Drop-In Blog

By Angela Szesciorka, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

Warning, this is about horses — terrestrial mammals, yes. But as you may know, cetaceans did come from an ungulate lineage. So settle down kids.

I wanted to tell you all a little bit about my sister’s upcoming epic journey. On May 25, my sister, Samantha, will embark on a 28-day journey across Nevada on horseback. Why you ask? Because no one ever has!

This will be the first solo equestrian ride along the Nevada portion of the American Discovery Trail, the coast-to-coast trail across the United Stated from Point Reyes National Seashore in California to the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware.

The American Discovery Trail cuts across Nevada in nine segments. It spans 496 miles across isolated backcountry wilderness. Check out the trail on the map below.

Samantha will ride Sage, a six-year-old mustang that she bought at auction from the Carson City Correctional Center. Sage had been part of the Center’s Saddle-Horse Training Program after the Bureau of Land Management rounded him up in 2009. He is originally from the Callaghan Herd Management Area, north of Austin, Nevada.

Sage has since become a well known ambassador — demonstrating the ability for wild horses to be successfully trained and ridden, overcoming many challenges. Samantha even rode him in the 2011 Nevada Day Parade, while carrying the Nevada state flag.

With Samantha on her journey through 14 mountain ranges, 4 state parks, and 8 counties, will be her dog Bella, a five-year-old mutt that she rescued from an animal shelter in Tacoma, Washington.

Samantha, Sage, and Bella have been doing endurance rides and training for the past two years while finding sponsors for the food and gear they will need.

She hopes to encourage wild horse adoption (many languish in holding facilities because they are not being adopted) and to highlight the American Discovery Trail, a route that cuts across Nevada’s most remote backcountry wilderness.

Her trip is being filmed as a part of an upcoming documentary about wild horses in the West, so stay tuned!

If you are interested in learning more about wild horse roundups in Nevada, watch Postcards from Nevada, a two-part series that Samantha produced while working at KTVN Channel 2, a CBS affiliate in Reno. You can find it here.

You can also watch Stampede to Oblivion, a six-part-series on wild horse roundups in Nevada can also be found here.

Samantha will have Spot Satellite GPS so you can follow her on her journey. You can read more about her trip or donate at: www.nevadadiscoveryride.com.

Donations will go to the Wild Horse Preservation League, a nonprofit in northern Nevada dedicated to preserving wild horses in the United States with other wild horse advocacy groups across the country.

By Angela Szesciorka, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

Last Monday, I bussed it to Santa Barbara then hopped a train to San Diego. One night in a hotel and an overpriced taxi ride later, and I was laying eyes on the R/V Point Sur for the first time since November 29, 2012, on it’s way back from its 17,000 mile round-trip journey to Palmer Station in Antarctica.

By this time, what was once a full house was down to 11. The crew consisted of a mix of those who had spent the past five months on the boat and in Antarctica, and a few others who had boarded in Mexico two weeks prior to my arrival.

Much to my delight, I was not the only scientist on board. Ashley Wheeler, a master’s student in geological oceanography, had boarded in Mexico in April to work with the Naval Postgraduate School collecting oceanographic data.

Unlike the Antarctica crew, who were probably packed in, I had my own bedroom and bathroom. I was also privilege to three square meals a day, crafted by an amazing chef who had no problems making inventive and delicious vegetarian food.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather, which was great, as this was my first overnight trip on a ship. Land lubber no more! I had some nagging nausea the second day, but it passed after some time outside with the ocean breeze, a handful of ginger chews, and an iron will!

So why did I trek all this way to jump aboard the R/V Point Sur?

This trip was the kick-off of my thesis project, which, among other things, will include an assessment of the risk of ship-whale interactions in the shipping lanes off California. To do this I need to figure out where the whales are. And this of course is done with old-fashioned shipboard surveys.

Most of my time was spent standing in front of the bridge scanning the sea for whales with my trusty binoculars and Rite in the Rain data sheets. I stared patiently out into the expansive and seemingly empty blue ocean.

After about 16 hours of surveys, I saw 11 whales (mostly humpbacks), dozens of California sea lions, gangs of bow riding dolphins, and sea birds, which preferred wrack lounging to flying.

I was also lucky enough to have Ashley keep me company the whole time during my surveys. Thanks, Ashley!

Ocean life seems to agree with me. Of course I might get a little homesick after months at sea, but being on a ship in the middle of the ocean had a freeing feeling. And the crew made excellent conversationalists. (And did I mention the food!?!)

Next up: get on as many cruises as I can. Some one recently suggested cruise lines. Not a bad way to do thesis field work!