We have finished our first week of being on the clock at Desert National Wildlife Refuge near Las Vegas, NV. Our schedule is to staff the VC on Friday and Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday. Since the VC hours are from 8:00 to 4:30 and live TV events start so darn early out here, we missed both the Broncos defensive touchdown, the Panther’s touchdown, and a bunch of commercials during the Super Bowl. Ah,  we must all sacrifice in this life. Unfortunately we were forced to endure the half time show. Sacrifice, indeed!

Despite the game and all the hype that went with it, we had our own excitement around here last week. Shannon went to the hospital in response to continual discomfort around her heart. She was kept there for two nights and parts of 3 days but at the end of the stay was pronounced fit and hardy, and her sweet disposition remained intact; although she may be listed in the AMA’s difficult patient file. The dogs and I were glad to see her make it back home, and now we are ready for another 5 years or 100,000 miles whichever comes first.

Back to the VC. The VC is open Thursday through Monday. Local volunteers staff the VC on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, Thursday afternoon, and all day Monday. We actually are only scheduled for 16 hours in the VC and owe the refuge 24 hours each in exchange for the RV site.  So, we’ll see what the staff come up with for us to do with the unscheduled 8 hours. Visitors have numbered in the 80’s on Saturday and Sunday; so, the number of visitors is somewhere between the 3 refuges (combined) we volunteered at in SC and Bosque del Apache NWR in NM.

The refuge was established in 1936 and is second in size only to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It was established to provide habitat for the desert big horn sheep. The theme and the attraction of the VC are the displays related to the wild sheep. Even though they number between 600 and 800 on the refuge, they are very rarely seen. They stay up high in the mountains. The VC is located at the south end of the refuge and there are a lot of bad roads and no roads to get into the refuge. The VC also tells the geological and historical stories of the area as well as having displays on the ecology of the Mohave Desert.

There is a modest size bookstore, and unlike the other refuges where we have been, we are the ones who sell merchandise and operate the cash register. There is no true Friends group that operates the bookstore, but there is some quasi-public/private group that exists in the background. Sounds mysterious, huh? Obviously I have no idea what I’m talking about; so, I can be purposely mysterious. And, you know, what happens in LV, stays in LV…

The VC location is at a spring. This is one of the few remaining springs left, not having succumbed yet to the demands of a thirsty Las Vegas. The pond you see here is part of the cooling and heating system for the VC but also houses the Pahrump poolfish, an endangered fish found in the area but not much anywhere else anymore. In the background of the photo you can kind of make out an old orchard. This was a homestead site which was bought out when the refuge was established.

Despite a spring and modern buildings, we are still smack dab within the Mojave Desert. So, it’s pretty barren here. The mountain range in the background is where the sheep are located. The mountain is one of the desert sky islands where the climate and vegetation are very different than what we experience at our elevation. There is both ponderosa pine and bristlecone pine higher on the mountain. That indeed would be very much different than the desert where we are. Anyway, the other benefits of being in the desert and fairly remote is the night sky. Stars, constellations, and the Milky Way are remarkable. However in the distance there is a nearly overwhelming glow from Las Vegas. This is one situation when it pays to turn one’s back on Las Vegas and look the other way. Somehow there’s a metaphor for something in that statement.