Bighorns of the Colorado River Wilderness...

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

As we have written about before, spotting bighorn sheep can be a major challenge.  The sheep stand on rock out-crops high in the mountains, safe from their predators.  Typically, if you are lucky, at most, you will get to see one or two at a time.

That was why I was shocked one day, to see a herd of bighorns just "hanging out" in the wilderness of the Black Mountains of Arizona (the same Black Mountains referred to here) between US93 and the Colorado River, below Hoover Dam and near Willow Beach. I was able to drive up pretty close to them, but they were on the other side of tall earthen berm that I did not exactly feel comfortable trying to completely cross, especially alone and carrying my camera equipment.

Note this one has an ear-tag for ID.

  It was in this very area, in 2011, that we saw a lonely burro, trying to hide in the shade on a hot day.  Today, I waved to a passing car to tell them they should stop and see the bighorns, but apparently not everyone find the bighorns as interesting as us.


Though the sun was in an poor photographic position, the bighorns were not in the least bit shy.