Travelogues
2015 New Mexico & Utah Trip

Thursday, November 5

Bighorn!

Today dropped into the high 30's as the storm clouds cleared overnight. There were still a few clouds scattered around the main canyon, but most of the sky was clear when we got up for sunrise. We drove to the bridge over Pine Creek to shoot sunrise. This has been a good area in past years, and we saw some puddles that looked promising for reflection images.

Our first attempts at locations didn't work well, so we hiked down the road to a wide area in the Pine Creek streambedGoogle Earth where we saw some promising pools left from yesterday's rain. When I first got there, three young bucks were feeding along the river, but a bicyclist with his radio blaring scared them off. They would have added a great element to the image. As the sun continued to climb, I shot images of the West Temple in one direction or the huge sandstone wall above the Sand Bench Trail in the opposite direction. The warm light only lasted a few minutes, but we got some good shots.

Pine Creek Streaked Wall

We continued up to the slickrock area above of the tunnel in hopes of finding bighorn sheep or clouds above the giant mesas. Our first stop was the area below the arch high above Pine Creek.Google Earth A photo tour was finishing up as we arrived, so we waited for them to finish and then dropped into the Pine Creek wash to photograph our favorite golden cottonwood and its sandy-bottomed pool. To our surprise, ice covered the shallow pool and seemed to sparkle in the reflected light. Our next stop was Lower Keyhole Canyon.Google Earth This is the slot canyon where 7 people were killed in a flash flood earlier in the year. A pool filled the exit and reflected the slot canyon wall. It certainly provided no hint of the dangers farther up the canyon.

Pine Creek Keyhole Slot Canyon

Near the entrance to Pothole Canyon, we saw a group of bighorn sheep on a ridge above the highway. When we climbed a small ridge opposite them, we discovered at least 7 bighorn sheep. There was a large, mature ram and five ewes scattered in three groups along the face of the ridge. At the bottom of the ridge was a group of two ewes and a young ram. The big ram was high on the ridge with his "special lady friend" where he could oversee the entire group. He was content to sit under a pine tree and survey the scene before him. If you look very closely at the image below, you'll notice three ewes singing on a ridge just below the big ram. They were probably practicing their Christmas carols.

Bighorn Ram & Ewes Bighorn Choir

Small group by small group, the bighorn sheep climbed down the ridge and moved across the base of the ridge just on the other side of the highway from us. They were so close that my 100 mm lens was too long to get an individual bighorn in the frame. The mature ram was the final bighorn to leave his perch and move across the base of the ridge. As he turned the corner and dropped out of sight, I hustled down the highway to try to get in front of him. When I got to a position where I could see up a side canyon, I found the entire herd of bighorn feeding. Carol soon joined me, and we shot the bighorn for another half hour.

Bighorn Ewes Bighorn Ram

By the time we had enough bighorn images, it was already 1:30 and we were getting hungry. We returned to camp for hot dogs and to download images. We had high hopes for going back out in the late afternoon, but the lighting deteriorated as the afternoon went on. In the end, we stayed in camp the rest of the day and had a great steak dinner.