First Work Week at Camas

Well, we made it through the first week. As always the first week is challenging as we settle in and orient ourselves to both the area and the refuge. All refuges are similar yet each is unique. 

 

Monday USGS came out to assess the effectiveness of drone surveys versus fixed wing aircraft surveys of Trumpeter Swan nesting. This is the first time a drone has been flown on the refuge. They assembled the army surplus drone and tested it by flying quadrants  for about three hours. We were invited to observe the test.

 

Drone Assembly

Launch

Flight Operations

Each Tuesday we follow a specific route through the many miles of refuge two-track roads surveying large mammals and certain birds of interest as well as any newborns. This is also a good time to check on two Bat Monitor stations, changing the batteries and flash cards that record the bat echoes. 

 

Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons we are responsible for setting 45 small mammal traps. These traps are laid out in grids of nine each. The five 100 foot square grids are placed in areas of the refuge as determined by the biologist. These grids are moved each week. Wednesday and Thursday mornings a group of local volunteers come to open each trap, identify the small mammal captured, record data gathered, mark them with White-Out, and release them.

 

Daily we read gages and record water levels in the ponds, which are maintained by ground water pumps.

 

Female Elk has Seen Better Days

Small Mammal Survey Results

Checking Pond Levels
Sawtooth Mountain Range in the Background

Nesting Trumpeter Swan Pair

Arrival at Camas NWR in Idaho

During the last half of our journey from Nebraska to Idaho we followed Interstate 80 west through most of Wyoming. We turned north at Rock Springs, Wyoming, and followed a scenic shortcut through the mountains, bypassing Salt Lake City, to enter Idaho. Since leaving the Rio Grande Valley, we have traveled around 2300 miles to our Summer home.

Rain clouds forming on Elk Mountain, west of Laramie.
Thankfully we were always a day ahead of the storms.

First good view of the Teton Range
from US 191 north of Pinedale, WY.

Arriving at this high desert refuge shortly after lunch on May 6, the friendly refuge maintenance man was waiting on the drive to show us where to park and help with any problems. After getting settled we met with the manager and biologist, the other two members of this staff of three. The biologist, Pam, was a familiar face since we worked with her in the summer of 2011 at Arapho NWR.

They took us out into the field to show us how to set the small mammal traps for the mouse and vole survey that is being conducted. We are also training for bat activity tracking, gathering water depth data from the ponds and water flow readings from the six wells that maintain the wetlands. We will also be responsible for a weekly elk survey in which we drive specific roads through the refuge looking for changes in wildlife and counting the elk, nesting trumpeter swan, mule and white-tail deer, sage grouse, long-billed curlew, prong-horn antelope, American white pelicans and any young ones that may have arrived. There are a large variety of waterfowl on the refuge. Also, close to our trailer is a bald eagle nest and two families of great horned owls, which look very cute in their downy coats.



Our covered RV pad is big enough to house our
truck and car.

 The Refuge area is becoming more arid as the aquifer
levels decline due to over use by farming.
Old cottonwood trees are dying off without replacement.

The refuge office is one of several 1930's era buildings
in this complex. The shop building also contains a
laundry room, shower and bathroom.

On Our Way to Idaho

We stopped at Army Corp. of Engineer (ACE) campgrounds in Kansas and Nebraska. Cottonwood Point ACE Campground is on the Marion Reservoir southeast of Salina, Kansas. 



Cottonwood Point Campground was a great two night stop.

Our site #102 was in the newest section complete with
50 amp service and a sewer connection. 

Goessel, Kansas, near Marion Reservoir, is in the heart of Mennonite country. We spent the afternoon touring the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum. Eight buildings in a village-like setting tell the story of Mennonites who emigrated from the plains of Ukraine to the plains of south central Kansas in 1874 and helped turn Kansas into the breadbasket of the world.

After visiting the museum we went to the Bread Basket German Restaurant in Newton, KS. They provided eight different kinds of homemade soup and a fresh salad bar with various homemade breads.

Hunter Cove ACE Campground is on Harlan County Lake near Alma, Nebraska. Upon arrival we discovered only seven of their sites had fresh water connections and we took the last available. The next day we drove around the lake and found Methodist Cove ACE Campground which has easy access FHU sites and was only five miles from US 183. This will be where we stop the next time. With our Senior Pass discount it's worth it to drive a couple miles out of the way.

Blast Off to Idaho!

After completing six months of volunteer work in South Texas we are getting our 5'er ready to start the trip north. Despite far above average rainfall for the winter season, we still got a lot of work done on the Refuge tracts by adapting our work days to mesh with the sunshine. Mainly, we repaired a lot of barbed wire fence and pole sawed many miles of overgrown four wheel drive roads. Of course, we also patrolled the many LRGV properties picking up trash and tires, replacing and posting new boundary signs, and reporting any other problems we didn't have time to fix. This was our sixth and longest stay here. We really enjoy what we do here, but we are ready for some new scenery and a little cooler weather.

We plan to stop in Austin and Dallas before we leave Texas at the end of April to move to our next volunteer job at Camas National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Idaho.

We started using "Dri Wash 'n Guard" to clean/protect our new rig.
We spent the day using this waterless car wash product.
The ION version is best for clear coat applications.
We really like this product.

A Week in the Desert

We took a one week vacation the first week of March. We flew into Las Vegas for the weekend and spent the balance of the week at Death Valley National Park. Winter seemed like a good time for a visit to this area because the temperatures are mild.

The Cliffs at Peace Canyon Condominium in Las Vegas

While in Vegas we visited Valley of Fire State Park which is northeast of the city. We drove throughout the park as well as taking a couple of short hikes.

Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations. Great shifting sand dunes, uplifting and faulting, and extensive erosion have created this beautiful landscape.

We took the Fire Wave Hike, Rainbow Vista Hike and visited Arch Rock, the Petrified Logs, the Beehives and what remains of hikers cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's.

Of course, no Las Vegas trip is complete without a stop on "The Strip"

 

 

After watching the History Channel's Pawn Stars for so many years, we had to make a stop here. We were pleasantly surprised that at the time we arrived they were not busy. We parked in their lot and walked right in.

None of the TV stars were there, only a cardboard standup of Rick, to greet us. The shop appears larger on television. Gold and Silver Pawn Shop is open 24/7 and pictures are allowed inside and out.

Another History Channel show, Counting Cars, is filmed a few blocks from the Pawn Shop. Danny Koker co-owns Counts Kustoms and is the star of the show. He didn't get the memo we were in town either and wasn't there to greet us.

Danny's personal car collection is located in the shop which is open daily for free viewing. We saw many cool cars but think this GTO is one of his favorites. It certainly was Kurt's. But the Shelby was a close 2nd.

Monday morning we drove straight to Death Valley National Park

 

We arrived before lunch time and were fortunate to check-in early to our one room cabin at Furnace Creek Ranch. It was very comfortable with queen bed, bath, a small table and refrigerator.

Our first stop was at Golden Canyon Trail. A popular two and a half mile round trip trail through a colorful canyon.

This easy hike ended in a box canyon at a deep red rock cathedral.

Overlooking Artist Palette along the Artist Drive Scenic Loop

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America
at 282 feet below sea level

The next morning we drove to Beatty, NV, to refuel and pick up supplies. On the way back into the park we stopped at Rhyolite, a 1905 ghost town. We then turned onto the Titus Canyon Road, a 27 mile high-clearance only road. This one way road begins 2 miles east of the Park boundary and proceeds through the Grapevine Mountains. This rough, steep road passes the ghost town of Leadfield and Petroglyphs at Klare Spring. The last five miles drops down into one of Death Valley's most spectacular slot canyons. Don't tell our car rental company but our light weight Jeep Cherokee 4X4 did fine.

We took a living history tour of Scotty's Castle, one of the most popular locations in the Park. This beautiful castle was built in 1922 by Al & Bessie Johnson.

Walter Scott "Scotty", the Johnson's best friend, for whom this grand vacation home was named, is know for his tall and exaggerated stories about how he made his fortune in gold.

An 8-mile drive from Scotty's Castle leads to the rim of
Ubehebe Crater, a 600-foot deep crater caused by a
volcanic steam explosion.

Early evening and sunset are the best times to visit
the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

Father Crowley Vista in the Panamint Springs Area
is a landscape of dark lava flows and a viewpoint of
Rainbow Canyon below.

Wildrose Charcoal Kilns
These ten beehive-shaped structures were built in 1876 to provide
fuel to process silver/lead ore.
At 8,000+ feet elevation, they had a fresh dusting of snow.

Aguereberry Point, which overlooks Death Valley, is at the
end of a steep high clearance vehicle road.

The remains of Pete Aguereberry's Eureka Mine are located along
the road to the overlook.

The Mosaic Canyon Hike is a popular walk up a narrow, polished marble-walled canyon. We had to scale some dry waterfalls to reach the top.

"Mosaics" of fragments of rocks cemented together by nature can be seen in canyon walls.

 

 

Harmony Borax Works is an important site in Death Valley's history. There are over 10,000 various mines throughout the area looking for precious metals. This is the real "gold" in Death Valley.

 

 

The Harmony Borax operation became famous through the use of 20 mule teams that moved borax from Death Valley across the Mohave Desert.

Our last stop and view of Death Valley is from Dante's View which
overlooks from more than 5,000 feet above.

A Week at SPI

The last week of October, Virginia's sister, Cathy, and her husband, Jim, came for a visit from Michigan. We spent the week at a condo on South Padre Island. The weather was perfect for their first visit to the Rio Grande Valley.

The view from our sixth floor two bedroom unit.



Mid-week our daughter and grandchildren dropped by for
a couple of days.

Watching a handicapped Green Sea Turtle at
Sea Turtle Rescue Inc.

The Grandkids got a field trip to learn about sea turtles.

Our time together is always great and always too short.