I am blest having a spouse who enjoys birding, something my children don't share with me. So sometimes I have to sandwich my hobby between other activities. Spring break is one of these ‘other activities.'

My 12 year old son, Jorgen, wanted to go camping, and his all time favorite place is Snow Canyon, just outside St. George. Snow Canyon is a wonderful place that is quite unlike what it's name implies. It is a red rock canyon named after the Snow family who were early settlers in the St. George area, not for any accumulations of the cold white stuff.

Traveling to and from Snow Canyon gave me the opportunity to visit parts of the Wah Wah Valley Latilong, latilong 14, which my son permitted me to do.

It is actually quite hard to get into latilong 14, with only one paved highway running through it and with the only two towns on the two ends of the road, Milford and Garrison. All other accesses to the latilong is by dirt roads coming in on the sides.

I was determined to visit the south edge of the latilong on this trip, a feat I had failed my previous trip. This time, I drove from Provo to Beaver on I-15, then took Highway 6 to Minersville, almost to the west edge of the latilong, then turned south on Highway 130 toward Cedar City. Several miles south of Minersville, I turned west on a dirt road (maps make this dirt track look like a well maintained road) that headed towards the west edge of the latilong. Five miles later, according to my GPS, I was inside the latilong where I found a good site to photograph the Escalante Desert, which stretches southwest from Milford to the Nevada border. The only birds I saw were a pair of Red-tailed Hawks soaring over the Black Mountains. Continuing south on Highway 130, I stopped on a sage steppe and walked the 200 yards off the highway to the latilong corner at N 38 00.000 W 113 00.000, this time finding no birds at all.

Next I wanted to visit Lund, a spot on the map that indicated a small town, with a fairly good road running to it. Note: Maps lie, or rather they report what may have once been. Don't trust dots that look like towns or roads that look paved. Taint' necessarily so.

Lund appeared on the map to be a town with a paved road running to it. The road from Cedar City to Lund is long and fairly straight and was once oiled, but is now dirt. ‘Boring' is what my kids would say. Driving out there, we looked back and saw a column of color touching the ground where the setting sun illuminated some rain creating a short but intense rainbow. Lund is a ‘has been' town with several broken down houses, a trailer for sale (make appointment first) and maybe one occupant.

Sign announcing Lund, Utah.

A plaque stated that Lund had once been an important stop on the Union Pacific where passengers exited the train bound for southern Utah, but that it had died in 1969 with declining passenger traffic. Lund is just over the southern edge of the latilong, but I saw no birds there. Perhaps I was too early. After watching a train rumble by, we hurried to St. George to start camping. We finally had our tent up in Snow Canyon by 11:30 pm, after several false starts.

The next day we hiked around and visited Lytle Ranch, a Wildlife Refuge on the Beaver Dam Wash where the Mojave Desert enters Utah. I did happen to see the Common Black Hawk that nests in the Beaver Dam Wash, which made my day.

Saturday, March 24. We arose, broke camp and headed for the Wah Wah Valley Latilong, driving straight to Milford, refueled and headed out on what we think is Jockey Road. This dirt road heads west from the south side of town, then follows the power lines until it comes to Wah Wah Valley, then it turns up the valley for a few miles, then crosses over the Wah Wah Mountains until it hits the Pine Valley Wash Road. Jockey road continues on west, but we turned at Pine Valley Wash and headed north.

This country is pretty bleak except for the part where the road climbs up and over the Wah Wah Mountains passing through a wonderful Pinyon-Juniper forest. Here I found a loose flock of Pinyon Jays squawking and working their way up a ridge, easily the best birds I had seen in so far in the Latilong.

Pinyon-Juniper Forest along Jockey Road on the southern part of the Wah Wah Mountains.

It must have been a good day for blue, because the next great bird we saw was a pair of Mountain Bluebirds.

Driving through the Pinyon-Juniper, near the high point in the road, we came upon a group of hikers taking a rest along the road. I stopped and spoke with their leader who explained that they were hiking with some youth having a ‘wilderness' experience. When I asked how long it would last, he said "it is up to them, some will stay here 90 to 180 days." He didn't say, but this group seemed to be youth offenders who were having a wilderness experience to help them straighten out. I would have loved to have had an opportunity like that in my youth, except for what caused them to be there. The leader mentioned seeing ‘numerous' small gray birds with crests. Now I was envious for I have not seen a Juniper Titmouse for several years. Coming down out of the mountains, we passed a fellow driving a farm tractor with a rear mounted blade. We watched carefully, but never did see where he came from, and hadn't seen any farmed fields anywhere close.

Returning back to the dry, bleak valley floor, we took the Pine Valley Wash road north until we reached Highway 21, having driven 50 miles of dirt road.

Traveling a short distance on Highway 21, we came to the turn-off to the Desert Range Experimental Station, and drove in to bird the trees around the buildings. We had heard that Long-eared Owls nested there and wanted to find them. We drove right in and found a fellow pumping fuel into his truck. Amazingly, he was wearing a tie. We could not imagine why someone would wear a tie as far out in the middle of nowhere as we were. He said he was managing a crew of sheep herders, but to my way of thinking, that doesn't justify a tie. His shirt had "Utah Job Connection" embroidered on it which probably explains the tie; he was a government worker. He did not give us permission to bird the buildings, and in fact, we had entered the compound the only time the gate had been unlocked all day. The Desert Range Experimental Station looked like an old army post,

with a parade ground and flag pole with wooden residences in a large semi-circle around it. The whole place was weedy, decrepit and looked deserted. The station headquarters sits on the west side of a broad, dry valley, with no other trees visible for miles around, which makes our next bird even more of a surprise. Driving out of the complex, at the gate, we came upon a Yellow-headed Blackbird hiding in the grating of a cattle guard.

Yellow-headed Blackbird seen at the Desert Range Experimental Station.

This bird was as out-of-place as anything I have ever seen. I jumped out of my Geo and was able to take a picture to provide proof I had actually seen it there.

Twenty more miles west on Highway 21 took us to the only free-flowing water we had seen since arriving in the latilong, Lake Creek which empties into Pruess Reservoir. Near the road, Lake Creek meanders and forms several fair sized ponds, which had numerous waterfowl on them. This was a stroke of good luck, for we had not seen any other places within the latilong where waterfowl might come. Here we found the usual Mallards and Canada Geese, but we were happy to find them. Additionally, we found Pintails, Shovelers and Ruddy Ducks among others. The day had been long and the sun was setting, with the angle just right to blaze into our eyes, making identification difficult. Continuing on, not much was on Pruess Reservoir or in Garrison, but the day was spent and we were at the northeastern corner of the latilong and home was calling, only 180 miles away. The next 3 ˝ hours were spent with my son curled up in the seat next to me asleep as the darkness fell and I hurried home. The trip had been a success, Jorgen enjoyed it and I had seen 37 species in the Wah Wah Valley Latilong. It was not a record, but it is a good start.