A Tired Tortoise’s Tale…

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Names have been changed to protect the innocent and anonymous. I have a one track mind.  Lately, all I did was think about sleep and getting ready for sleep.  I was moving slowly, feeling a chill, and noticing the sun setting a little earlier each day, telling me the clock-changing time was soon here.  Oh, [...]

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Winter Not for Batwatching

Year of the Bat logo

In autumn and winter, we seem to be racing through the holidays.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Year’s.  What are some of the animals that we connect to these events?  Whether for their symbolism or their activity at certain times of the year, some animals just seem to conjure up images of these holidays.  That [...]

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A Pretty Little Secret That Hides In Morongo Valley: “The Big Morongo Canyon Preserve”

The Canyon

Only a 20 minute drive from downtown Palm Springs is a place with much cooler temperatures, it is an oasis that is located at the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert.  This oasis is considered a secret hideaway by many people and animals, this oasis is called the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.  After you visit this Preserve [...]

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Morning Desert Challenges

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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: Summer, 2011: – There was a faint but growing orange glow on the horizon.  The glow added an orange tint to the eastern facing layered sedimentary rocks of the Borrego Badlands.  If I was a little taller, I probably would have been able to see the Salton Sea from here. Sunrise [...]

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Flaming Cajon

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September 2, 2011: If getting though Cajon Pass and up to the California high desert is a challenge on the average Friday; you can imagine how much more of a challenge the trip is on the last three-day weekend of the summer.  Any traffic going northwards towards Vegas, Death Valley, or Lake Havasu must snake [...]

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The 7-10 Split?

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I’m no bowler, but I do know that a 7-10 split usually sucks. I’ve recently noticed this split. Pin #7, @Trona National Monument, CA Photo taken 8/31/2008 Conditions: 115F with 100% chance of sandstorm… *** Pin #10, @ Christmas Tree Pass Road, NV (near Laughlin, Nevada) Photo taken 9/2/2011 Conditions: 95F with 100% chance of [...]

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Model Rocketry On The Mojave

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The Mojave Desert has been associated with fast flying projectiles for a long time, they seem to go together well, like a hamburger and fries.  One of the best known examples of this partnership is at Edwards Air Force Base, it is well known as a hotbed of rocket, jet and test pilot history.  As many people [...]

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Rock Piles

Cairn in Valley of Fire

Some folks say the Mojave Desert is just a bunch of rocks – a “gravel pit.”  While other deserts around the world seem to be made of pure sand, those in the American Southwest are a bit rockier.  Sand dunes exist, only in sparse locales.  The huge monolithic structures that stand out so strikingly from [...]

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Desert Action

In Vasquez Rocks

From a collection of people in strange locations…

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The Story of Two Inconspicuous Giants

The Author With His Dog Inside King Clone (Inset: King Clone From Above)

Imagine the Mojave Desert nearly 12,000 years ago.  It was a wetter place but the Ice Age was just coming to an end and many animals were becoming extinct.  Mammoths, mastadons, saber tooth cats, giant ground sloths and other animals would soon be wiped off of the face of the earth.  At this time one small [...]

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