As you drive this stretch through the Santa Rosa Mountains, I want you to keep your eyes up on the rocky slopes and your foot ready on the brake — because this is bighorn sheep country, and it needs your care. These are Peninsular bighorn, a desert-adapted mountain sheep, and they're threatened — there aren't many left, and this population is one we're all trying hard to protect. They're the color of the rocks, tan and gray, and they blend in astonishingly well; you might spot a curl of horn or a flick of movement on a ledge, sometimes right down at the roadside licking minerals off the pavement or the cut banks.
And here's the hard truth that makes this more than a wildlife-watching tip: this very highway, Route 74 through these mountains, has had some of the worst bighorn road-kill anywhere in the state. These sheep come down to the road, and cars come around these blind curves fast, and the results are heartbreaking and they set back the whole recovery. So please — drive the posted speed through here, take the curves like you expect something to be just around them, and if you see sheep near the road, slow way down and give them room; don't stop in a blind spot, and never, ever feed them. Help us keep them alive. Watch the slopes, mind your speed, and enjoy knowing you're sharing this mountain with one of the rarest animals in California.
Photo: Department of the Interior. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. National Conservation Training Center. 10/1997-8888 · Public domain
