I almost stepped on a rattle snake while wearing sandals. He was pretty small, and not rattling, but looked very angry. Ed said he's a juvenile, which are the most dangerous since they don't rattle, and they don't control their venom: they'll pump everything they have into you. Older adults learn to control it since they need to conserve it to use on their prey. After that a bunch of us headed to the Wagon Wheel to play cards. Wednesday night is the night that park employees meet up.

By the Pinnacles entrance sign, burn in the background.

Charred rattler, head at the top where it is twisted around,
having bitten itself.

Another charred rattler.

Sunset on Angel Butte, behind the quad.

Sunset behind the quad.

The juvenile rattler I nearly stepped on. Ed says that when
they stick out their tongue and hold it there, like this guy
is doing, it means they're really angry. Super!

The quad.

Photos to come, still working o going through them all.

April 24, 2012

Another day in the South Unit. Started on Cuny Table, and met a tribal park employee who brought along a Rhino (think ATV but bigger with a small bed in back). He and Steven sat in front, and I rode in the back. We started at the top of the slide, a “road” I wrote about in an earlier blog. Crazy insane, but fun! We then drove all around, mostly on roads I had been on with Ryan the last time, only the weather was much nicer. After our first stop, our guide told me that a lot of people will stand in the back, and lean on the roll bars to take photos. He said I should do that, and that he'd drive slow so I don't fall. Well, I took him up on that, and spent the entire day standing on the back of this rhino, holding onto the bar with one hand, taking copious amounts of photographs with the other hand. It was just like being on safari. Surfing safari, since I had to balance my weight like on a surfboard to avoid falling off as we drove on all the bumpy roads and down through the creeks. There were a few times that I just about fell off, losing one leg to the air and hanging on for dear life. It was a great day. While out driving, I twice saw the foal that Ryan and I rescued from the hole. He was running with his herd, leading the way. Awesome. The rhino kept overheating, so we took several breaks in the shade of trees near Battle Creek. Our guide would fill a water bottle with the silty water and spray it over the radiator to cool it down. The temperature was in the 90s, and we were out for many hours, so it was definitely a tough day for that machine. Through the day, I saw: a lush area created by a natural spring at the base of Cuny Table, more old cars, the bulldozer, two herds of horses, lots of cattle, and so much more. Probably the most adventurous moment of the day was on our way back. The slope up out of one of the creek beds was a bit too angled, and I could feel the rhino hit the point where it was tipping over into the creek. Since I was standing, I quickly flung myself to the other side and pulled it back from tipping, but it was still at a very precarious balance with one wheel in the air. I slowly climbed over the side while hanging on, and was able to pull the rhino down while our guide backed it up and got that other wheel back on the ground. He then backed up and took a different approach up the creek while I waited. After, he said, “that was scary.” We got back to the quad about dinner time, and I made chili and fries for everyone. A few of us then hiked out behind the quad as the sun set, and Amanda and I took of for a run through the buttes, circling back to meet the rest. We made a trip over to the Wagon Wheel where I got a phone call to say Kieran broke his arm while outside playing, racing around the house with the neighbor. Poor guy. Amanda, Ed, and I then went to Ryan's to have snacks and play a little ping pong.