Desert Bighorn Sheep

Finally, we saw bighorn sheep up close in the desert.  It has rained a few times now so things are growing like these ocotillo bushes.  The bighorns were munching on the leaves.  If you've seen one of these bushes up close you would see the large thorns that cover every inch of them.  How the sheep eat around the thorns is amazing.   There is a good population of these sheep that live close to the Colorado River.  The land along the river is mostly owned by the federal government so the habitat for the sheep is protected. 

Most of the land along the river is fairly hilly, almost mountainous, and very remote.  There are not a lot of roads - mostly 4wheel drive tracks in the non wilderness section.  These sheep that we saw were actually pretty close to Yuma.  We were about five miles north of town by the river near the old Laguna Dam.  They may have been on the move because its the start of the mating season.