April 8 - Escape from Antelope Island

Heading to Antelope Island today; the plan is to hike up Frary Peak (the highest point on the island). I figure I only have 1 or 2 trips before the swarming biting gnat hatch, so it's time to get up Frary Peak before that happens.

Overcast morning (storms supposed to be coming in tonight/tomorrow) but highs into the low 70s.

I'm excited to hike Frary Peak; it will be my 2nd time. But that excitement is squashed at the park gate when I see the ominous sign reading - Biting Gnats have hatched - Ugh! 

They've arrived before the bflies have even started flying! :(

Well, on wards with the backup plan - I don't have one.

As I drive along the causeway (not far from the entrance), I stunned to see deer running along the south side of the causeway. (I've only ever seen coyote along the causeway before.) They are heading towards the gate. I stop and am even more surprised to see it's a herd of about 20 animals all running east.

I'm not sure why, but they look like they're trying to escape (maybe from those biting gnats).

I want to turn around and follow to see if they make it but they're already freaked out, no reason to add to it so I continue west toward the island. Strange start to the day!

Since I'm now not in the mood to hike (I've been caught on the White Rock Trail last year with swarms of gnats; not really interested in that again.), I decide to take a slow drive down to the Ranch. Perhaps look for bflys on the start of the Sentry Trail - depending on the bug situation.

I turn left towards the ranch and greeted by a 4-5 bison right next to the road. The one is rolling in the dirt, so I have to stop. Love the sound of them ripping the grasses from the ground!

This bison is ready for a nap.

But he can also scratch like a dog.

And clean his hooves.

I move on only to find a Chukkar in the middle of the road. He moves off into the vegetation and I continue along my.

I stop just before first pull-off to check out the view and the bison. In the water, behind the bison, I see several creatures in the water and moving fast.

Definitely too big for birds and not big enough for bison. OK, the strange deer day gets stranger - they are deer! About 6 of them running through the water to shore.

When they get to the shore, they continue to run in my direction.

I loose sight of them because I'm on top of the hill and they're somewhere below out of view.

I move to the pull-off hoping to locate the deer but they are still out of view.

I continue along passing several small herds of bison - some high on the ridges, others on the flats and still others on the shoreline.

For some reason there are lots of horseback riders out and they all have their horses in a trot. I've never seen this many horses on the island - and I rarely see trotting horses here. The strange day continues.

After Frary Peak, I stop to watch 2 pronghorn (male & female) on the lake bed. Doing nothing by standing there. Eventually, they start moving towards the island.

I move on and finally stop at the ranch to check on the Great Horned Owls. I walk back to the area they tend to stay but I can't find any owls. But I do see my first Mourning Cloak of the year!!

I also know where all the horses are coming from. There are bunches of campers/trailers parked on the grounds around the ranch -- must be some horse rider get-to-together.

On the way out, I stop to talk to the DNR guy. He says that they have not figured out where the owls nested this year - they figure it was in the trees a little further south based on where the male has been perched recently. But the male wasn't around earlier this morning (confirmed, I didn't see him either.)

The DNR guy also explained that the horses around are special "long-distance"/endurance horses. The group is out to do 25, 50, 100 mile trots this week-end. They've been coming for over 5 years now; and they travel the country. Nice hobby.

I asked him what was up with the deer today (I told him what I had saw). Of course he didn't know but he did say when he arrives, there's usually 20-30 deer around the ranch, today around 100. Very interesting!

I leave the ranch and I drive down to the Sentry parking and set off for a quick walk to Mushroom Springs. There a some gnats out but not horrible I could hike in this. I complete the walk to Mushroom Springs and back with no butterfly sightings (but several close-up sightings of trotting horses).

I drive back up the island, stopping to see a lone pronghorn very near the road. He is unfazed as I stop my car about 30 ft from him -- he just keeps grazing. And I continue on.

Because there's so few gnats around so far, I drive up to the Frary Peak parking. I'm tempted to hike up to Dooley Knobs. It's a short 1.25 miles so if the bugs were worse here, it wasn't a long hike...but I decide not to try. I'll head over to Bison Point (an even shorter hike).

I see a few more Chukkars along the road on my way to Bison Point.

The view of White Rock Bay is wonderful from the Bison Point parking. I start on up. Again, there are some gnats around but nothing too bad (maybe it's the breeze) -- I'm starting to kick myself for not doing Frary Peak today.

And then I stop to enjoy the view and look at a Phlox (off trail and out of the wind) - I'm not kicking myself anymore, wise decision as there are lots of gnats.

(Note bug splotches on pix.)

But the Phlox is pretty :)

I get back on the trail (out of the bugs) and continue up to the top. I figure the top (fully exposed to the breeze) would be free of bugs. I'm soooo wrong!

But the view is nice.

I stayed for less than a minute and I'm out of there.

Back in my car and heading towards the causeway, I see some white in the distance. It's at least 4 pronghorn behind some vegetation! (I hope the pronghorn stay as visible as they have so far this year as I would like to come in May and finally see a baby.)

I'm just about ready to make my turn on the causeway when I notice 4 deer above the west side of the road. Are these part of the same group of deer running down the causeway earlier? Did they come back?  Or ones that didn't want to participate in the escape attempt earlier this morning?

As I cross the causeway, the water is so calm, I have to stop for some photos. (The bugs are midges - they don't bites but they do swarm.)

Even without a real hike - great (strange) day!