Imperial National Wildlife Refuge is along the Colorado River. There are mountains on the California side, then the river, small ponds, and wetlands, then several large flat "overlooks" of volcanic rock and ash. Then comes a single dirt 4x4 road, then scrub desert, and finally baron wasteland that would make the moon seem bare. (There are huge rounded mud pits that have long since hardened into rock). I arrived at Imperial at 5:00 AM (as planned) to catch the early morning animals. Desert animals and birds take cover during the heat of midday. But, I stayed all day getting wonderful photos of Feral Burros, Desert Bighorn Sheep, and a few other little animals and birds that "popped out" occasionally.
At the end of the dirt road (about 15 miles out from the visitor's center) is the Red Cloud Mine, which was a Silver Mine that opened in 1870 but played out by 1890. The mine has had several owners since and is famous for lustrous orange-red, bladed crystals of wulfenite. But, it was very small scale and only got occasional visitors. I think it has been abandoned since 2003. It is about an hour and a half drive one way from the visitor's center to Red Cloud Mine. I had been all the way out to the mine (three times) and was just finishing up the last trip back. It was now sunset, and I thought I had enough photos for the day, but decided to go out on the last overlook: the Palo Verde Overlook. Although I was getting pretty hungry at this point, I thought, "what the heck" it's only a couple more minutes, maybe there will be something special. Special indeed! 15 Feral Burros with some very young colts. Here is my favorite of the them all:
At the end of the dirt road (about 15 miles out from the visitor's center) is the Red Cloud Mine, which was a Silver Mine that opened in 1870 but played out by 1890. The mine has had several owners since and is famous for lustrous orange-red, bladed crystals of wulfenite. But, it was very small scale and only got occasional visitors. I think it has been abandoned since 2003. It is about an hour and a half drive one way from the visitor's center to Red Cloud Mine. I had been all the way out to the mine (three times) and was just finishing up the last trip back. It was now sunset, and I thought I had enough photos for the day, but decided to go out on the last overlook: the Palo Verde Overlook. Although I was getting pretty hungry at this point, I thought, "what the heck" it's only a couple more minutes, maybe there will be something special. Special indeed! 15 Feral Burros with some very young colts. Here is my favorite of the them all:
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| Mom, Dad, and Baby |
The first thing I did when I got home was to email this photo to our grandchildren, Noah and Ruby. This little colt looked like a stuffed toy, just not even real. Please click to enlarge. A sweeter wild animal I have never seen -- well, right up there with the Bobcat kittens anyway.
But, what a delight!!!! My intuition about wildlife was "spot on."
But, what a delight!!!! My intuition about wildlife was "spot on."
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