Desert Tortoise

 School's out. It is only May 17th and we are nearing the end of our days in St. George area. Still, we had never seen an adult desert tortoise in the wild until today. Years ago, I had found one the size of a sand dollar, probably just born out in the Babylon area of Red Cliffs. It would be much more exciting to see an adult tortoise. My friend Matt Swartz told me that he saw a desert tortoise on the Chuckwalla Trail. I had never been, but it was a popular trailhead right outside of Snow Canyon. It was becoming summer in the Southwest as mid-May meant a hot sun, so an early start was necessary. We made it to the trailhead before the clock struck 10. 

The trail started near a climbing area and there were climbers out and about. We walked right on past them and into the early morning heat. The trail descended initially until it found its way to Halfway Wash. From here it split and there were a series of small loops that you could do. We were going to head up to Beck's Hill, but were quickly distracted by a large desert tortoise. Here it was right where he said he had seen one. We watched him for as long as he would let us and while he did not do much except eat some green vegetation and walk around, it was still a sight to behold. The kids were really excited, but probably not as excited as Jacqueline and I. 

When you live long enough, you realize that sometimes you have to accept the many hikes where nothing extraordinary is seen. On this one, we got to spend some time with the turtle, so the hike was already worthwhile. The rest of the hike was still nice. The trail took us past the red rocks and into some open country. The desert flowers were still abundant and the kids hiked well. We climbed up rather moderate slopes until we were able to make it to the junction with the Scout Cave trail. This was our spot to make a loop out of it and we continued back on the Turtle Wall trail hoping to see another tortoise along the way.

 Instead, we just saw red rocks and got a decent hike in before the sun turned on its full heat lamp. The turtles were absent as we passed by the same spot we had viewed them before, but we were pleased with the lucky find on the short jaunt on this beautiful spring day in Southern Utah.