To see the footage, jump to about 06:45 in the video.  Otherwise, watch the whole thing.  ;)

Three others, and myself, saw an unidentified flying object on Friday, Nov. 18. We were hiking up the Snow Flake Talc Mine Road and had made camp for the night. We were headed to the ghost town of Beveridge City.

It was a clear, moonless night and we were overlooking Saline Valley. While discussing the constellations, which were ridiculously bright that night, we noticed across the valley in one of the mountain passes a bright white light flying around, making weird circles and lighting up the mountain sides. It began to move counter-clockwise (think of the valley as a circle), it then stopped and started moving clockwise, hugging the mountains and getting closer to us. I saw the reflection of the light in the salt lake as it flew over it.

There was a mountain ridge next to us, and the light moved out of sight. We estimated in about 10 minutes it would appear in front of our canyon. Sure enough, it did in approximately 10-15 minutes. It appeared to be hovering just above the valley floor, and shining a beam forward, it would move in a strafing motion (left and right), forward and backward, and even up and down. It started moving up the canyon we were in, but then veered again and continued on past us.

We were at an elevation of 3,500 feet, it was below us at an elevation of roughly 1,300 feet (near the valley floor). It made no sound. We think it may have been some sort of rover or other experimental scientific craft. We figured a military craft wouldn’t bother with having a light.

Good news, though. I did video tape it, it’s in the above video. Unfortunately, it was so dark out that what I captured on film just looks like a white light against a black background, but I did narrate to give it some context.

I’m a journalist, the other three people were a biologist, a geology expert (biologist with a geologist background), and a historian. We were all understandably freaked out by this.

Andrew Perry
The REAL Desert Dogs
http://www.youtube.com/redchango

Desert Tortoise, from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

They’re slow, methodical, and ancient.  And for most of their species’ time on Earth, their impact on humanity was negligible.  In fact, humanity’s impact on the desert tortoise was far more detrimental; so much so that they’ve been labeled as endangered since 1980.

Since then, the cost to monitor and rescue the desert tortoise has accumulated.  From 1996 to 2006, for instance, it cost about $93 million to monitor them.  That said, I think most people would agree that over that time span it is money well spent.  The number is actually far less then other endangered species, like the Pacific Northwest salmon and the Stellar sea lion, of which hundreds of millions of dollars have spent.

Most recently, the concern over the desert tortoise has focused on the building of huge solar farms in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Monument.  One solar farm has spent $56 million toward the protection of the species.  However, animal rights advocates are basically against the building of solar farms for fear that they will harm the desert tortoise.

And just what is the fear?  Well, solar farms themselves – the buildings and the solar panels – do not create a significant danger to the tortoises.  If anything, they take away some potential land for the tortoises to live in.

But that’s not the concern.  With the presence of humans comes changes to the ecosystem.  Huge buildings provide nesting areas for eagles, which easily prey on young desert tortoises.  Also, the presence of humans also attracts certain insects, like ‘army ants’, which can also prey on young tortoises.  These concerns, of course, are debatable.

What these activists are worried about the most is the increase of traffic that is associated with building a solar farm.  That’s it.  They’re afraid that every once in a while, a tortoise will be run over.

Essentially, this is a math problem.  How much should we worry about desert tortoises in the vicinity of solar farms when compared to the benefits of solar energy?  It’s  a tough call, but I’m leaning toward the technological progress.

As most should be aware, this blog is connected to The REAL Desert Dogs.  We use it mostly to find cool and interesting stories and tell you the reader about it.  That, and we generally want to keep up with what’s going on in the desert.

Well, The Desert Dogs have just came out with their new video, Part 2 of The Will of the Inyos.

On Friday the 13th of May 2011, The Desert Dogs hiked to Beveridge City, a ghost town located deep in the Inyo Mountains. They approach from the west side, in Saline Valley.

In the previous episode, they took a wrong turn, ran over a gopher snake, and got their vehicle stuck. After resolving their situation a few hours later, they finally find their way, but not without using up plenty of gasoline.  Since they’ve already passed the point of no return, they resolved to continue their journey.

This film is dedicated to all people who enjoy a good adventure.

The REAL Desert Dogs