Blue Goose ~ Day 46

July 16, 2104 ~ Valentine, NE to Mitchell, SD

I had intended to check out Valentine NWR yesterday but it was getting late, and this is a large (over 70,000 acre) refuge, so I had to drive back south 16 miles and then west 13 miles to get to the headquarters. Which were depressing. No one was visible (and this is fine as I don't expect someone to be alert to the very occasional visitor on these remote refuges), but the general impression around the buildings and grounds was slightly derelict and tired, unusual in my experience thus far for a refuge. I read later that much of the work here had been done by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), which is also true for many places out west, and it seemed not much had been done since for upkeep. But Valentine is a huge refuge with major projects, and esthetics for the occasional interested traveler obviously isn't a priority. Like I read that Hackberry Lake, one of the larger lakes, had been mostly pumped dry in 2004 to eradicate invasive carp. The little bit of water that remained was "treated" and the carp killed with a successful outcome as ducks and geese retuned in numbers. But what a prodigious project, pumping a whole lake dry! No question that there is a lot of manipulation / management of refuges. Nearly every one so far has mentioned the practices and rationale for "prescribed burning" and grazing, the problems of controlling invasive flora and the major ways water is managed.

Ranches near Valentine NWR - NE

Before I even got to the headquarters, I sat an hour by Watts Lake and watched things. Surprisingly, I kept seeing Orchard Orioles in White Cedars with juniper berries (birds generally love these), and Lark Sparrows, the ubiquitous Yellow Warbler, Eastern and Western Kingbirds and swallows. The air was fragrant and several species of wildflowers were blooming. One truck drove by in the hour.

The 9.6-mile auto route was pleasant as it wound around the lakes through the sand hills, but for me, there was such a lonely feel out here. I wasn't uncomfortable but am realizing I would never choose to live so far from human contact, no matter how compelling the natural setting. To see these lakes with no habitation, while certainly great refuges for fauna, was just unexpectedly unsettling, realizing all the while that this was my unique perspective and totally a failing on my part to embrace it without carrying on the inner dialogue. Does this make any sense to anyone? I wondered about the families who accompany the refuge managers and who live on them....or the ranching families who live 50 miles from the nearest, even small, town.

But, I did come upon Upland Sandpipers who are always reluctant to fly away but seem to think they can outrun my car, like Killdeer. They are graceful, thin-necked, long-legged birds with a bicolored bill. One encounter was a family with half-grown birds who awkwardly moved about as the parents tried to get them off the road. And then I saw what I hoped was a Greater Prairie Chicken but which finally showed itself enough to be a Sharp-tailed Grouse. We watched each other for 15 minutes. It would stare at me and then finally cross the road in front of the van, peck away at the weeds and then watch me again and cross back over the road to the other side to peck at those weeds. The Prairie Chicken would have been a life bird for me and their range is less more restricted the the ST grouse. But, still, it was fun to have a tete-a-tete with the grouse which I seldom see.

Sharp-tailed Grouse on Valentine NWR - NE

As I pulled out on the main highway, a State Policeman was sitting there but who immediately did a U-turn and took off after a speeder going the other way. I have been driving well within the speed limits and only freaked out once when I was talking on the cell and passed a policeman. Some states have hands-free laws and I am never quite certain.

Back through Valentine to Fort Niobrara NWR where the big deal is habitat for buffalo and elk. I was getting tired of gravel roads, and buffalo are no big deal to me. Well, there actually are, but I used to see them within a mile of my house in Montana all the time so wasn't invested in seeing them as most Niobrara visitors are. I bought a couple of delightful kids' books about wetlands and buffalo as the headquarters actually was open and had a gift store. And then I walked to see a waterfall, one more incongruity in Nebraska, as I felt I was in the Upper Peninsula.

And I did see 20 buffalo and prairie dogs but wanted to get out of Nebraska for some unclear reason, so I drove another long time east and north to South Dakota after making sure I could get across the Missouri River since there aren't just bridges everywhere. Again, this was a road with almost no traffic with the sense of how immense the prairies are. I immediately felt better once in SD; I know, it's weird and inexplicable but that's how it was. I figured I could get to Mitchell, SD, by sunset and still have time to go to Lake Andes NWR, which I did.

What a lovely place! The unexpected gorgeous places I find at the end of gravel roads are one of the pleasures of this trip. I hadn't intended to do much more than drive through, but trails beckoned and I walked a mile, through grasses and flowers with dozens of birds perching on the grasses and flowers. Perhaps it was the time of day. All the refuge literature always say to visit early mornings or late afternoons and I happen to do so. Even on the way to Lake Andes, I spotted a grouse / prairie chicken by the roadside and turned around only to discover half a dozen clumsy, tiny grouselets or chicklets scrambling to get into the weeds and out of site. Of the parent, no sign but a lot of clucking, so I don't know whether it was a G or a C.

In the fields just off the trail in the late afternoon sunlight were many Dicsissels and Lark Buntings but also sparrows and phoebes and kingbirds and a White-tailed deer who didn't realize I was on the trail until we were very close when it bounded away.

The trails were either gravel or widely mowed and wheelchair accessible with marsh overlooks. I saw a Common Yellowthroat which I had heard all through Valentine but never saw. It was very soothing and a nice ending to a long and dusty day.

Lake Andes NWR - SD

The trail area was between Lake Andes and prairie / fields so the habitat is varied. I had Birkies on and later I realized I had picked up dozens of very sharp pointed burs which stuck to the bottoms and which clicked on the floor of the Walmart. So I spent 15 minutes pulling them out. And checked for ticks but still woke up in the night with something crawling on my shoulder.

My googling mentioned that the Cabelas down the street from Walmart was also a good place for parking overnight. I checked it out, but the store itself closed at 9 pm, and I had no bathroom options. Which is why some people pay $50 to $500K for an RV.

The day was another nutrition failure (Rice Krispy cookie, half a lemon bar, McDonald's breakfast burrito, cold leftover Chinese, chocolate pomegranate candy and a too sweet coffee drink from a gas station) and I wasn't hungry so had cheese and rice crackers and read a free liberal newspaper I picked up - Prairie Fire - about tracking, tar sands, conscientious land-steward farming, etc.