Here’s how to find bighorn sheep near Los Angeles 🐏

My friend Bob and I had stopped to rest during a hike in Icehouse Canyon near Mt. Baldy and were having an uncharacteristically quiet moment when we heard rocks tumbling nearby.

We scanned the steep canyon walls and quickly spotted movement. “What do you think it is? Is it deer?” Bob asked.

“Are those rams?” I asked. “Are those mountain goats?”

Bob vowed that this would be the last time we didn’t pack binoculars. (Dear reader, it wasn’t. We always forget them.)

After watching my shaky video several times, I concluded that Bob and I were lucky enough to spot bighorn sheep. It was the first and only time I’ve caught a glimpse of these cloven-footed critters in the wild. I’ve been wondering, though: What do hikers need to know to increase our chances of spotting these elusive ungulates?

I spoke to John D. Wehausen, an applied population ecologist who has studied bighorn sheep for 51 years. “More than half a century,” he pointed out during our call.

Wehausen likes to ask people, “How many populations of bighorn sheep do you think we have in California?”

I guessed seven.

“Just in the desert alone, we have 60 populations of bighorn sheep,” he answered, “and then we have another bunch in the Sierra. … It’s not easy to see them.”

I felt somewhat validated that California’s premier expert on the species noted how tricky sheep are to spot. Before we dive into Wehausen’s tips, I wanted to share a few other things I learned from our conversation.

• California has two subspecies of bighorn sheep: desert bighorns and Sierra Nevada bighorns.
• That’s essentially because, about 600,000 years ago, Sierra bighorn diverged from desert bighorn and became specialists at living above the tree line in alpine zones; yes, bighorn sheep have lived in the land we now call California for thousands of years.
• Bighorn sheep can live months without drinking water, surviving off moisture they get from the plants they eat.
• Wehausen’s niece, also a scientist, recently discovered a population of bighorn sheep in the Great Western Divide that were previously thought to be extinct. Scientists had thought they’d all been killed in the 2022-23 winter season, which dumped huge amounts of snow on the mountains.
• Outside of the indie rock band that formed in Claremont, Southern California doesn’t have native mountain goats.

I developed a new appreciation for these resilient animals after talking to Wehausen, and I hope you do too. Let’s dive into how to see them.

Understand where sheep live

Desert bighorn often live below the lowest tree line (although there are exceptions), while Sierra bighorn sheep live above the highest tree line. They live in these landscapes because it’s easier to detect predators, mountain lions included, in wide open spaces.

The sheep in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains — which can sometimes be found among the trees — depend on wildfire to clear the land of thick brush, so they can avoid predators.

Locally, sheep hot spots can be found in areas like Icehouse Canyon and the Mt. Baldy area, north of Piru, along the Pacific Crest Trail near the Little Jimmy Trail Camp and around the Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area.

Try to be quiet

Bighorns have keen eyesight, thought to be “like us with binoculars,” Wehausen told me.

“Commonly when you find a group of bighorn, they’ve already busted you. They’re watching you,” he said. (Perhaps watching us from their perch on a steep hillside while we shout about whether we are looking at deer or goats?)

Look for water sources

The easiest time to see desert bighorn sheep is, unfortunately for us, in the summer, specifically near water sources.

“If you can break through [the heat], you can go to water sources and just set up a nice little place to sit up on a slope above water. You’ll watch sheep coming and going to water,” Wehausen said. “Very few people do that.”

That includes in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, where visitors frequently see sheep in Palm Canyon, he said.

Lytle Creek, east of the Mt. Baldy area in the San Gabriel Mountains, also used to be a “very predictable” place to spot sheep, Wehausen said. The group has experienced significant population shifts, though, and it might be harder to find them there.

After talking to Wehausen, I looked at iNaturalist and was pleased to see users had documented sheep near the Bonita Falls Trail that runs parallel to the South Fork of Lytle Creek as recently as April.

Scan the shady spots 💤

During the day, desert bighorn will lie under shade trees where they’re easier to spot.

“The sheep will shade up for a considerable time period in the middle of the day,” Wehausen said. “When we’re working out there in the summertime, we would do the same thing,” finding some shade to take a nap.

Learn how to use binoculars 👀

Wehausen regularly hosts field seminars in the Sierra where he teaches participants about spotting bighorn sheep.

First, he finds sheep with binoculars and sets up a spotting scope for students to see them. And then he encourages them to stand back and notice how, if they look closely enough, they can see the sheep with their naked eye.

Wehausen points out that once you develop a “search image,” i.e. understand what sheep look like through a magnified lens, it’s easier to start noticing them by just scanning the terrain.

You’ll start looking for the sheep’s bright white rump patch along with the shape of horns. “What you’re looking for is rocks with legs on them,” he said.

And if the rock with legs moves, congrats. That’s probably a sheep!

“I do find bighorn with my naked eye,” Wehausen said. “I’ve driven across the desert going to meetings and just looked over at mountain ranges on I-40 and see them.” (Goals!)

Listen for the bleats or rock falls

Sierra sheep rarely vocalize, but during the spring when they’re rearing lambs, desert bighorn ewes and lambs talk to each other a lot, Wehausen said.

“And the mothers and the lambs know each other’s individual vocalizations,” he said.

In the Sierra, if you hear repeated rock falls in the same area, or sometimes even “little jiggles of rocks,” you might be near sheep, he said.

I hope these tips empower you to respectfully observe these fascinating animals. Please share your photos if you do. I’d love to see them.

3 things to do

1. Celebrate the L.A. River near downtown L.A.
Friends of the L.A. River will host the organization’s annual RiverFest from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at L.A. State Historic Park (1245 N. Spring St.). Local artists will sell their work, while others offer live performances. Guests can also participate in educational environmental activities and snag food from local vendors. Register for a free ticket at folar.org.

2. Restore wetlands habitat in L.A.
Volunteers are needed from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday to clean the Ballona Wetlands freshwater marsh. Participants age 12 and older will remove invasive plants from the wetlands. Volunteers who arrive early will be provided coffee and snacks by nonprofit Breathe Southern California, which is co-hosting the event with Friends of Ballona Wetlands. Register at ballonafriends.org.

3. Learn about giant trees in Claremont
The California Botanic Garden will host a screening of “Giants Rising,” a film about redwoods, at 7 p.m. Aug. 7. Guests attending this outdoor film screening will be treated to native plant popcorn and pre-film crafts and trivia. General admission for adults is $19, $14 for students and seniors and $5 for children ages 3 to 12. Buy tickets at calbg.org.

The must-read

Oceanographer Anya Štajner was walking along the La Jolla Shores beach when she noticed something astonishing in the sand: a rare species of sea snail, Janthina janthina. “These creatures, more commonly known as violet snails, are distinguished by their striking purple shell and the delicate bubble raft they secrete to stay afloat in the open ocean,” Times staff writer Clara Harter wrote. “They are not known for their presence on Southern California beaches.” So what’s the deal? J. janthina are usually found in toasty subtropical to tropical seas, washing up along Australia’s southern shores. They are found in Southern California usually when warmer offshore waters are flowing toward the shore. “The day that I found my specimens, the water was notably warm,” Štajner said. “I remember when it washed up on my feet, I was like, ‘Whoa, this is hot.’”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

One of the biggest complaints of outdoorsy Californians is how hard it can be to find a campsite without registering six months in advance. Good news! According to Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds, California State Parks has updated its system to better display campground availability and provide almost real-time data about open sites. The state is also expanding its campground lottery system to include Malibu Creek State Park starting this month, with Morro Bay State Park and McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park coming later this summer. I hope this helps more Californians make memories in our beautiful state!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.