My trip had begun at Indian Ranch and when I got to Ballarat I saw Paul Jones out in front of his of his place, Paulís wife made a great hamburger and Paul would sell you a beer if there werenít any strangers around, all this without licenses and permits and this would eventually cause Paul problems.
Paul was in a dressing gown and sitting in an overstuffed chair. Paul Jones! Paul and I passed the time of day a bit and then Paul began to stuff all the pockets of my jacket with beer. Three cans to each side pocket, two in each breast pocket, ten cans of beer for my trip to Goler. Why did he do that? Itís a long story and Iím not going to tell it now, he did it and that is what matters . And now I was looking at the burro and a few beers short of the original ten. Have you ever looked at vultures up close? Their haughty and indifferent. Iím no spring chicken and I was thinking that if I keeled over from a heart attack would they prefer me over the burro? Thirteen vultures and me and a dead burro blocking the way.
About three hundred yards back down the road was a good camp site with plumbing. A pipe ran from Jackass Springs to an old bathtub, I could sit in the tub and have a couple of beers and let the vultures get back to dinner. In the night the coyotes would come and by morning the road would be clear of the burro and then I could make my grand entrance to Greater View. The thing I could never get over is that the coyotes eat the burroís hide. Youíll see a dead burro in the daytime with the ravens and the golden eagles and vultures pecking away, the hide is too tough for them so, as I said,
they go for the soft parts. Come back the next morning after the coyotes have been there and nothing but scattered bones! Hardly enough for the scavenger birds to peck at, the ants doing the final cleanup. Coyotes can make two sounds at the same time, like the throat singers of Tuva, notice sometime when the coyotes are howling and yipping how they all stop at the same time. Maybe you are only hearing one coyote.
Lots of things going on in the desert, more than most people think. Snakes are what they usually think about, but there arenít many snakes in this part of the desert. Some but not many and nobody ever has any problems with them. What you have problems with are gnats and horseflies. In certain times of the year a type of gnat will come out about an hour after sunrise, bother you for an hour and then do the same thing around sundown. Out on the valley floor the horseflies and gnats will drive you crazy. The horseflies have gray backs and only the female bites but that is enough. They are attracted to sweat and in the summer there is plenty of sweat. Thatís why it is nice to get up into the canyons, away from the gnats and horseflies.
After dinner and a bath and a few beers in the bathtub the sun is down and the stars are out and I can lay back and look at the satellites going by. Thatís another thing a lot of people donít know, that you can see satellites flying by all the time at night. Not exactly all the time, up to a couple of hours after sunset and a couple of hours before sunrise. When the sun reflects off of them. But that is enough. Maybe no satellites in the middle of the night but the coyotes will be working to clear the road to Greater
View.
Harold Ericsson (Birdman)
hericsson2@aol.com
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