support for outdoor nevada comes from land rover las vegas and jaguar land rover reno, proud to help introduce a new generation of adventurers to the diverse experiences
balance snake venom eye cream, that our state has to offer. information at lrlv.com or jlrreno.com. nevada: a landscape as diverse as it is epic, where wide-open nature and wild adventure
call to the curious and the brave alike. (music playing) ♪♪♪ "come on up.let's go for a ride. -excellent. man, we're flying first class now." the scenery is beautiful, the snow is perfect, and i'm ready for a sleigh ride. "how many are out there? -we have 15 pairs in the park,
"and we had a really good year last year. "they had 42 young." the las vegas community helps the burrowing owl find a new home. "come on in, avon!" (audience booing and hissing) and i'm at bonnie springs ranch, a wild west escape just 30 minutes west of las vegas.
"we're going to start out with what i call "buckaroo carrot cake, one of the favorites "on the cattle drive, with cream cheese frosting. "just delicious in the dutch oven. -why are we talking?let's get going!" the dutch diva is at it again, and i'm getting my just desserts. i'm john burke. i have a passion for the outdoors.
and i'm on a mission to show you the one-of-a-kind history, science, nature and adventure you find when you step outside. this is outdoor nevada. (john burke) today we're in lake tahoe state park, specifically sand harbor, and i ask you, is there a more beautiful place on this planet?
i don't think so. people come from all over the world to do some world-class skiing, but today we're doing something different, a time-honored tradition: sleigh rides. tahoe is one of my favorite places, and i'm ready to see it in a traditional european style. this here is dwight borges
of borges sleigh and carriage rides, and this is jack. dwight, nice seeing you.-nice to see you too, john. -now, a sleigh ride, a carriage ride, what a great idea. this all began as a kid for you? dwight borges is the youngest of four brothers and the one who's been running the family business for the past 25 years.
(dwight borges) i was just three years old at the time. my brother on his birthday actually won a shetland pony through a raffle ticket at a car dealership. "little joe" is what we named him. we brought him home, and we played with him. he was just the cutest little guy. my dad is really good about building things and he says, you know what? it snows up here.
let's build little joe a sleigh so we can have some fun with him in the wintertime too. so we hooked him up to the sleigh and went cruising around the neighborhood, neighbors came out of the woodwork and we just had so much fun playing. one neighbor happened to be a hotel manager and said hey, why don't you go across the street and talk to the guy that owns that big field over there
and see if you can do sleigh rides? my guests would love doing this. we went over and he said yes, we can use his property, and we've been dashing through the snow ever since. -and when was that? -that was the winter of 1967. sleigh and carriage rides in lake tahoe was established in 1969 with only one horse and one sleigh.
now it has seven sleighs and 14 horses. we've got some belgian draft horses, and they're the strongest horses of them all. they're short and stocky and on days like today, it's nice and easy for them. they barely break a sweat doing this. but when we get some deep snow, that's when you can see the real horsepower come out in them.
when fully grown, belgian draft horses typically weigh around 2,000 pounds. and how about the sleighs, where do you get those? -well, we've made a lot of them, but we also get them from the amish in the midwest, and there's a sleigh builder up in canada, in quebec, that we get some sleighs from as well. -well, i tell you, coming out here, i can't think of a more beautiful thing to do,
a greater thing to do, and i see that you take good care of the horses. so thanks for having me out today. -absolutely, john. now it's time for a ride. i'm meeting up with dale penne, one of the sleigh drivers for the borges family. dale?-john, how are you? -i'm great.
-come on up. let's go for a ride. -excellent. man, we're flying first class now. -you are.this is chance. he's the oldest horse that we have, the borges have, on the ranch. he's 35 years old.-he's beautiful. -oh, he's a great horse. i tell everybody he does the driving and i just sit along for the ride.
(laughter) -let's go for a ride. is it fair to say this is your office? -this is my office. this is where i go to work every day. i punch in every day when i get here, and either i'm going to have a little sun, i'm going to have a little clouds or a little wind, but this is my office.
over 2,000 people ride the carriages every winter, and it's easy to understand why. look at these views! whoa, chance. -dale, i'm glad i took a chance and came out here today. -john, i'm glad you did.come back and see me. next time you can drive and i'll ride. -you got a deal.
-you have a good day, and we'll see you later. come on, chance, step up there! i took a couple of chances today. i took a chance and went down to sand harbor to do a sleigh ride out in the beautiful countryside with a horse named chance. i had a great time and met some great people. i guess i scored on all counts. brown feathers, bright yellow eyes
and the wisdom to hide in plain sight: today i'm out to see the burrowing owls. christiana, hi,nice to see you. how are you?-good. i have to tell you, i'm a little thrown. when i knew we were going to be looking at owls, i was thinking of something more of a forest,but this is the desert. they really live out here?
-yes, they love these open areas. christiana manville, a biologist with the u.s. fish and wildlife service, works to create a habitat for the owls that call floyd lamb state park home. how many are out there? (christiana manville) we have 15 pairs in the park, and we had a really good year last year. they had 42 young that fledged.
listed as an endangered species, only 10,000 breeding pairs of the western burrowing owl remain in existence. after mating the female stays in the burrow and the male goes out and gets food, et cetera? -and brings it to her. the birds eat small mammals, reptiles and insects and thrive in open areas with low ground cover like the desert and prairies.
and are they nocturnal? do they come out and check things out at night? -yes, they're nocturnal. they're most active at sunrise and sunset and when they're most easily seen. -and besides mankind, what's their biggest threats? -their biggest threats are predators in the air so other hawks, and there are actually quite a few in the park, so they're always looking up,
looking for their predators. -how available are homes for them if you don't make them? -well, if you look around you see all these houses. once there gets to be a lot of development, there are no more desert tortoises. the desert tortoises are what's creating their homes. when they have no animals creating homes, they need places to live.
the burrow is what's limiting their population. -do we know if there's anybody home? -let's go look and see if there's owl sign at the burrow. to help the birds displaced by urban sprawl, christiana and many volunteers build artificial burrows from plastic and concrete. so this is one of the artificial burrows? -yes, we have three burrows here.
it's sort of like rooms in a house. we install them in clusters so they can cache food in one burrow, and they can lay their eggs in another burrow. -oh, they do that?-yes. let's look for some owl sign, and that will let us know if the owls are using the burrow. -do you want these, john?-what is this? -these are bones, mouse bones.
-these are mouse bones? -yes. it means someone's been here. you can't tell how old;these could be quite old. we really want to look for owl pellets because those are recent. -how successful are the artificial habitats as opposed to the natural? -we started this project in 2010, and we only had four pairs in the park.
then as we put in more artificial burrows, now we have 15. -that's got to be very satisfying. -yes, and it's a very popular species. people are drawn to this owl once you see them with their big yellow eyes, and they're very expressive with their eyebrows. there's tons of people around us in las vegas. we're very close to everything,
and people like getting involved and getting to know nature. the burrowing owl is one of the smallest owls in north america. they nest in the spring, and females lay up to a dozen eggs, called a "clutch." what's the average size family? if this works and eggs hatch, how many can you expect? -well, in the mojave desert, we don't have as much food
as other parts of the country so here an average size in a good year is five. in dry year where there was no rain, we've had as little as two and a lot of burrows didn't have any chicks. -this seems like it would beattractive to a snake or maybe another kind of critter. do you get that problem, and what do you do? -predation is a huge problem.
that's why we have these cement blocks, to keep like coyotes from digging up the burrow. -out here have the artificial burrows superseded the natural burrows? -yes, we have more artificial burrows now. do you want to see how we put one together? -because apparently it's very important, so yes, let's go take a look. the volunteers constructed multiple burrows for the owls,
and with a little help from their friends, the birds are moving into the subterranean dens. so this is an irrigation box, and we've drilled a hole in the side and closed up this hole. -all right. there's the one that you closed up, because i know you're going to tell me this important, and i bet that's going to be the front door. -yes.-so then what?
-it's the jumbo size because we like these owls and we want them to be happy. we flip it over and we bury it. so this has three feet from the bottom so the dirt would be around up here, and then we connect this irrigation pipe. it's important that you have one with slots on it. then we have a slope coming up, a tunnel that we put the piping in,
and the final piece is the cement block at the entrance, and that's to keep predators from harming the pipe. -and then you're set. all you have to do is bury it. -right. so we have this bend in it here. -so you bury it like that? -yes. that way there's no light that's going down directly. -they don't like that either? -no, and it's harder for a predator to go in
and do a bend than a straight shot. -it must be incredibly satisfying to see the numbers going up.-yes, it is. -can you have too many artificial habitats? -well, that's why we're not putting anymore in. there's something called "carrying capacity," so for the owls, it's how much food there is. if we create too many homes, there won't be enough food for everyone
so we're going to stop at 17 burrows in the park. at sunset the owls emerge from their homes in search of prey, and all the conservation efforts pay off. it's fantastic;you can see them. they're just sort of surveying the field and getting ready to go hunting. it's great. you know, if it weren't for you ladies,
we wouldn't be able to come out here and enjoy these owls, and we probably wouldn't know everythingthat we know about them. so all the hard work and the housing that you're providing for them, on behalf of everybody, thank you so much. it really goes a long way.-thanks. drive 30 minutes west of las vegas and you'll find bonnie springs ranch,
a western escape from modern city life. in the 1800s, this areaoutside of red rock canyon was known as a pit stop for people making the journey to california by covered wagon. well, nowadays it's known as bonnie springs ranch, and it's a pit stop for people who are looking for a whole lot of fun. let's go talk to the owner. this is alan levinson.
he's the big cheese here at the bonnie springs ranch. it's nice seeing you, alan. how's everything?-good. alan levinson grew up on the ranch. he and his sister have been running the business for over 20 years. now, how did this whole thing get started? (alan levinson) my mom used to deliver turkeys to vegas, and a friend of hers owned a restaurant
and knew about this place. there was just a bar here and a little house and a few cabins, a couple of little cabins that people lived in. he brought her out here and showed her the mountains. it was sunrise, which is phenomenal, and shortly after that she leased it and then she bought it. bonnie springs is named after alan's mother,
bonnie mcgaugh. she purchased 115 acres of land here in 1952 and built it up to what it is today. she knows what she built, she built a legacy, and my sister and i have done what we can do to make sure it keeps on going. located on the old spanish trail towards california, the ranch originally came about in 1843 as a rest stop for wagon trains.
you can physically come out here, spend the night at the motel, go horseback riding the next day, have dinner, the old western town, and you can venture out into red rock, which we're right in the middle of, and spend quite a bit of time out here. right next-door is red rock canyon, the first national conservation area in nevada.
it holds a world of outdoor adventures in itself. and you also have entertainment, right? don't you have shootouts and hangings? -in the old western town, we have shootouts and hangings. "come out right now!" (gunshots) "never!" 1-2-3!
melodramas... (offstage) avon calling! "oh man, avon! come on in, avon!" so despite the shootings and the hangings, you also have weddings. -yes. we built a chapel in early '94. actually, my dad found a chapel in the middle of nevada that he really fell in love with.
he thought it was great. it had a lot of really great history. it was in one town, the gold ran out, so they jacked it up and moved it to the next town. then the story goes the gold ran out in that town, and they moved it back to the other town when they got new mines going or whatever. so he found it, checked it out,
loved it, went back, took dimensions and drawings of it, and we built a semi-copycat of it. while in the ranch, visitors can also check out a very unique petting zoo. the petting zoo has everything from guinea pigs, rabbits, flying squirrels, emus and deer. there's some miniature horses in there, miniature donkeys, coatis,
patagonians, birds. there's quite an array of different animals. -this is a hidden gem. i'm sure not enough people know about it. it's a great way to just come out and do something different, bring the kids, a great place to come for a day. -yes. you can jump up in the morning
and get in your car and get going slow and come out and have a nice breakfast and spend the afternoon and be back in town late in the afternoon and do whatever you gotta do. -thanks for letting us poke around; i really appreciate it. -no problem, anytime. bonnie springs has been serving out-of-towners since its days as a stopover
for weary travelers bound for california. back then it was known as a desert oasis, and today it's all that and so much more. petting zoo, good food, old-time shootings and hangings, the next time you want a slice of old nevada, make sure you make it out to bonnie springs ranch. i'm back at the dutch diva ranch, and i'm finally ready for the last course of the meal.
i hope you saved some room for dessert! today we're going to be talking about two of my favorite things: camping and making desserts while you're doing it. nice to see you!-good to see you, john. are you ready for some sweet treats today? -are you kidding? when am i not ready for sweet treats? -we're going to start out with what i call
"buckaroo carrot cake." -why are we talking?let's get going. we start by mixing the dry ingredients. really what makes a carrot cake is the spices, the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, all of that stuff. so this one has all the things i really love. then we add 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup of water, and three eggs. so we're adding coconut, crushed pineapple
and some walnuts. i think these really add great texture and flavor to our carrot cake, and of course you add your vegetables which makes it a healthy dessert. yes, the carrots counter-balance everything. so now we've got all our ingredients in there, so now we need to prep our pans. we're going to make this in two 10-inch dutch ovens. we're going to make a double-layer cake,
and we're going to top it with some citrus cream cheese frosting. -who would ever think you could do this while you're camping? we grease up the ovens, and as terry likes to say, you can never have too much butter. in order for them to come easily out of the oven, i like using parchment paper so when we take that cake out,
we don't have to worry about it falling apart. now we're going to start cooking this. we're going to build a ring that's slightly bigger than our oven. people are always surprised at how few pieces of charcoal it actually takes. these bake uniformly so we can stack these ovens, so we'll set our first one right in our ring. set that right in the center of that one.
there you go. i'll move it over just a bit. now we're going to put a layer of coals on top, and as you can see, we've got good air space between these coals so the air can circulate and it will create an oven effect just like the oven you have in your kitchen. these cakes are all set. we give them 20 minutes to cook.
meanwhile, we're on to dessert number two, because...why not! now we're going to make a fruit and nut bread pudding, one of my favorites. we've got some day-old bread. you can get day-old bread in the store really cheap. i like french bread. throw that in, add sugar, and we're going to add a little bit of apple pie filling.
we stir some melted butter with four eggs into a separate bowl before adding them to the mixture. now we're going to add some dry ingredients. we've got some cinnamon and salt in there. let's whisk those eggs a little before we add them. throw in a little vanilla, which of course goes in most of our good desserts. -am i good with this?-yeah, that's good. go ahead and throw that egg mixture in.
-if you're going to be cooking on a cattle drive or on the range or just out camping, what's the one item you better have? -sunscreen. you didn't expect that one, did you? -that happens to bethe one i don't have. -yeah. and then i've got some pecans. we're going to throw some pecans in there. now we need to add some moisture
to get this to bind together, so i like using half and half or any kind of heavy cream. that bread's going to soak all that up, so basically what i do is i end up tossing this and try to get that cream down into the bread. -it makes you appreciate nevada history, doesn't it? people used to do this on a daily basis for survival, not just for enjoyment.
-it's almost like a mini immigrant trail where people literally lived on the road and had to be sustained like that. so this is mixed up really nicely. all the flavors are blended;the bread is soft enough. i don't like a real wet bread pudding. i like it a little bit on the dry side. so once this bakes it will be just wet enough, and you know what we're going it top it off with
when it's done?-what? -a little drizzle of whiskey sauce and fresh whipped cream. -i knew you would like her,that's why i came by today. -yeah, this is going to be good. the dutch diva is not playing games here. a drizzle of whiskey sauce and fresh whipped cream? things just got serious. now we've prepared our oven with some
butter-flavored crisco, so why don't you throw all that yummy goodness in there. -yummy goodness. there's no other way to explain this. it's time to give this yummy goodness some heat, so we reach for the coals. go ahead and set that right in the middle of those coals. there we go. and we're going to pull some of those out
just a little bit because we want our coals not only to be underneath but slightly to the outside. -so what's the estimated cooking time? -this will probably cook in about 40 minutes for it to really set up and not be too wet. i have a couple of rules: i will let it bake until i smell it, and then when i smell it, i know it's cooking and then i'm going to look at it and see
is it cooking evenly? do i need to move some of my coals around or add some heat to it? -so we're set?-we're all set. -all right.we'll give it a minute. we let the dutch ovens work their magic and we start the waiting game. the buckaroo carrot cake is the first one out of the oven.
it dumped right out with our parchment paper, and now we just peel that off. look at that golden cake.-that is perfect. -we're going to add a little layer of our cream cheese frosting. it's cream cheese with a little orange zest. if you want to top off your carrot cake with terry's cream cheese frosting, blend together two bricks of cream cheese,
four cups of powdered sugar, two tablespoons of butter, vanilla and orange zest. add a little bit more frosting here on the middleof these two layers. -and then you're going to do the same thing? -yes, we'll pop that other layer right on top. -you got it. look at this! -yes, my aim's not too bad.
now that i can make a dutch oven carrot cake, i must know how it tastes. that first piece, look at that. -oh, that's beautiful! -it came out really lovely. -yes, it came out really lovely. beautiful. -well, here's my fork,i don't know where yours is. -wow. cheers!
-here's to buckaroo carrot cake! -i'm not going to be able to stop eating this. this whole thing's going down! well, you gotta save room because remember we've got another dessert that's coming off. for a sweets type of guy, the dutch diva ranch is like paradise. that's our whiskey sauce, and you don't put a lot on. it really is a little drizzle over the top,
and then top it with some whipped cream. and here it comes: the whiskey drizzle sauce and a big dollop of fresh whipped cream. i'm ready to dig in. cheers! -great. thank you. -you're the best. thank you for letting me come out here today. -i'm so glad to share this with you.
-next time you're spending time in outdoor nevada, try not to bring the breakfast bar. try to cook yourself your own meal, especially a dessert in one of the dutch ovens.
it'll make your trip,i promise. inspiring the spirit of adventure with confidence in any terrain. information at lrlv.com or jlrreno.com.
