Desert Destination: Ibex Crags

Located in the West Desert of Utah, about an hour west of Delta, is Ibex and the Ibex crags. This area at one time was home to Jack Watson, a storekeeper who supplied sheepherders in the early part of the twentieth century and even ran a hotel for a time. Nowadays, no one lives there.

People do go and visit, though. The most common visitors are rock climbers, because the cliffs at Ibex provide some good climbing challenges.

We figured our visit would mainly be to enjoy the scenery. But I was secretly hoping I might get to climb a little too.

We set up our tent on the hard pan (aka playa) that is near the base of the cliffs. The hard pan provides a nearly perfectly level sleeping platform, albeit a little hard.

We also watched a guy practice golf. We had never thought of golfing on a hard pan, but I guess you wouldn't lose many balls.

We got out our chairs, and Desert Boy thought he was hot stuff sitting in a bumblebee chair. But he wasn't too keen on some of the other parts of camping, like going into a tent and so much darkness around him. He tossed and turned all night long.

Nevertheless, when the rays came up the next morning, I wanted to get up and photograph some of that early sunshine hitting the rocks. Ibex cliffs are made of sedimentary rock, Eureka and Watson Ranch Quartzites. That hardened sandstone just seems to glow in the morning light.

When I came back from shooting some photos, Desert Boy and my husband were awake, and after breakfast we went for a walk in the boulder field.

We even found a cool hole in one of the boulders, and Desert Boy was willing to give it a try.

After that, it was time to look for more climbing opportunities. Or more appropriately, bouldering opportunities. There are plenty of climbs at Ibex Crags, many of them described in the book Ibex and Selected Climbs of Utah's West Desert by James Garrett. I knew this wasn't the trip to try any of those climbs. But there were other possibilities...

...like this huge boulder.

I took Henry and Desert Boy over for a little fun.

Desert Boy gave climbing a try.

Then it was my turn.

Desert Boy is getting the idea.

Next time--the big cliffs!

For Desert Boy, some of the boulders were quite tall.

Finally it was time to head down.

We got to see a lizard on the way.

And then it was time for the next activity...coming in the next post!

Grandpa and the Big Loader

Desert Boy loves big machinery. He likes the movement, the noise, the challenge of climbing up and down it. If he hears a diesel engine, he immediately perks up to see what is going on and what piece of equipment it is. One of his first words was "backhoe."

There's only one thing Desert Boy likes better than watching the big equipment:
Driving it. It's even better when Grandpa lets him help.

Sleepy Cowboy

Desert Boy on the Fence

I found a couple more photos from our day with the calves that I forgot to post yesterday. Doesn't Desert Boy look comfortable up on this gate? He climbed up there all by himself. If there's something to climb, he will. Even the kitchen cabinets (who knew that drawer handles made such good climbing knobs?). The piano is also fun to scale. He's even tried a couple trees. 

Here are some calves in the "waiting room." They look pretty much like human patients in the waiting room at the clinic. I can just imagine the magazine titles they might be interested in:

Cowsmopolitan

Bovine Beauty

American Cow

Cattleweek

Eating Alfalfa

Cow's Health

Outdoor Living

What else can you think of?

Processing Calves

Late spring is the time of year when our ranch processes calves. That basically means the calves get their shots, ear-marked, ear-tagged, castrated, and antibiotics, if needed.

A couple drums hold some of the needed equipment--vaccination guns and ear taggers.

The process is repeated over and over for each calf, and the team works smoothly. A calf is moved into the chute, which is tightened and laid on its side. Each calf receives several vaccinations and has its ears cut. This ear cutting is to show ownership of the calf. We don't brand calves, but use this method instead. 

When I told my husband that ear cutting didn't seem very nice, he reminded me that human circumcision is basically the same concept--removing part of the body that isn't critical for a function.

Calves are given an oral antibiotic, but since they aren't willing to just take a pill and swallowit  with a swig of water, there's a metal gadget (called a balling gun if you really wanted to know) that is put down their throat to make them take the pill.

They get a new ear tag that has an insecticide in it.

And if the calf is a male, it is castrated. But instead of whacking off those delicate parts, a rubber band is used to cut off circulation, and in a few days the reduced blood flow means that part of the body is no longer effective. The infection rate for this method is less than the Rocky Mountain oyster method.

For female calves, the process is done in less than a minute, and for male calves, just a bit longer. The chute is tipped up, and the calf jumps out.

Old Cowboy Lee came by with a sick calf he had found on the range. I love it when Lee comes by, he is just such a quintessential cowboy.

Desert Boy and I got a job while we were hanging around. We moved the newly processed calves out of the fenced area and into the bigger part of the corral where all the nervous moms were waiting.

Desert Boy enjoyed opening and closing the gate.

The moms and calves were a little confused and took some time to get sorted out. They were also very noisy, as you can hear in this video:

The calves eventually got sorted out. This calf found his mama and started doing his favorite activity--eating. Life is good again.

Desert Boy Hide'n'Seek

Desert Boy loves playing hide'n'seek and is constantly looking for new places to climb in and hide himself. It doesn't matter if it's small or dark, he will still go in. The other day he tipped over the hamper and climbed in.

Sure enough, he fit just fine.

Where's Desert Boy? I'm going to have to train Henry to help me find him. 

Desert Boy Visits the Horses

Desert Boy loves to go visit the "neigh-neighs." That means horse in toddlerspeak. We've been working on him learning to stay on his side of the fence, even though he can climb under or over the gate.

He presses up as close to the fence as he can and whispers to the horse. This is Scooter, by the way, a strange looking horse that is often friendly with kids.

Sure enough, Scooter understands what Desert Boy wants and comes closer for a friendly pat.

Then Desert Boy gets distracted and tries out some tires. Whaddya know, he fits!

After awhile, that gets old, so he's off to look for other distractions.

He finds another "neigh-neigh" and beckons to it.

The horse comes over. Even though he's small, Desert Boy knows how to get along with the animals!