I’m always fascinated with the wildlife we encounter in our
travels. In places like Rocky Mountain
National Park, we saw moose, black bear, big horn sheep and more all in a
single afternoon. Yellowstone treated us
to bison, wolves, elk and pronghorn.
Carlsbad Caverns was memorable of course for the Brazilian free-tailed
bats and cave swallows.
But sometimes
you don’t even have to venture off the highway at all. On our recent drive north through the Nevada
desert to Lake Tahoe, we saw some first-time-for-us wild animals. Wild horses and donkeys grazing upon the
desert highlands, at altitudes of 5,000 ft or higher. Snow covered land and subfreezing
temperatures don’t seem to discourage these hardy creatures. Every few minutes another small gathering of
donkey would be just off the side of the road, oblivious to our 60’ monstrosity
barreling down the road. Several hundred,
perhaps one thousand, wild horses were grazing in the water rich valley,
clearly happy to be lakeside while surrounded by the arid mountains of the eastern
Sierra Nevada's.
But this February we even discovered a new creature, unheard
of by most. This animal seemed highly temperamental,
and particularly sensitive to cold weather. Intentions of northern migration could be
delayed indefinitely if the animal caught wind of a cold front looming beyond
the horizon. Though the official name is
undecided amongst the scientific community, I have come to call this creature
the Weather Chicken.
I’ve become intimately familiar with this particular Weather
Chicken’s habits this past month after monitoring just one specimen very
closely. Some say animals have an instinct for impending
natural disasters and weather phenomena.
But the flightless Weather Chicken has a different skill. When venturing into potentially cold climates
during mid-winter, the Weather Chicken’s process works something like this…
Step 1: Plan on arriving in Tahoe on February 16th. (Weather Chickens love skiing and want to maximize
time on the slopes.)
Step 2: Open Accuweather App on fancy new smartphone, and observe
the following news headlines:
“South Lake Tahoe drops to record low temperatures…”
“South Lake Tahoe Logs 13-below zero, shattering record!”
Step 3: Abandon all plans to travel north.
See, the Weather Chicken has developed quite the medulla
oblongata after decades of honing (I think it has something to do with all that
Sudoku), and thus it subconsciously and instinctively knew there was no way in
snow heaven (or more precisely, Heavenly), this Weather Chicken was driving…
err, flapping… his way north into that kind of weather. 13 degrees BELOW zero? C’mon now! I know we’re decked out with a fancy heated water hose (super awesome,
by the way – thanks Apple Fam!), but the only place I want to be when this cold
front pushes through southern Nevada is in the world’s hottest location. Conveniently located a mere hour or so away.
And so to Death Valley we went, and yes, it maintains the record
for the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet (excluding volcanic
activity of course).
And when the bitter cold passed on by, we, the flock, found
ourselves in Tahoe, ready for a new adventure.
Let the skiing begin!