Coyote in Death Valley National Park

Figure 1. Coyote near Mormon Point, Death Valley National Park.

I made a trip to Death Valley in late December, 2012. In addition to some short hikes, I tried to see if I have the luck to see any wildlife.

Yes, there is wildlife in Death Valley, though the name suggests to the contrary. Death Valley National Park uses desert bighorn sheep as the symbol of the park, just like mountain goat in Glacier National Park. It is not easy to see bighorn sheep in Death Valley as they are elusive. Titus Canyon is one of the good places to see them, but you would need a high clearance vehicle for this. Mormon Point at Badwater Road is another place the park suggests. I've tried to go there some years before, but I had no luck last time. I hope I can see something this time.

I still didn't have the luck to see bighorn sheep at Mormon Point this time. But I got the compensation. There were two coyotes at roadside when I arrived there. One quickly went away, but the other stayed. I saw most roadside coyote in Yellowstone, and then Yosemite. In fact, the first coyote I saw was in Death Valley near Scottys Castle. I didn't expect to see a coyote in this park since then, but sometimes you are just lucky!

This is the most cooperative coyote I've ever seen. I spent about 50 minutes with this coyote. I don't mind spending one more hour with him if I can afford. He was still at roadside while I left. In many cases, a coyote stays at roadside for handout from tourists. But this is not the case as his behavior didn't suggest it. It could be a diversion as there were two when I first saw them. Any way, I would never know why this coyote stayed at roadside for such a long time.

But it's good to see a coyote in this park. This is also one of the highlights I've experienced in this park.


Figure 2. Another shot of the same coyote.