Just to break up the monotony, the partial pack of Crazies (several have not yet returned to the park from their summer travels) decided to do a night ride. What a night to pick! We had front row seats on the side of a mountain called Switchback. When the moon broke over the edge of an adjacent peak, we all thought we were seeing some sort of search light. The eclipse had started but there was still about a quarter of the moon uncovered. Over the next hour or so, the whole moon disappeared behind what looked like a gauzy screen. We waited and waited for the eclipse to pass and then finally started home, as it was getting late. The eclipse started to pass as we got back to the main road into the ranch.
Super Moon with eclipse
More on the lunar eclipse
I tried to take a few photos but my camera just wasn't good enough for this. All I got was some blobs in the black night sky. Not very impressive.
The next night we went out again to a different spot and watched another spectacular sunset and moonrise.
The desert is very different at night and I won't drive so I was a passenger on both trips. (Have been night blind for years.) On a moonless night, you can't see anything at all...all the landmarks disappear and you stand a good chance of driving into an arroyo before you know you are off the trail. It was fun to be a passenger because I could watch the wildlife. A baby skunk (!) ran ahead of us for about 100 yards on the trail before it finally broke off. Fortunately we didn't hit it. (Week before last, I was driving down one of the large arroyos which surround the park and flushed an owl. Dumb owl...it flew ahead of me down the wash for probably 200 yards before it figured out it could do a 90 degree turn and fly out of the wash and away from me. So much for the intelligence of owls.)
This has been a good year for desert wildlife. With plenty of rain, there are bumper crops of rabbit babies, quail babies, mice babies, rat babies, and snake babies. The snakes are very active right now, eating themselves into a stupor and getting ready to go into their winter quarters. Several people have either shot or captured rattlers near their trailers in the park. Fortunately, I have a large bullsnake living on my site and rattlers avoid bullsnakes.
Walking the dogs just before dawn this morning, I heard the local packs of coyotes talking to each other across the valley. A neighbor saw Javelinas walking down one of the park lanes in the early morning hours a couple of weeks ago. Mule Deer also frequent the park and the areas adjacent to it. There are also small herds of Pronghorn Antelopes which we occasionally see on the desert rides.
The park has been quiet as the snow birds have not yet arrived. I have enjoyed how empty and peaceful it has been, knowing that it will get busy and noisy very soon.
