Desert Destination: Tonopah Historic Mining Park

Ever been to Tonopah, Nevada? It's located out in west-central Nevada at over 6,000 feet. It looks a little desolate because it doesn't get much precipitation. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and it feels raw, like you're in a wild place that just doesn't follow the rules of the normal world.

One of our big destinations of our recent trip happened to be in Tonopah: the Tonopah Historic Mining Park, which is dedicated to the reason of Tonopah's existence.

We stopped at the visitor center, paid the fee to go on the walking tour, and were on our way. We weren't quite prepared for what we were going to see.

Like open shafts descending 500 feet into the ground. Wow! I was trying to imagine the mine workers removing all that rock day in and day out (and probably many nights). The trails wove around 100 acres and many mines and mining materials. We soon found ourself in the park's main attraction:

We went into the Burro Tunnel, their reconstruction of a mining tunnel. It was really cool, seeing those big, heavy timbers, walking in the dim light. I would not have liked to have been a miner, a little spooky!


At the end of the tunnel we walked out on a platform and stood over the shaft that descended many hundreds of feet into the ground. Eesh! I like heights, but it felt a little strange to be over such a deep hole in the ground. I have to admit I was puzzled over the gate in the bottom of the platform--if it was moved over just a couple feet, it would have made for a much cleaner rappel. (Sorry, sometimes I get geeky like that!)



Then we continued walking around the grounds, taking in the Mizpah mine shaft and associated structures (the big red barn and headframe in the center of the photo). We looked down the grate there at a hole that goes one-quarter mile into the ground. I would not have liked to have gone down in the primitive elevator, hoping it would still be working at the end of my shift!

One sign said that the town of Tonopah still has some subsidences due to mining tunnels under it collapsing. I find that a wee bit worrisome!

We got a nice view of town as we climbed higher on the hills. It really is such a barren looking town!

Tonopah Historic Mining Park was well worth the stop. After walking around we went back to the visitor center and watched the video and checked out some of their exhibits. One of the things I found most interesting was that a woman, Belle Butler, was a huge reason that the mines had taken off in Tonopah.

So if you ever find yourself in Tonopah, treat yourself to a visit to the Tonopah Historic Mining Park!

Desert Destination: Lunar Crater

Ready to get away from it all? Really away? Take US Highway 6 out to the middle of Nevada and you will find the Black Rock Lava Flow and Lunar Crater. The nearest hotel or restaurant is well over an hour away, but feels even farther. I had visited the Black Rock Lava Flow in 2009, and wrote this very nice post.

The lava flowed out of vents and covered over 1900 acres. That's a lot of land!

The kids were eager to get out of the truck and stretch their legs. They scrambled easily up onto the lava.  I got the kids to pose for a photo. They think it's fun to make silly poses. (Note Desert Girl's shoes--I will explain them soon.)

I enjoyed seeing the lava flow with the backdrop of the cinder cones. This Lunar Crater area covers about 100 square miles and includes more than 20 extinct volcanoes and 35 lava flows. You can read more about the geology on this USGS page.

I saw this cave and wanted to go there, but it was a little too far and the kids had declared no hiking for them. Instead they were making a pile of lava rocks and calling it a shelter. They were happy, I was happy, and I did get to wander around a bit. Then it was time to go see the main attraction.

But, first, a brief interlude as we watch a dust devil. Perhaps that's why so much soil is interspersed with the lava.

I had passed this sign a few times over the last ten years and always told myself, Someday I really am going to go see that lunar crater. And today was that day! I was very excited.

The scenery was otherworldly, with cinder cones and lava lumps all over. The road turned out to be only 7 miles long and it was in much better shape than the one-mile long road to the lava flow.

Not to my surprise, we were the only ones at the parking area. Adjacent was a sign and the crater itself. The crater is a maar, a shallow crater formed by the heating of underground water until it boils up and explodes. Two of them exist in this volcanic area.

This crater is called Lunar Crater because in the 1960s NASA brought astronauts out to train in this area.

Desert Boy took off down into the crater before I could say anything. Desert Girl and I trailed after. Desert Girl had been reading a book from the library that we had picked up just a couple hours previous that featured a little girl in a dress and fancy shoes. Desert Girl had her fancy Mary Jane's on, and she quickly learned they were not a good choice.

So we were a little slow, but that let me take photos of the 430 ft deep crater that's about 4,000 ft across. Impressive!


She did smile for a photo.

Eventually I managed to yell at Desert Boy to stop, but he was already half-way down in the crater. I would have loved to have gone all the way down, but I was concerned that it might take us a long time to get back up, and I didn't want to carry Desert Girl. So we will have to return another day to go to the very bottom and explore some of the other nearby craters. Here's the BLM website for the area.

Isn't this curved basalt awesome?

Lunar Crater became a National Natural Landmark in 1973. I'm glad it has some extra recognition, it deserves it!

Sand Hollow Aquatic Center

 While we were in St. George last weekend, we had one nice day and one rainy day. We headed out to explore one of the fabulous trails in St. George on the nice day. This trail started at the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, which is near Santa Clara. We were the only ones on the trail and enjoyed the great views. It's one of the shorter ones, about a mile long. When we got to the end, Desert Boy was amazed that I wasn't going to have him go any further and that all we had to do was turn around and go back!

 I liked the signs, and we talked a couple minutes about safety in the desert.

Then it was time to go to a destination the kids craved: an oasis in the desert.

 Being desert rats, we always are eager to find some water, especially when we can recreate in it. So we headed to the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center.  It has a very interesting construction that covers two separate pools, a lap pool that the swim teams can use (and that is slightly cooler) and a recreation pool with a variety of fun things (and that is slightly warmer). The light-colored roof and windows made it so they don't need lights during the day. Another feature I liked was the family locker room.

 When we walked into the pool area, our eyes immediately went to the water slide. You walk up two flights of stairs to get to the top, then have a relaxing ride down. The slide discharges you into four-feet deep water with quite a current, which made for a little extra swimming challenge for Desert Boy.

 I loved that Desert Girl could go down with me on the slide, as long as she wore a life jacket. In fact, they make all kids 3 and under wear a life jacket while in the pool area.

 Desert Girl also loved a slide that was a little more her size--the frog. She even got brave and went down face first, even though she ended up with a face full of water every time.

 Some water bubblers made for fun entertainment.


Desert Boy spent lots of time over at the lily pads. They had ropes attaching them to the bottom of the pool, but they moved quite a bit. A cargo net overhead helped provide a little extra stability as one tried to get across them without wiping out. (It was slightly reminiscent of the TV show Wipeout.)

 Desert Girl even gave it a try. (Isn't she getting big?!)

We spent a couple very enjoyable hours at the aquatic center. Desert Boy wanted to go back the next day, but we had other plans. Nevertheless, we will be back!

St. George Birding Festival 2013

For the past ten years, St. George has held a birding festival. It's the last weekend of January, which means it's a great escape from the snow and cold of more northerly latitudes. I've wanted to go for several years, but with little kids, I didn't know how I could pull it off. Fortunately, last year I asked my mother-in-law if she would help watch the kids this year, and she said yes.

The festival was held from Thursday evening to Saturday evening. We drove down after school on Thursday. On Friday, I took Desert Boy with me on a shorter bird trip. Since he was missing a day of school, I figured he should do something educational.

Bird field trips are fun for several reasons. First, the leader is usually very knowledgeable and you can learn all sorts of things about birds that you never knew. This was definitely true for our trip. At our first stop we saw the huge gaggle of Canada geese out on a pond that's in the first photo of this post. Kevin found the lone greater white-faced goose in the group, and put his scope on it for us. Plus he made sure we all saw the canvasbacks and ruddy ducks and explained that the ruddy ducks only get the strange-looking blue bills during breeding season. 

Second, the leader knows the local bird hotspots. You see cool birds not only on the field trip, but know where to go when you return. You'll see a spot below to which I'd like to return.

Third, it's fun to meet other birders. Often people of all levels go on the bird trips, and it's fun to find out more about how people got into birding and if they've seen anything interesting lately.

 This is what I hoped Desert Boy would be doing for the field trip. I taught him how to use the binoculars and helped focus them. He looked through a few times.

 This is what he preferred to do, though--gather materials for a little boat made of bark.

He thought the pampas grass was cool and wanted to add that to his collection.

I enjoyed seeing an array of birds, including some that I haven't seen around here for several months, like the northern mockingbird, seen above.

Female and male house finches cooperated for us by sitting still on top of a tree so that everyone could see the differences in plumage.

 One of our locations for this trip was Halfway Wash, which has some nice riparian habitat. It's easily accessible, with a paved trail along it. This is part of St. George's extensive trail system, something I'd like to get to know better.

 Desert Boy found some friends, and they had a wonderful time digging in the dirt, gathering materials, and even pretend fishing. When I commented to another mom that Desert Boy wasn't getting as excited about birds as I had hoped, she reminded me that he was getting some good outside time. And much to my relief, he managed to keep his feet dry (especially since I had forgotten to bring any other footwear for him).

I saw two new birds for me: the greater white-faced goose and a quick glimpse of a verdin, a small bird just larger than a bushtit with a yellow head.

The next day I had planned on going on a five-hour birding trip, but early-morning rain discouraged me (plus I figured the kids might get a little too rambunctious sitting inside), so I changed to a three-hour birding trip to some other locations. Local birders from my valley happened to be on this trip, too, and it was fun to get to do some birding with them.

 Our first stop was at a golf course. It was beautiful, despite the overcast skies, with ponds and wetland areas. It all made wonderful bird habitat.


We got some good looks at ruddy ducks.


A song sparrow also let us get quite close. With the spot in the middle of its chest and a streaked breast, it's one of the easier sparrows to identify.

We stopped at several other parks in the Washington area, and found cool things at each: a hummingbird (probably a Costa's), American wigeons, a better view of a verdin, and another new species for me: Abert's towhee. Abert's towhee doesn't migrate and is found in a rather small area of the desert Southwest.

The rain started a couple hours into the trip and stayed steady through the rest of the day. It wasn't ideal for birdwatching, but the birds are still out there in the rain, so they can be found, it just takes more effort.

In the afternoon, I took the kids back to Tonaquint Nature Center for the bird house-making activity. Home Depot had donated bird house kits.

 Desert Boy couldn't wait to get started.

 He did most of his bird house all by himself.

 Desert Girl was lacking a nap and wasn't so enthusiastic.

 Such concentration! Fortunately he didn't hammer any digits.

 A lot of people turned out for the activity.

Desert Girl cheered up as the birdhouse neared completion.

Success! We'll put these in the yard and see if we can entice any birds to take up residence.

We'll definitely be going back to the St. George Bird Festival. There were so many programs we didn't have a chance to attend, plus field trips to many more areas. It's only $5 for adults and free for kids for the whole festival. And even though it was rainy, it was nearly twenty degrees warmer than home, and for me, that makes it an extremely nice winter getaway!