OCR Text |
Show THE ZEPHYR/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2004 ARCHES STORIES (continued) | RIVERSIDE PLUMBING & HEATING = = E —=a aa ES on 6 DESERT BIGHORN:1 TOURIST: 0 We don’t know his name. We don’t have any photographs. It’s only hearsay. But we hope it’s true. A tourist sees a small herd of desert bighorn sheep near US Highway 191, a couple miles south of the entrance to Arches National Park. The sheep are clustered about 100 feet from the highway, minding their own business, but the tourist, a man in his 40s, perhaps of European descent, wants a photograph. So he climbs out of his car and moves toward the sheep. The sheep eye him warily. Soon most of them are clattering over the rock, moving * away from the man and his zoom lens. The man is still walking toward the sheep, his eye glued to the viewfinder. Suddenly he realizes he has a great shot...if only the sheep would hold still. Looks like a ram. The sheep is almost too close. The ram IS too close. In the next moment, the hapless tourist and his zoom lens experience weightlessness. The ram butts the shutterbug head-on and lifts him into the air. Dazed and confused, he starts to get up. The ram hits him again. Now the man is crawling along the ground, his camera dragging though the sage and the sand. The ram cracks him in the ass. His friends sit paralyzed in the car, unable to help. He finally screams, “Open the goddamn door!” He reaches the car, bleeding and in shock, his companions lift him into the back seat and the ram pauses to admire his work. They slam the door, the driver turns the ignition and, in a spray of gravel and dust races away in the direction of Interstate 70, Denver and a long flight back to Europe. He was never seen or heard from again. From all this, naturalists have determined that Desert Bighorn rams are camera shy. o_o 366 N. 500 ° MOAB « 259-8324 PLUMBING CLINTON LEFT. Residential - Commercial - Sales Installation - Drain Cleaning Desert Bighorns along the highway near the old Atlas Mill site. These gawkers were wise enough to stay in their cars. THE BEAR THAT CAME TO ARCHES... Most of us think of the high country when considering bear habitat. But have bears ever visited the red rocks at Arches? It happened once that I know of. In the late 1970s a European tourist notified rangers at the Visitor Center that he had seen a black bear in the vicinity of South Window, east of Balanced Rock. Chief Ranger Epperson tried to shake his story, convinced the man had seen a very big dog. But the European was adamant, so Epperson called me by radio to look for a bear. I was always happy to escape campground duty and set out to find the phantom bear. I never saw the bear but, surprisingly, I found the unmistakable print of fresh tracks. The COMPLETE LINE OF PLUMBING FIXTURES JOIN THE BACKBONE... For $99.99 a year, you can become a member of The Zephyr Backbone. Take a look at page 26 _...[f you'd like to help keep this very independent, locally-owned publication alive, please consider signing up... THANKS. SLICKROCK CAFE MOAB OVUTAH CORNER OF CENTER & MAIN STREETS BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER bear was headed into the drainage of Courthouse Wash. Where he came from, or where he was going, we'll never know. But I took this photo, the only evidence of a bear at Arches. Bear track near South Window. Editor's Note: Incredibly, as we were preparing to go to press, on Sept 21, rangers sighted a black bear on the switchbacks above MOAB’ the park visitor center... lee § OASIS FOR FOOD & FUN ATRIUM SEATING IN BAR & RESTAURANT AUTHENTIC LOGO GEAR & GIFT SHOP INTERNET CAFE’ TROPICAL DISHES & ISLAND DRINKS Sighting #2! PAGEI6 — Kohler - Grohe - Mansfield Ejer - Moen - Delta - Sterling - Price Pfister HOT WATER HEATERS - GARBAGE DISPOSALS WHIRLPOOL BATHS - SPAS WWW.SLICKROCKCAFE.COM - 435.259.8004 |