Administrators Eric Hall Posted September 17, 2020 Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 I need to get on this for a few reasons... One is Harley Davidson reached out to talk about having their new Pan America there. The other is we got snaked last year on that first weekend in May. Someone reserved it last November. But... another issue is the woman who does the permitting process says she doesn't like that date because of the tortoise hatchlings starting to emerge. Moving it later risks it being too hot and earlier too cold. I asked her via email what other week would be ideal and she didn't respond. I was going to call her today and ask her on the phone as sometimes these people are reluctant to put anything in writing. I researched when desert tortoises lay eggs, hatch, etc... and found from the US Fish and Wildlife site this tidbit which makes me wonder if we're being shined on or what? Nests are built and eggs are laid in late spring or early summer. The hatchlings appear in 90 to 120 days. So spring begins Mar 21. "Late spring" to me means like late May/early June given summer begins June 21. That means hatchlings emerge late Aug at the earliest and definitely NOT early May. I'm going to simply reserve the first weekend in May (Apr 30-May2) and then apply for the permit. If she rejects us I'll deal with it then. It says the adult tortoises are most active between March and June and Sep-Oct. I've only seen tortoises twice; once was in Nov and the other was at the Mojave rally but outside the preserve boundary. I think @WRogers(Husky701Rally) also took a photo of one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason R Posted September 23, 2020 My Ride Report Share Posted September 23, 2020 I think I saw one the first year I went. It was not a hatchling though. Maybe replace the wording on the permit application to "mechanized horses" and she will approve it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogersW Posted September 25, 2020 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 I haven't seen a tortoise ever at this event. I'm always curious and look out for them, but I'm probably too fast 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motochefarwi Posted September 28, 2020 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted September 28, 2020 Here! I’m slow enough to catch a glimpse of the elusive ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts