Bighorn Sheep

An “armless” saguaro at Organ Pipe National Monument is outlined by the sun’s setting rays.

David McElroy and his wife Edith Barrowclough came down from Alaska recently to visit Peggy and me at our home in Southern Oregon. Edith went to high school with Peggy in Port Clinton, Ohio. David is an Alaskan Bush Pilot and a published poet, which makes for an interesting combination.

In addition to the high school connection, our son Tony now flies helicopters for the Coast Guard out of Kodiak, Alaska and I once lived in Alaska. We also share a love of wandering. We told stories, visited a local winery, and ate Thai food in Jacksonville. Edith and Dave are good folks; we enjoyed the visit.

David left us a special present. He downloaded several unpublished poems from his computer to my MacBook. One, about a desert walk, reminded me of similar walks that Peggy and I have taken at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and other locations throughout the Southwest.

I decided to post David’s poem today (with his permission) and illustrate it with our photos from Organ Pipe. The National Monument is located in Southern Arizona on the border with Mexico. (My pardon for the skipped lines… I fought for two hours trying to turn off Microsoft’s paragraph function. Grrrr. Maybe one of my readers can give me the solution. I am sure somebody will say, “It’s simple Curt…”

Desert Walk

Armless saguaro too young to wave

much less salute but old enough

for sex open their white flowers

to night and pollinating bats

that might, that must, come by.

Except for grasses, Mesquite

and most plants here hang seedpods,

a rich feed ripening for two kinds of doves,

these little rats along the trail,

cottontails, and ducks in the creek.

And so the need for hanging hawks,

owls that burrow, coyotes wafting

like dust through creosote brush,

and in the heat among cactus thorns

snakes sewing the needles of themselves.

Lush rock in low sun, green cattails,

the beat up tin of water over gravel,

hopeful saguaro ruler straight–

over a hill, around a bend,

the land composes a scene of itself.

And the woman on whom nothing is lost

aims her camera with one hand,

and with the other in complete confidence

passes the cup she’s been holding

over her shoulder to the hand

in the desert behind her which is mine.

A saguaro “ruler straight.” Note the thorny protection. Peggy and I, and I am sure David and Edith, are quite careful when walking among cacti.

I prefer my saguaros with arms. It gives them more personality.

Check out the wild ‘gesture’ of the saguaro to the right and behind. The power lines are running to the headquarters of Organ Pipe National Monument.

A coyote went “wafting like dust through creosote brush.” I took this photo at Death Valley National Park.

The desert Bighorn Sheep is another inhabitant of Organ Pipe National Monument, although rarely seen. I caught this big fellow hanging out near Lake Mead.

An organ pipe cactus is on the left in this scene from Organ Pipe National Monument. The cactus in front is a cholla. The cactus behind it is a barrel cactus.

A view across Organ Pipe National Monument showing the desert and rugged mountains. Peggy and I were out on an early morning walk.

One concern from anyone traveling to the National Monument is its location on the Mexican Border and the drug issue. I pulled this photo of the border fence at Organ Pipe off of the web. There has to be a better solution than building fences between nations. It reminds me of the Berlin Wall.

On a happier note, I’ll conclude with another photo from our early morning desert walk featuring saguaro and organ pipe cacti. The cactus on the left with the skinny (and spiked) limbs is an ocotillo.

The Desert Bighorn Sheep of the southern Nevada desert calmly eyed me.

He stood there with his magnificent rack of horns, eyeing me and idly chewing on grass. Normally this shy creature of the Southwest deserts would have been hunkering down in the shade on a remote cliff, hiding out from the intense summer sun of southern Nevada and avoiding people and other likely predators.

The greenery of a small park had seduced him and his companions, however. Each day they made a pilgrimage down from their hidden mountain retreat to graze on the tender foliage and contemplate the good life. Unfortunately, two-legged animals came with the territory. We had to be tolerated.

He did not have to tolerate the large Bighorn Sheep that waited for him on the edge of the park, challenging his right to the green grass and threatening to steal his lovely ewes. In a ritual dating back to ancient times, he reared up and charged full speed ahead, smashing into his enemy’s horns time and time again until the intruder was driven from the path. But the rival was as tough as he was stubborn. The next morning, he was there again, waiting…

It was a beautiful location for a new home. A green park placed just below the house provided relief from the parched desert. Surrounding mountains offered glorious picture window views. The man and his wife felt they had found heaven on earth. The loud crash that jarred them out of their bed changed their perspective. Their insurance agent refused to believe their story.

To get their money they had to have photos of the Bighorn ram that challenged his reflection on their metal garage door each morning. (A neighbor of the homeowner related the above story to us.)

It was easy to understand how the Bighorn could do serious damage. An adult male weighs over 200 pounds and sports 30-pound horns. Plus he can clock out at 30 mph on level ground. Big Bang. Big Dent. His head is specially designed to absorb the shock. Rams have been known to crash horns for up to 24 hours to win a ewe.

Prior to my visit to the small park near Lake Meade I had only seen Desert Bighorn Sheep as small specks on high cliffs or along side canyons of the Colorado River. They are ideally suited for their mountainous, desert environment. Their hooves allow them to perch on two-inch ledges. They are capable of making prodigious leaps of up to 20 feet to land on another ledge, scrambling over difficult terrain at 15 mph. They can also go several days without drinking water, living off of the water they process from plants.

I spent a pleasant morning photographing the sheep doing what sheep do.

The Desert Bighorn Sheep totally ignored a jack-rabbit hopping by.

It would be hard to sneak up on these Bighorn Sheep. Note how each one is checking out a different direction. Predators include mountain lions, golden eagles and man. At one point, they were almost hunted to extinction.

I thought mowing machine when I watched these three rams munch their way across the park.

Both male and female Bighorn Sheep grow horns but the horns of the males curve all of the way around and can weigh up to 30 pounds. I was amused by this guy sticking his tongue out.

Who gets the girl? During mating season the two large rams would be charging each other from 20 feet away and crashing their horns together to determine who wins the lovely ewe. Battles have been known to go on for 24 hours.