Life at Badger Cabin

Our home while working on Sheldon is Badger Cabin, on Badger Mountain (and I saw a Badger yesterday while nest-seaching. It was funny and waddled around). Here at Badger we lack things such as electricity and running water, but have views of the sagebrush, a washers court, and other excellent things. This is our horsealope skull, which guards the cabin. The house wren perching on the antler is nesting in the brain cavity.


Though we are in the middle of the sagebrush, we have quite a few amenities. Here is our lovely outdoor shower - just hang your towel on the deer antler, divert the spring, hook up the pump to the 12V car battery, and crank up the propane heater.

We can only get AM radio out here...FM won't come in. Most of what we do get on the field truck radios is conservative talk radio. So, after a day of work, we can hear excessively patriotic music, opinions such as "wind power will never work cause windmills were invented in the dark ages," and overuse of the phrase "You're a great American."

Our water comes from a small spring near the cabin, and the little pool below it doubles excellently as a beer cooler. Although, being in the spring the labels get rather sun-bleached and it is sometimes necessary to scrape algae of your bottle before opening it up.

A Badger Cabin sunrise (we see a lot, starting work at dawn when the birds awake).

not bleak and gray

I have heard some people say the deserts and the sagebrush steppe look bleak and colorless. I would like to correct that notion... below: buckwheat, horsemint, lupine, phlox, arrowleaf balsamroot, and an unidentified flower.








A few people have commented that the pictures of the sagebrush look bleak and colorless. It can be at first glance, but if you look closer, its actually very colorful. Below: buckwheat, horsemint, lupine, phlox, arrowleaf balsamroot, and an unidentified flower.

Thousand Creek Canyon

Thousand Creek Canyon is one of the more dramatically scenic and commonly visited areas of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. But...since Sheldon is out in the middle of the sagebrush, commonly visited does not mean the same thing it would in a national park. We hiked all day without seeing anyone else, and the trail marked on the map turned out to not really be a trail.

And, we saw (and caught) awesome herps. This lizard displayed quite the rock climbing prowess, and we also found this pacific treefrog. And subsequently lapsed into biology dorkiness and had a debate about whether it was in the genus Pseudacris or Hyla. In case you were wondering, it's Pseudacris regilla.

the birds are nesting

With the snow and cold behind us (hopefully!) the birds are nesting and beginning to have fledgelings. This vesper sparrow is singing to defend his territory.

Brewers sparrow nest in a clump of bluebunch wheatgrass.

A vesper sparrow nestling, still at that stage where nestlings are very strange and ugly looking.


There is a sparrow sitting on a nest in this sagebrush. Can you see it? When incubating, birds often won't flush until you're about a foot away. Thus, one nest finding method is to wander around hitting likely looking shrubs with a nest stick. Some species won't move even if you poke them with a nest stick.

Another Snowstorm

This morning, I thought I heard rain at 3am. When I opened my tent flap, it turned out that it was actually snow. The sagebrush was snowcapped, the sparrow nests have surely failed, someone made a snowman and dressed him up like a field biologist, and we took a town day. But, here are some pictures of my nest searching plots from before the entire refuge turned white.

I have two plots on Badger Mountain where I search for nests. This plot has a lovely hike in, through basalt canyons, burned mahogany stands, and a cliff with a resident prairie falcon. But – the area is also patrolled by a herd of feral (wild) horses. Many days I cautiously skirt the herd while the stallion stares me down in order to get to my plot.

This plot sits on a north facing slope that holds plenty of water, and has lovely meadows and wildflowers. Below: Lupine leaves, Bluebells, two pictures above: field of arrowleaf balsamroot.

Salvaged Photos

I have a camera again... here are some months old pictures from Utah I was finally able to retrieve.
Joshua trees outside Red Rocks, Nevada (home of the red rocks climbing festival!)

Never leave your tent unzipped during a dust storm, West Desert, Utah.

Some crazies rigged this slackline above this 100 foot chasm to tightrope walk across... Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, St. George, Utah.

Another view of the desert reserve, where I would climb and run.


Easter Day - hike to the Northgate Peaks in Zion.


The day after Easter - Eric killed the easter bunny.