Thursday, December 24, 2015

A Wild(life) Year in Video! 2015


A Wild(life) Year in Video!  2015

I shared in my previous blog A Wild(life) Year in Photography
that 2015 was a 'wild' year for me.  The wildness factor dipped into my photography and in video.  If I am taking photos I am usually just a button touch away from capturing wildlife in video.  It is always my goal to walk away with photos and video if I happen to encounter a Sasquatch, Aliens, javelina, or whatever crosses my path or chases me in the rugged landscape of desert terrain in which I call home. 

I have posted some memorable moments below with links to video(s) taken.  I have not posted all of the videos under each photo.   It was a good year for the videography, whether it was filming a tarantula crawling up my arm, a rattlesnake a few feet away or something away from the animal/insect kingdom.
Other videos on my channel can be found at:  Dave Nevins YouTube Channel

Thanks for your visit and I look forward to more unique and exciting opportunities to use my camera in 2016.









































Rattlesnakes interacting - on one of my runs














Sunday, December 6, 2015

A Wild(life) Year in Photography!




A Wild(life) Year in Photography!

Me and the Roaming Bison in Colorado.  Photo by Eric Peffer.

It has been been a wild year for me, in many aspects.  One of those areas that continues to make my head swirl, is the amazing desert I live in and the wildlife I have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with.  


Most of the photos are from my home base in Catalina, Arizona, although photo adventures to Colorado and New Mexico have added some new animals and geography to my photo line up.

Part of the large herd of elk in Colorado (approximately 150)

I have a number of things in my favor:
1.  An eye for things that are 'wild'
2.  a 70-300 lens
3.  Many of my photo adventures are with a wildlife biologist.
4.  I run in an a desert area where I see maybe 1 person a month.  More of a true desert setting. 
5.  Just plain luck

Family of 4 Bobcats in the neighborhood

Many of my photos are taken during my daily runs through the desert.  I typically run near sunset, which I feel is a better time to see animals plus it puts me on the highest road in our area to capture stunning sunsets.  The runs limit my camera options but I have had good success with a decent point and shoot camera (Samsung WB350F).  The Samsung is sporting a 42x zoom.  Oh yeah!

One of the four bobcats (family) in the neighborhood

My goal, when possible, is to take film along with photos.  I may put together a film blog for this year.  

I think back to last year and I did not get much in the way of wildlife photos while this year has been phenomenal.  Looking toward 2016. 

Wild horses near Fort Garland, CO

Enjoy the photos! 

When I grab my camera, I aim to get photos and video.  Check out the videos on my latest blog:  A Wild(life) Year in Video!

Wild horse near Fort Garland, CO



Bighorn Sheep - Taos, NM



Redtail Hawk - Klondyke, AZ

Not totally 'wild' but a wild setting - near La Veta, Colorado


 Rattlesnake on one of my runs - Catalina, AZ

 Roadrunner near the house - Catalina, AZ

At the house

A Javelina visit during a run - Catalina, AZ



Horned Lizard during a run - Catalina, AZ

Young Desert Tortoise - Catalina, AZ

Walking Stick, almost stepped on and bypassed - Catalina, AZ

Tarantula visit on a run - Catalina, AZ

Tarantula on one of my runs

Gila Monster at the house - Catalina, AZ


Family of 4 Bobcats in the neighborhood - Catalina, AZ

Bobcat photo published in a local paper

Young Desert Tortoise on a desert run - Catalina, AZ


A brief stop during the Race Across America as wild horses cross the road in Utah


During the Race Across America - Pagosa Springs, CO



Praying Mantis, Lori & Eric in Klondyke, AZ

Friday, November 13, 2015

The Klondyke Cold Rush


The Klondyke Cold Rush

Off the heavily traveled Interstate 10, Aravaipa Road weaves through gently rolling prairie, skirting the towering Mount Graham, at 10,720 feet, the tallest peak in the Pinaleno Mountains and the majestic Santa Teresa Mountains.

Start of the Aravaipa Canyon trek

It was a lengthy four hour drive to reach the little hamlet of Klondyke, which boasts a population of five.  About 35 miles were dirt, although road conditions were much better than anticipated.  The road ends at the eastern entry of spectacular Aravaipa Canyon, within the supremely rugged Galiuro Mountains, a rough and remote place that was the home of Arizona's last wild wolves before the reintroduction program of the late 1990's. 


Our goal was for Eric, Lori and I to pitch tents at the start of the trek and spend the next two days exploring the spectacular setting that Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness offers.  This section of the canyon was purchased by the Nature Conservancy to help save an area that is considerably more lush and beautiful than the surroundings.  Little does one realize the crazy circumstances that are involved in this ten mile hike (mainly in the creek).  While the west entrance is only 50 miles from our homes, the east entrance drive is 200 miles away.  These miles and the 4 hour drive will jump out later in the story.

Video of the last section of road to Aravaipa Canyon East.  


Entertaining a visitor at the old Klondyke School

The sun had slid behind the towering cliffs of the dramatic canyon.  We exited from the Peffer family taxi (Eric's folks), grabbed the seriously overweight backpacks (did someone throw rocks in my pack?), threw on our headlights and began our search for a campsite.  None being found, with looming darkness and threatening skies, we strolled back to the parking lot.  Flat, close to a toilet and no time for a crises.  It was perfect, for the moment.  

The rain began to fall and buckets of the liquid sunshine were pounding us as we scurried to set up shelter.  I had 'planned' to practice setting up a tent that I had not used in many years. Didn't happen. Those years had destroyed the elasticity of the bungee cords in my tent poles.  Lovely.  Any idea of how dismal it is putting up a tent in a driving rain, in the dark, with largely worthless poles?  

The tent would eventually, somehow, find shape, as the skies continued to unleash their madness.


The weather forecast, being a serious matter when spending most of your hiking hours within the creek, in a very distant location, and carting a lot of expensive camera gear.  Forecast for the area was .07 inches of rain.

Those .07 inches of rain fell in about the first 12 minutes of bombardment, and would continue through the night with an occasional boom of thunder thrown in for grand measure.  

Santa Teresa Mountains

The morning saw the three adventurers tired, needing coffee and questioning the wisdom of entering the rising creek.  


A single truck would splash its way past our parking lot Hilton accommodations.  Odd, to have traffic roll past us, since this was basically the end of the general road system.

An old windmill structure and wind sock behind the Klondyke School.  The school now serves as a search and rescue location and helicopter pad.

The truck would ramble back through our disaster zone and Lori, in a heads up move, would emerge from the tent and flag down the vehicle.  It was a rancher checking on a horse on her property.  The news on creek conditions was not stellar.     "Can we get a ride back to Klondyke"?

Redtail Hawk

We scooped up our wet belongings and were on our way back to Klondyke.  It would have been a long slog, on foot, back to Klondyke, along the road that Billy the Kid had once traveled.  Our home for the day would be the old Klondyke School.  It was now being used as a search and rescue base, for community meetings and a helicopter base.  

Aravaipa Road looking at the Pelocillo Mountains

The call was made and it would be another eight hour drive for our gracious and now overworked drivers to pick us up.  

Adorning the now sparse, marginally used school, were posters advertising the film 'Powers War' and an old poster on a historic gun fight in the Galiuro Mountains called 'Shootout at Dawn'.  I read Shootout maybe 15 years ago and was intrigued by the story and history of Klondyke, the Galiuro's and the Power family.  The story chronicles the Power family and a conflict and eventual gun fight over draft dodging during WWI.  There are a number of books on the subject, with some siding with the Power family and others which back law enforcement.  The actual facts elude those seeking the full story so the details and guilt will never be fully known.  Four men would die in the most deadly gunfight in Arizona.  I understand that the world premiere of the film was shone in Klondyke.

The film is an excellent documentary:


With a lengthy wait, I explored our surroundings, equipped with a camera and thoughts of a future Aravaipa trek.

We were quite the sight, with wet gear spread out over a lengthy section of stone fence in front of the school.  Checking on the status of the new members of Klondyke community was 'the Grader Man'.  He had grown up in the region and his role was to keep the roads in working order during adverse conditions.  I missed his visit but heard of some of his exploits and of his nearly famous dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, who travels on the roof of the truck and of his courting the females of the isolated area, with special escape visits to a girlfriend 8 miles from his home.  


Storm clouds over Willcox, AZ

Plans for another Aravaipa journey are in the works.  The area is too amazing to not come back. The wet gear and clothes should be dry by then.