Leslie and David's Wanderings: 17 July 2021 Tule Springs Fossil Beds NM and Desert national Wildlife Refuge

The NM is north and west of Las Vegas. So we looked up a Diner Drive-ins and Dives (DDD) recommended restaurant to try in that area. We stopped at the Four Kegs sports pub for lunch. It was delicious, but in the process of eating lunch, David’s implanted tooth broke off at the bone and came out! That is not supposed to happen since the posts for those implants are made of titanium. One more thing to worry about getting fixed. Our research on Tule Springs Fossil Bed National Monument showed that the monument was created in 2014 but that no improvements have been made. No marked trails, no parking lots and no visitor center. The only thing we could find was a sign that had been recently been placed along the one road that goes through the northern portion of the park. Nothing indicated when anymore would be done to improve the park for visitors. So we drove up to the sign, took a picture and called it done. The same road ran into the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. This is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the lower 48 states. Over half the refuge is also part of the Nellis Air Force Base Training Range and is off limits to the public. From the visitor center (which was still closed due to COVID), there are two primitive roads that travel through the open portion of the refuge. We decided to take the Mormon Wells road for a ways to see some wildlife. We ended up doing the whole 47 miles over to US93. The road was listed as four wheel drive and high clearance required but we never put the Behemoth in for wheel drive nor did we need its high clearance. But the road was very rough so we could only go 10-15MPH. The road climbs up to Mormon Pass where we saw the only other humans on the road (in the campground). The only wildlife we saw was a ground mole and a tiny rabbit. The scenery was bleak and brown but there are lots of Joshua Trees. When we climbed up into the pass there were plenty of cedar and pine trees. Not a drive we would choose to repeat. When we exited on US93 we notice there were no signs to indicate the road was there or where it went to. If we had not started on the west side by the visitor center, we would never had know where to turn. On the way back to Las Vegas we ran into some welcomed rain to wash the dust off the Behemoth.