The Wild, Wild Southwest!

by Corwin, Jeff

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Is that a ... rattlesnake?!

  From where Benjamin was standing, he could see the brown-and-black diamond pattern on the snake’s skin. When he pulled out his binoculars and focused in, he noticed that the snake was coiled in such a way that he could just see the rattle at the end of its tail, looking like a line of plastic beads. He could also see its hooded black eyes—looking right at him!

  “Is it, uh, poisonous?” Gabe asked, concerned.

  Benjamin looked at Gabe and said, “We need to ask my mom.”

  Gabe was frozen to the spot. “Mom,” Benjamin said as calmly as he could manage. “I think I see a rattlesnake.”

  Books in the Jeff Corwin Series

  Jeff Corwin

  A Wild Life:

  The Authorized Biography

  Jeff Corwin

  Animals and Habitats of the United States

  Jeff Corwin

  Junior Explorer Book 1:

  Your Backyard Is Wild!

  Jeff Corwin

  Junior Explorer Book 2:

  The Great Alaska Adventure!

  To Maya, Marina, and Natasha

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group,

  345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,

  Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland

  (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre,

  Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue,

  Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009

  Copyright © Jeff Corwin, 2010

  eISBN : 978-1-101-43477-2

  Illustrations copyright © Guy Francis, 2010

  All rights reserved

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA IS AVAILABLE.

  Puffin Books 978-0-14-241440-8

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  Dear Reader,

  Before my family moved to a rural part of Massachusetts, I grew up outside of Boston, where I wasn’t always able to explore the natural world. So I had to find unique ways to discover the animals and plants around me—which led me right into my backyard! Even though I was living in a city, I found lots of amazing wildlife right outside my door. I just had to take a closer look!

  And that’s what the Baxter kids like to do in my Junior Explorer series—explore their immediate surroundings. Whether in a desert or in their hometown near the Florida Everglades, Lucy and Benjamin Baxter always find ways to discover fascinating animals and plants. And so can you! It doesn’t matter where you live—all you have to do is look outside, engage your curiosity about the natural world, and have fun discovering the plants, animals, and natural life around you.

  Happy exploring!

  Jeff Corwin

  Chapter One

  Benjamin Baxter unzipped his backpack and took out a carefully folded map. He spread it out across the ground in his family’s campsite in New Mexico, anchoring each corner with a big rock so it wouldn’t blow away. “Lucy! Gabe! Come here!” he shouted, calling his sister and his cousin over to take a look. “The Gila National Forest,” he said as they approached. He swept his hand over the map dramatically. “Our home away from home!”

  Lucy studied it until she found the place where they were standing, a small campground near the middle of the park, nestled beside the West Fork of the Gila River. She pointed to the spot, showing her cousin. “Okay, Gabe, imagine a red arrow in this area. It would say, ‘You are here.’”

  “That’s what it says on subway maps,” Gabe said cheerfully. He’d lived all of his nine years in Brooklyn, New York.

  “Not on a map of a national forest, though,” said Benjamin. “Here they make you figure it out yourself. Luckily, I had plenty of time to study it on the plane.”

  “And while we waited to rent a car. And while we drove here from the Albuquerque airport,” Lucy added. It had been a long trip, but they were finally here, with still a few hours before it got dark.

  Gabe nodded. “It’s good that you’re an expert because, you know, I’m not.” He had never been camping before, but this summer the Baxters had talked his family, the Sullivans, into joining them for a trip. Ever since they’d been to visit Gabe in New York, the kids had been dying to see him again. And after their trip to the city, their parents had been eager to show Aunt Lily and Uncle Peter the wonders of living in the great outdoors. Right now, the grown-ups were hard at work setting up the tents a few feet away.

  Benjamin squatted next to the map, a stick in his hand. “So the park is in the southwest corner of the state,” he said, pointing. “Not far from the Mexican border.”

  Lucy glanced over at her brother, rolling her eyes. “Don’t mind him while he recites the guidebook from memory,” she told Gabe. “The rest of the trip will be a lot more fun.”

  Benjamin smiled, but he didn’t stop. “Hey, this is important stuff! The Gila covers more than three million acres of land, and includes two wilderness areas where there aren’t even any roads. People think of New Mexico as a desert—and a lot of it is—but most of this park is mountains and forest. It’s home to a variety of species. Which means . . .”

  “Lots of different animals?” Gabe broke in, proudly. When the Baxters were in New York, they spent a lot of time looking at local wildlife. Gabe had learned a lot.

  “Yes!” cried Lucy. “The forest is full of all kinds of creatures we’ve never seen in person.”

  “Like what?” Gabe asked, a mix of excitement and concern in his voice.

  Benjamin didn’t even know where to start. “Well, definitely lizards and snakes. Maybe even mountain lions . . .”

  “Mountain lions!” Gabe said with alarm. “And there’s just going to be a tent between us and their teeth?” He was so loud that the grown-ups could hear him, and his mom and dad looked up with concern.

  Beth Baxter, Benjamin’s mom, stepped away from the tents for a moment and took a long drink out of her water bottle as she walked over to the kids. “Don’t worry, Gabe,” she said when she reached them. “I doubt there are any mountain lions in the immediate area.” Mrs. Baxter was a scientist who studied animals. “They’re reclusive creatures, anyway—they tend to steer clear of people. Nothing to be concerned about.” She smiled Benjamin still hoped to catch a glimpse of a mountain lion, but the Sullivans looked relieved. Maybe Gabe and his parents were more nervous than he’d realized.

  “We’re almost done here,” said his dad, Sam Baxter, hoisting a tent to an upright position. “T
he tent poles are in—all we need to do is stake them into the ground and then we can start moving in!”

  Benjamin folded up his map, and they all moved over to their tents. He couldn’t wait to set up his stuff. The grown-ups would have one tent, while the kids would have another one beside it, all to themselves! It would be like a big slumber party!

  “Could you kids get some water? The bathrooms are down that path,” Mr. Baxter said, pointing, “and I think there’s a water pump down there, too.”

  Hoisting three large water jugs, the kids set off together. Gabe and Lucy ran ahead, but Benjamin lagged behind for a few minutes, looking around the campground and taking it all in. The area was in a sort of valley, with mountains stretching up all around. He could hear the soft rumbling sound of the Gila River, too, coming from behind a row of trees at the edge of the campground.

  “Hurry up,” Lucy called. As much as Benjamin wanted to explore, they had to finish setting up camp before it got too late.

  Up ahead, Gabe and Lucy found the water pump. Lucy pumped the handle, and water dribbled out of a spout. “Your dad must be really thirsty,” Gabe commented as they filled the second gallon jug. The Baxters looked at each other for a minute, baffled, until Lucy started to giggle. “This isn’t just for him to drink,” she said. “It’s for all of us! We’ll use some of it for drinking, and some will be for cooking and cleaning.”

  “And for my nice hot shower?” Gabe asked dryly.

  Benjamin wasn’t sure if he was joking. “Some campgrounds do have showers,” he said. “But this one is pretty basic. It just has some outhouses and water pumps, plus a couple of picnic tables. If you leave the water out in the sun, it gets warm, though. We could try to rig up a shower . . . ,” he said, trailing off.

  “I was kidding!” Gabe said. “I don’t know a lot about camping, but I know I’m going to like the getting-dirty part of it. Who wants to waste our visit taking showers? We can do that when we get back home.”

  Benjamin gave his cousin a high five, while Lucy grimaced.

  “So what do you guys do on camping trips?” Gabe asked as they finished filling the jugs and headed back to their site with the water.

  “Go hiking, mostly,” said Benjamin. “That’s what our parents call it, anyway. I like to think of it as exploring. There are tons of trails, and if we get tired of that, there’s swimming in the river and just hanging out in our tent.”

  “The best part is at night,” Lucy said. “It’s when you feel most connected to nature. In a place like this, the only light will be from the stars and from our fire, and the only sound will be from animals, wind, and water. Trust me—it’s amazing!”

  It was starting to get dark, and they heard a bird calling as they walked back toward their tents. Benjamin wondered if it might be a hawk.

  “Animals? Do they come out to hunt at night?” Gabe asked, sounding worried.

  “Well, nocturnal animals come out at night,” Benjamin said. “But other animals hunt all day long.” He saw Gabe’s concerned face. “But the thing is, none of them are hunting us. They may want our food, but our parents will put it where they can’t get it. Like my mom said, there’s nothing to worry about. Really!”

  Before Gabe could reply, they were back at the campsite. “We’re moving in!” said Aunt Lily, poking her head out of the grown-ups’ tent. There was a pile of gear on the ground, and Benjamin’s mom was coming up the path with another armful of bags.

  Benjamin turned to his cousin. “You’ve never slept in a tent before, right?” he asked.

  “Never even been inside one,” Gabe confirmed.

  “You’re the first one in then,” Benjamin said, looking over at Lucy, who nodded in agreement. That meant that Gabe would get to pick the least lumpy spot on the ground for his sleeping bag, but the Baxters were willing to give that up. If their cousin had any worries about sleeping outside, it would definitely help him to have a comfortable place.

  Feeling generous, Benjamin watched his cousin open the tent flap and crouch to get inside. Then, with surprise, Benjamin watched him pop back out and run to the other side of the site, as far from the tent as he could get. “Seriously, I think I’d rather stay in a hotel,” he said, his voice shaking. “There’s a lobster in there!”

  Chapter Two

  “What? No way!” yelled Benjamin. When he looked into the tent, he saw why Gabe was a little freaked out. It wasn’t a lobster—it was a scorpion! The creature was small and brown, about as long as a pencil, with crab-like claws and a long, segmented tail curving upward over its body. Benjamin wanted to get a closer look, but he knew that scorpions could sting. He was pretty sure a grown-up would have to help.

  “Mom,” he said when she arrived with the last of the stuff from the car. “There’s something you need to see in here.”

  Beth Baxter dropped a backpack in the dirt, opened the tent flap, and peered in. Then she pulled her head back out and started rummaging through a nearby bag. “I don’t want to take any chances,” she said, holding up a paper cup. She headed back into the tent.

  “It’s definitely a scorpion,” Benjamin’s mom stated as she walked out of the tent with the creature in the cup. “And some of them are extremely dangerous.”

  Gabe took a quick look at it, then took several steps backward.

  “Should you even be this close to it?” Uncle Peter asked, joining the group.

  “It’s okay,” said Mrs. Baxter. “Scorpions are from the same group as spiders. They use these claws to catch insects or small rodents,” she said, pointing to them. “And then they sting the prey with their tails. The tails contain a poisonous venom that will paralyze or kill the prey, depending on the kind of scorpion. In very rare cases, a scorpion’s venom can be fatal to a human. If I was stung by this one, though, the effect would be basically like a beesting.”

  Gabe shuddered. “It’s . . . creepy,” he said.

  “I’m sorry you think it’s creepy, because they like the dry climate of New Mexico. Chances are, we won’t see another one. Still, it’s a good idea to shake out your shoes before you put them on. Scorpions sometimes hide in them for shelter!”

  Gabe grimaced. “I think I’ll be keeping my sneakers on every night,” he said. “Just in case!”

  After the kids searched the area around their tent for more scorpions —and found none—they started to settle in. They unrolled their sleeping bags side by side and tucked important belongings, like flashlights and guidebooks, in the tent pockets. Then the families built a campfire, roasted hot dogs, and made gooey s’mores—melted chocolate and marshmallow oozing over graham crackers. “Can I have s’more?” Lucy joked as she finished her third.

  As the fire crackled, the parents explained the plan for the trip. They would spend two nights in the Gila National Forest, then drive across the state to the White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns. “New Mexico has mountains and forests, deserts and vast caves,” Mr. Baxter said. “While we’re here, we’ll try to see as many of these different wildlife habitats as we can!”

  Lucy, Benjamin, and Gabe smiled with excitement as they headed into the tent and settled down in their sleeping bags. It was getting late, and the three cousins fell asleep as soon as their tent flap closed, lulled by the sound of the river moving by and dreaming of the adventures that lay in store for them.

  Benjamin woke the next morning to the sound of scuffling outside his tent. He thought it was an animal at first, but when he peeked through the tent’s window, he could see that it was Aunt Lily, trying to get the fire started again. He climbed over his cousin and his sister, crept out of the tent, and whispered, “Can I help?”

  “Sure,” Aunt Lily said, smiling.

  Benjamin showed her how to stack the wood so it would catch fire, and then he stepped back and let Aunt Lily light the match.

  A few minutes later, Gabe and Lucy came out of the tent together, rubbing their eyes. Gabe looked up in wonder. “I can’t believe we’re outside!” he said. Benjami
n knew just what he meant. He loved waking up in the outdoors, feeling the early-morning cool and quiet of the woods.

  After a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal, the kids got dressed. Benjamin couldn’t wait to venture deeper into the forest, but the grown-ups seemed to linger forever over their coffee. Instead of waiting, Lucy asked permission for them to explore down by the river while the parents got ready for a hike. “Just as long as you are careful and don’t go in the water,” Mr. Baxter said. “And you should take these,” he said, handing her a walkie-talkie that they used for camping trips. “If you need anything, just radio back here for help.”

  “Okay,” Benjamin said, leading the way toward the riverbank at the edge of the campground. From here, he had a sweeping view of the forest. There were tons of trees, of course, but it was unlike anything he’d seen back home. Everything was green and lush in Florida, but here the trees, mostly pine, were surrounded by scrubby undergrowth and dry ground. Only the riverbank seemed moist and muddy.

  And then, as far as he could see, there were warm red outcroppings of rock jutting into the air. Some of them were as tall as small buildings! The landscape reminded Benjamin of something he might see in an old Western movie, rough and unsettled.

  He could hear Gabe’s footsteps squelching behind him. “Do you guys always get to do this?” he asked. “Just wander around? This is the best! My parents are too nervous to let me wander around by myself at home.”

  Lucy said, “Our parents get nervous, too. But the walkie-talkies make them feel better, and they want us to get out and see things on our own.”