Continued from the previous page.

COMMUNING WITH THE SHEEP 

It was while I was exploring the long north-south ridge on Mt. Margaret above the Savage River that I saw three Dall sheep up close. I was trying to find a path down to the river loop trail I was on two days ago.

There are numerous rocky alcoves just below the ridge and the sheep were walking/lying in one of those:

When I began my hike I could see three sheep far up the mountainside.

I don’t know if these were the same ones or not. Two were adults, probably ewes (females) because their horns were small, and one was a lamb. Ewes and rams usually live in their own-sex groups except at mating time late in the year.

I was on the ridge about 70-75 feet away (the recommended distance for sheep) when I took photos of them. I talked to them quietly while I took photos. They occasionally looked up at me, apparently more in curiosity than fear. They apparently felt safe where they were because they didn't try to escape:

 

 

 

Lamb or yearling

I've read that if the wildlife you're observing changes its behavior because of your presence, you're too close. Since the sheep appeared to be a bit restless in my presence, after a few minutes I continued northward on the ridge.

I dropped a bit in elevation to another saddle. I wanted to look down the ravine to see if it might offer passage to the river trail:

 

 

That idea might have worked if I'd continued farther to the north and around the next rocky knob on the ridge but the ravine I was looking down didn't look suitable.

I couldn't see all the way down to the river and knew there were a lot of rock ledges in the area. I wish I'd waited to talk to the hiker coming down from the ridge on Monday when I was hiking in the canyon so I might have discovered where he began his descent.

SAME SHEEP, MORE RELAXED THIS TIME

After I gave up trying to find a route down the northeast side of the mountain to the Savage River Canyon I turned around and walked south on Mt. Margaret's ridge above the river.

I came to the rocky alcove where I saw the three Dall sheep 20 minutes earlier and they were still there, now lying down. This time they appeared less concerned about me and didn't change their positions or watch me as closely:

I highlighted the area where the sheep were resting.

 

 

This ewe is missing one of her horns.

Since I didn't seem to be disturbing the sheep this time I could have stayed longer but after taking about a dozen photos I ran out of things to say to them  <grin> and thought I'd better be making my way back to the truck.

MORE RIDGE VIEWS

I continued south along the ridge, heading gradually down toward the road and continuing to look for possible shortcuts to the truck without going back the way I'd come.

Going this direction I could still Denali to the southwest:

 

 

 

Looking downhill

Part of the slope I'd just hiked down

At this point, none of the ravines I'd scanned looked suitable for a descent to the river so I continued down along the ridge, hoping to find one before reaching the rocky promontory at the southern end of the slope.

Instead of descending along the ridge on Mt. Margaret, in retrospect I can say that a better decision would have been to head west, stay high on Primrose Ridge, and aim for the trail a couple miles away that would take me back down to the Primrose Overlook.

Hindsight can be so much better than foresight!

NOT ALL BAD, THOUGH

The only good thing about continuing south on Mt. Margaret's ridge was discovering two more Dall sheep (below the arrows) in separate locations on my way down the slope:

Because of their location, these were more likely two of the three sheep I saw from the parking lot when I began my hike.

I continued walking toward the sheep that was lying on some rocks on the ridge because it was near my intended path. I kept my distance, however, because it had its back to me and I didn't want to surprise it.

 

It may have been aware of my presence but didn't give any indication of that until I decided to speak softly to it in warning when I got to within about 100 feet.

Then it stood up and looked at me directly:

 

Although the sheep initially looked cautious, even startled, it didn't run away in fear. It looked in other directions as much as it looked at me:

This sheep also had short horns and I assume it was another ewe (female). It might have been a juvenile ram (male) whose horns haven't fully developed yet. Mature Dall rams have long, curling horns similar to Bighorn sheep.

I slowly circled around the ewe until I was about 75 feet below her.

I found a rock to sit down for about ten minutes while I watched her, took a bunch of photos, and occasionally talked quietly to her. She was comfortable enough in my presence to lie down. Most of the time she didn't even look my way: 

 

"Ewe" look so soft and fluffy!

Very, very cool -- and worth the route-finding predicament I soon found myself in.

Continued on the next page . . .

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the ultra Lab

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© 2012 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil