Vegas: Charleston 02 - Wild burros!

Believe it or not, the extremely arid and seemingly inhospitable desert of Southern Nevada plays host to a large variety of wildlife, from large and impressive fauna like wild burros and horses to the smallest of insects and ants. And lizards! So many happy little lizards running among the heated stones, warming their creepy cold blood and wiggling their little legs. To endure in an environment as tough as this, many larger species have adapted to the surroundings, thriving on succulents and water-rich grasses to survive.  They do pretty well, actually, and there are signs all over the area warning against feeding the wild animals... After all, these are wild animals, right? We don't need them becoming dependent upon humans for their survival, wandering into the roads and cityscape looking for scraps and snacks. Even though the speed limit is only 35, even that speed can be extremely dangerous when an animal as large as a burro has wandered into the middle of the road...

So, seriously, be careful out there! We went slow and found this group of wild burros grazing alongside the road, but even in approaching them without the vehicle we were extremely trepidatious. These are large, strong, aggressive animals capable of wrecking a several-thousand-pound vehicle, let alone a fragile human skeleton. While I've been around domesticated burros during my childhood and gotten to know and love their stubborn, sassy, independent attitudes, they're definitely not an animal you want to underestimate in the wild. Sure, they're cute- they're adorable! They remind us of Eeyore, and wasn't he just such a lovable grump? But the thing is, these are fully grown wild animals and not some cute cartoon character... they can wreck your shit, and you. So be cautious. We were. We shot these photos from a safe distance, after pulling the van off into a safe side area away from the main road and out of traffic. We walked back roughly half a mile to find them and then used the zoom feature on my camera, and even so, we got a few aggressive grunts from the main male in the area before we turned and started heading back for the safety of the van. On the way back out from the mountain at night, we passed at least four or five burros just along the periphery of the road, and a wild horse grazing alongside the road that scared the ever-living-crap out of us. Even with our high-beams on, the winding roads and the camouflaging nature of their coats made it difficult to spot any of the animals until we were really close.  Be careful guys!

Vegas: Van-Camping at Valley of Fire Arch Rock part two

Hello again! Welcome back to my little corner of the internet. Your visit today finds you rewarded with pictures of pretty rocks and fluffy things! It's only appropriate for Valentine's day, isn't it? I'm at a point in my life where, while I appreciate the sentiment behind it, I don't want or need any more stuffed animals. They're cute and I have two from my childhood that I've kept along with a couple others for sentimental value, but I'm satisfied with the collection I've got and feel no need to continue adding to it. What I could always add to? My collection of cute animal photos! Heck to the yeah! 

During this camping trip we were really quite popular among the local rodent population, as well as several birds, and an unexpected little dog that came scampering around the corner followed by his human after I whistled at a bird. The fellow above was the first of the ground squirrels to stop over for a visit, and while we were watching he jumped off the rocks sheltering our campsite and ran to our fire pit to steal a bean. That's right, folks, what you see here is an example of the wild Mojave bean thief! Despite his adorably unassuming face, these little critters will gladly clean up your campsite of any foods you happen to leave out and about so please be aware of your supplies. We were enjoying some coffee and snacks at the picnic table when he approached, and we realised we'd forgotten about the can of baked beans we'd attempted to heat but ultimately gave up on the night prior. Between the generously sized steaks, vegetable skewers and s'mores we were too full to really want the beans after dinner and left them to cool in the fire pit when we went to sleep... for all we know the ground squirrels had been pinching beans the whole time, so I'm glad we didn't try to re-heat the already open beans for breakfast. We were grateful for his visit and the photos I was able to take due to his hanging around, but in the future we'll make sure not to leave anything out like that. Some of his buddies popped round later that afternoon, probably lured by the beans their friend had admitted to eating after farting up the burrow. They dropped in after we finished our tie-dye photoshoot, photos of that will be up tomorrow so check back for that if you're interested. For now, the rest of the photos will be from our campsite and morning at Arch Rock campground in Valley of Fire state park! 

More photos below!