Bighorn Sheep

[bemildred]

Last thursday, Sept. 9th, I was hiking a bit East of
Guffy Camp on the Blue Ridge above Wrightwood with my
brother. At around 8:00 AM we ran into a Bighorn Sheep.
He took his dog away. I stood there and looked at the
sheep for about a minute while it looked back at me.
Then the sheep got bored and walked off in a dignified
sort of way. Later we ran into a few sheep-nests along
a ridge, I think we disturbed them because we got off the
trail. It was kind of cool. Never seen a Bighorn before.

[alittlelark]

1. Cool tale!

I ran into a few while working at Yellowstone. They have an intensity to their gaze that makes them look quite intelligent.

PS I'm in Silicon Valley

edited for spelling

[bemildred]

3. The bay area has it's own attractions.

But wilderness is not among them.
My son lives there.

[villager]

2. I'm flat-out envious

Was up in Wrightwood over Labor Day with my boys. Sharing a friend's house. No bighorn sightings, though.

Though I'm guessing they don't exactly amble into thickets of humans, if they can avoid it...

[bemildred]

4. I usually avoid the mountains on big Summer holidays.

But I'm a bit anti-social. Wrightwood is a nice little
mountain town, in the Summer, anyway. In the winter it goes
a bit nuts over skiing.

We got hailed and rained and lightninged and thundered too,
and soaking wet. That was pretty good while everyone else was
sweating it out down in the valleys. But it took a while
to get a fire going to dry out. :-)

[LWolf]

5. Neither have I,

and I lived for 12 years not far from Wrightwood; further down the hill, but I spent a lot of time wandering around up there.

Cool! :thumbsup:

[bemildred]

6. You just never know.

I've been hiking all over those mountains for
a large portion of my life, and I've never seen one,
then bang! there it is. Now if I can just see a big
cat without it thinking I look delicious ...

[LWolf]

8. I love pumas.

From a safe distance, of course! ;-)

I've never seen one wild, but I do see bobcats pretty regularly.

They are not the least bit bothered by my presence; I am totally "ignored," so I've sat and watched them for 20 minutes at a time.

[villager]

9. would love to glimpse a puma, myself...

And have I mentioned wanting to reintroduce packs of ravenous Grizzly Bears to the Central Valley, and parts of Orange and San Diego counties?

[LWolf]

10. lol

Well, those are some interesting spots!

I find it somewhat ironic that we've eliminated our state animal, who graces our state flag. I think your reintroduction plan has merit. ;-)

[villager]

11. after the Griz...

we'll work on bringing the jaguarundi back to the California deserts...

[LWolf]

14. Well, we've got a couple locally,

but that's not what you mean! We've got a pair at the feline breeding compound in Rosamond:

http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/

[bemildred]

12. I have seen bobcat twice that I can remember.

They do treat you like a bum on the street, like
you are not even there.

[LWolf]

13. Exactly!

I came across one last spring that was lying in front of a rodent den; silent and still as a statue. I sat and watched for 20 minutes or so from about 20 yards away; it never twitched a whisker.

Another time, I had one pop up on the trail next to my horse, about 15 feet off to the side, and travel with us for about 1/4 mile before diving into the brush.

No concern, no aggression...you don't even exist.

[frylock]

7. that's cool! there are supposedly some around carrizo gorge too..

but I have yet to see one.

[bemildred]

17. So I looked Carizzo Gorge up.

It's down near Anza Borrego, another place I have not
got around to yet.

[OnionPatch]

15. Cool! Lucky sighting!

We lived in Forest Falls for eight years. (It's in the San Bernardino Mountains just down from San Gorgonio mountain.) We saw a female bighorn and youngster one summer while hiking up Mill Creek Canyon. They were only about 30 feet away and we sat still and watched them graze for about 20 minutes! It was awesome.
I've come face to face with bears several times but never saw a cougar. Hubby saw one leap across the highway right in front of him one morning! He loves to tell that story.
One of the great things about CA is all the neat places you can hike and see wildlife.

[bemildred]

16. I still have not been up San Gorgonio.

But it's on my list. :-)

San Jacinto is nice too, no bugs, no bears, and you can ride
the tram up. But I'll bet it's dry up there this year.

I've never met a bear, been close a couple times. When you see
a fresh, steaming pile of half-digested manzanita berrys, you
know one is around somewhere. But I stay away from the places
where people congregate in large numbers. I have the feeling that
most of the bears are addicted to junk food now and hang out near
the car camps where you pay $12 a night.

I was surprised at how calm the sheep was, it just sort of stared
at me for a while, no panic like you would expect from a deer,
no high-tail it for the brush like a coyote, nothing.