Tuesday, November 1 (continued)
From our camp at Cedar Pocket Campground, Reggie and I float through Virgin River Gorge on Interstate 15 to reach the flat desert on the other end. We pass Desert Springs and at Littlefield-Beaverdam we roll down the exit ramp. A quick stop at the post office and we resume our journey.
We enter Nevada at Mesquite.
I dump tanks and buy supplies. We leave the interstate via Exit 93, and take Route 169 toward Logandale, Overton, and Lake Mead. This is a familiar route and memories flash frequently.
About a mile or two past Overton . . .
We turn left into Overton Wildlife Management Area.
I stop to read and photograph the sign about camping.
We continue on and discover six campsites side-by-side along a straight and wide, gravel-dirt road. Two sites are occupied. The sites have a picnic table and shelter and some have a grill. The vault toilet is too far from the campground to be a camping feature. There are trash bins.
Separation is good between sites due to dense vegetation. At the back of the sites, a break in the desert brush and trees reveals a view of a large, brown mesa beyond a green wetland.
Okay, so the view isn’t that great. Sites are fine. They’re clean and level. We can stay for a night or two. Maybe we’ll see a lot of birds . . . .
I find the check-in station at the end of the road.
Camping at Overton WMA is free. All that is required is registration. No one is manning the station. I lift up the lid of the box containing registration slips and find it empty.
I choose site 4 and set up a pleasant camp.
To learn more about Overton Wildlife Area, the campground, and the hiking, biking, abd birding opportunities, read “Birding Around the Overton Wildlife Management Area.” You birders can read a bird list there. (For information about shooting, do your own search.)
Lots of photos at the birding site, including ones that show where Reggie and I take our last walk of the day. (Do keep in mind that the photos are old. Improvements have been made.)
While on our walk, Reggie and I see a large covey of quail in the trail ahead of us.
Canada geese fly in formation. Flocks of birds erupt from thickets, too suddenly for identification. I think they’re doves. Reggie stops to sniff coyote scat. A rabbit hops for cover.
We cross an open space of lush grass to a picnic table under an enormous cottonwood tree. I sit, imagining the wild turkeys that probably roam through here. Reggie sniffs the ground.
I’ll take photos tomorrow morning when the light is better.
On the return walk to our camp, I meet an employee entering the check-in station.
I ask about hunting.
“Hunts are on even days. Tomorrow’s the 2nd so we’ll have hunters here.”
I ask how many and where they will shoot. He tells me there will probably be around 30 hunters and some of them will be shooting from an area near the campsites.
“Oh no, my dog won’t like that. That’s a lot of shooting!”
I don’t ask what will be hunted. Doves, quail, turkeys? I don’t want to know.
We enjoy the rest of the day at our camp.
I look at our campsite. “Reggie? We’re like two rabbits hiding in the bushes.”
Later we snuggle into our bed for a good night’s rest.
Ha! Not going to happen with a cement plant (or whatever the heck it is) in full operation under lights throughout the night. . . Loading railway cars right across the road!
I can’t see what is happening. I can hear a lot though and guess what is going on. The beep-beep-beep of trucks backing up. Boulders crashing down a metal chute. Clang-clang-clang! Men in hard hats pick up a piece of corrugated aluminum and make it go whomp-whomp for the fun of it. (Well, that’s what it sounds like!) Oh, yeah, and then a horn blows at regular intervals, maybe to indicate the cement is done? The noise continues all night long.
Around three o’clock in the morning . . . .
It’s so bad, so very, unbelievably bad, that I burst out laughing. Reggie pummels me in the side with rapid-fire kicks. He can’t sleep either.
Wow, RVSue . . . You sure know how to find great campsites!
Wednesday, November 2
I pop Reggie into the Perfect Tow Vehicle. In a cloud of dust and a hail of gunfire, we haul ourselves and our home out of Overton Wildlife Management Area to find a better camp.
rvsue
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