A long time ago, perhaps as much 2000 or 3000 years, an Indian was hunting for bighorn sheep in a land that he'd never hunted before. The sheep sign was getting thicker, it seemed, with every step until he came to the edge of a cliff and looked down and saw a pool of water, where the bighorn sheep had been watering for untold ages.
This place name I have heard of more than once, and like so many place names this one has a story behind it. And of course this story is about the coyotes digging holes; so if one understands why they dig these holes in the desert, they will understand the coyote better, and this of course will lead to better understanding of the entire ecosystem.
Optical equipment is not generally viewed as safety or emergency equipment.
Binoculars and spotting scopes can be used in conjunction with one another, but it is best to have both.
Quality binoculars, even if in small magnification can be helpful in identifying objects from a safe distance.
Tricks to getting the most from your binoculars
A good set of binoculars can make a tremendous difference in the way you experience the desert even if you're with a group of people that have a very large presence in the environment.
This subject is rarely discussed and is often overlooked by many who walked the desert. However, the right optics can bestow superhuman powers on almost any one.
While it seems it was a long time ago, I remember it well. It was sometime in August, early in the morning and it was already getting hot. When I left my home in Barstow to go out riding on my brand-new motorcycle, my wife did not ask where I was going because she knew that I didn't know or care. So before long I found myself gassing up in Lucerne Valley where I decided to ride to Newberry.