Camping in the Toquima Range

Last weekend I bundled up the kids and a mountain of camping gear and headed to the middle of Nevada to join a US Forest Service Restoration Project. I had never explored that area and was happy to have an excuse to look around more.


We met the group at the Toquima campground, which we reached after about 1.5 hour drive time after leaving the pavement of US 50. (By the way, if you're going through Eureka, check out the indoor public swimming pool, it has a climbing wall above the deep end, which makes it so much fun to climb and fall!).

I'd like to say the trip was uneventful, but we shredded a tire on the Monitor Valley road. As I was getting out the instruction manual of how to change it (it's been awhile!), a Jeep with two very helpful gentlemen from Las Vegas came along and changed the tire quickly. A nearby rancher filled up the low spare tire. Thank you, thank you!


We got to camp late enough that we just had time to set up the tent, eat, and head to bed, but the next morning we had time to play. Our friends had brought their kids, so Desert Girl and Desert Boy were delighted to have some friends to play with!


The four little ones--sort of looking at the camera!


We listened to the safety briefing and then divided up into groups. I was with the kid group, and our first order of the day was a short hike to nearby Toquima Cave.


 Actually, Desert Boy had some time to practice throwing atlatls, digging piles in the dirt, and shooting off some stomp rockets. Desert Girl and Rose repeatedly climbed the same miniature pinyon pine that was the perfect size for them. And I couldn't resist taking photos of the multitude of flowers in the area (but I limited myself to just two for this blog post).

 Shockley's buckwheat--most of the year a nondescript looking plant, but for a few weeks the bright blooms make it look so voluptuous.

 Even though it was mid-May, the spring parsley was already putting out seeds, nearly finished with its flowering phase. It, too, will rest in obscurity until late next April.

 With the kids dressed and fed, it was time to take the quarter-mile trail to Toquima Cave. On the way, the girls couldn't help but share a few secrets.

 Before long, we were in front of the huge gate that protects Toquima Cave, a well-known rock shelter in archeological circles. The gate helps protect the cave from vandals. Fortunately, you can still get good photos through the chain link.

 Propitiously, the other parent with us was a Forest Service archeologist who knew lots about the cave, so we learned a lot. If you don't happen to be there with an archeologist, check out this nice brochure about the cave.


The pictographs were made between 1,500 and 3,000 years ago. The Western Shoshone have an important relationship with the cave, and some still come to leave prayer offerings, which may be feathers tucked into cracks, packets of sticks tied to the gate, and more.

The site has lots of pictographs--more than 300, and they include four colors: red, white, black, and yellow. I found the yellow especially striking. Whenever I'm in a place with rock art, I try to feel what it was like when the art was made thousands of years ago. I still have never quite been able to capture even a small portion of that, and I'm left wondering who was there--young or old, men or women, hungry or well-fed, happy or distraught? The view from the rock shelter entrance is quite calming to me; perhaps it was also for long-ago visitors.

 Western Fence Lizard near the entrance

Then it was time to pack up and head to another cave for some restoration work. This other cave (which I won't name to help protect it) is remote, but used to be shown on maps. Over the years, many people have written their names in it. Names that are older than 50 years are considered to be historic graffiti and are protected, but any writing from the last 50 years is considered nuisance graffiti and our goal was to remove it. 

 In the middle of the photo above is the graffiti "R. Maxwell 1998." I'm guessing that R. Maxwell didn't know about the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988, which states that anyone who destroys, disturbs, defaces, mars, alters, removes, or harms any significant cave can be imprisoned for up to a year and/or fined.

We didn't have the materials to remove the etching in the calcite formation, so we used some mud to obscure the illegal writing. Here's the after photo:

What do you think?

 Volunteers were also using spray bottles, toothbrushes, and rags to remove some obnoxious spray paint from the cave. Given that you have to belly crawl through pack rat feces to get into the cave, I was surprised by the amount of graffiti in the cave.

 Desert Boy came into the cave with me, and we took a little trip to the back of the cave, which was longer than the map indicated. On the way, we saw some really interesting bedding planes.

 We also saw some impressive aragonite formations.

 Desert Boy led the way out of the cave, easily slipping through the narrow squeezes that had us adults squirming to fit through.

 Back at the spike camp, the girls had taken a break from their outside pursuits and were enjoying a video (with Desert Boy taking a peek--he looks a little worn out from all the caving!).

We next had a couple adventures at hot springs, which I will save for a separate post.

Then it was time for dinner...

...and hot chocolate! 

Soon the kids were asking to go to bed, and I bundled them into their sleeping bags (they somehow squirm out more times than not), put some extra blankets on top, put in my ear plugs (I find I sleep better!), and went to bed.

There's nothing like a good day of outside fun to make for a deep sleep!

Our brief taste of the Toquima Range has me yearning for more. We saw so many canyons, so many snow-covered peaks, and great valleys on either side. We will have to go back--but with two spare tires next time!

Desert Destination: Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park

On our last morning in Death Valley, we headed to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. The kids were ultra-excited, as playing in sand sounded like a really fun thing to do. We decided that our goal was just to get out on the sand. We didn't care how far we went. We purposely chose the morning so the sand and air would be cooler.

 On the way to the sand dunes, I couldn't help but admire the flowering creosote bushes, one of the trademark plants of the Mojave Desert.

 Some of the blooms were already turning to seed.


The kids quickly got out the digging tools (and a net, which they used as a sieve), and got to work. I'm not sure what they were making. I wandered around the nearby knolls examining the sand.

 I saw so many tracks, mainly insects, some lizards, some birds. Quite a few burrow holes were nestled near the roots of the creosote bushes. In some places the wind had uncovered the roots of the creosote, causing it to die. In other places the sand was slowly covering the creosote bushes. These are clearly active dunes.

For sand dunes to form, three things must be present: a source of sand (from the Cottonwood Mountains), prevailing winds (from the southwest), and a place for the sand to collect (often a place with mountains behind it that cause the air to lift and the sand to drop out of it).

 The sand dunes at Mesquite Flat cover a huge area, and soon Desert Boy decided he was done digging and wanted to get up to one of the taller dunes. The dunes here aren't super tall, about 130 feet max, but that is still tall in our book!

 So we headed that direction, stopping to play from time to time. Desert Girl liked having her feet buried.

 As we came across one dune, we found a whole tour bus filming something. It was such a surprise to see so many people so far out in the dunes!

These dunes have been popular in movies due to their easy access. Probably the most famous movie filed here is Star Wars.

 We eventually made it to the top of a tall dune (although not the tallest, we agreed that a tall one closer to us would be sufficient).

 Desert Boy was the first up, but he went back down to help his sister. Aw, how sweet!

 Climbing in sand is a bit of a workout, especially in the steeper sections!

 Almost up, even though it now requires crawling!

 Desert Girl poses with me.

Some other kids and their dad came up on the dune with us, and Desert Boy made friends with them and wanted to spend the whole day with them. He's good at making friends like that. He was so sad when they went their own way. We still had good times ahead, though, like running down he sand dunes.

We had so much fun at the dunes that it made me realize we need to go check out more sand dunes. Many people think of sand dunes when they hear the word desert, but sand dunes make up less than 1% of the Mojave and Great Basin deserts. Nevertheless, several are spread across the area (five sand dune fields in Death Valley alone), making for some interesting biological observations and a great deal of fun!

Spring Wildflowers in Pole Canyon, Great Basin National Park

 On Saturday we decided to go celebrate spring with a big group hike up Pole Canyon in Great Basin National Park. Pole Canyon is one of the lower elevation trails. It can be made into a loop with Timber Creek and the trails between the campgrounds, but our plan was to go up for awhile and return down the same path. We figured with seven kids, this would be the best idea, and we could play it by ear (or foot) to determine how far to go.

Right off I started having fun photographing so many wildflowers! Here are most of the ones that are out, along with a link to a more detailed description on A Plant a Day, a blog I started years ago but rarely update due to time constraints.

Tiny, tiny flowers: slender phlox (Microsteris gracilis).

A nearby companion: Maiden Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora).

A blast of color: desert Indian paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia).

Somewhat camouflaged: Desert Biscuitroot (Lomatium foeniculaceum var. fibriatum)

One of 26 milkvetches in the area: Newberry's Milkvetch (Astragalus newberryi)

Just starting to bloom: lambstongue ragwort (Senecio integerrimus)

Bright spots in the high desert: Roughseed Cryptantha, also called Yellow-eye Cryptantha 

(Cryptantha flavoculata)

A plant also cultivated for gardens: long-leaf flox (Phlox longifolia)

Whew! So many flowers, and we weren't even 100 meters down the trail! We caught up to Jenny and little Isaac, who was doing such a good job walking. As we continued in the pinyon-juniper woodland, I saw some another spring favorite:

Close to the ground: Dwarf Lousewort (Pedicularis centranthera)

We sauntered up the trail, with many stops to look at cool things.

The kids liked this little bee.

A flash of yellow: western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum)

A delicate purple: beautiful rockcress, also called beauty rockcress, Prince's rockcress (Arabis pulchra)

A springtime favorite: Tall Fringed Bluebells (Mertensia ciliata)

Isaac liked riding on his Mama's back.

Desert Girl also wanted a ride, but when she found some challenges, she was very happy, like at this creek crossing.

We found one little patch of snow.

As we ascended, the trail entered aspen-white fir habitat. A few aspens were starting to leaf out, but most were not.

We had many snack breaks, and the kids wanted to keep going.

Sometimes they walked, sometimes they ran.

A water strider on the little stream. Some of the stream was dry, but as we climbed higher we found water.

Jenny also took a bunch of photographs.

Then we emerged from the trees into a meadow, with sagebrush on the hillsides, water birch and willows marking springs, and matted brown grasses from last year.

We decided this would be a good lunch spot. And play area. And running arena. We spent a lot of time here, enjoying the beautiful day.

The willow tree had little furry catkins. They emerge long before the leaves.

Before we left the meadow to return to the trailhead, we tried to get the kids to pose. This is as good as we got!

The way down included more exploration. Isaac loved testing the water temperature.

The older kids thought they were pretty cool, hiking ahead of the adults, and occasionally taking rest stops.

Some of the many ants out. (The eyes are on the red part.)

Desert Girl hiked most of the way, over three miles. She's tough! On the way down I found a few flowers I had missed on the way up.

A yellow violet: Goosefoot Violet (Viola purpurea)

A big happy Asteraceae: Hooker's Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza hookeri)

A perennial favorite: Creeping Barberry, also called Oregon Grape (Mahonia repens)

It was a great day hiking with friends and enjoying nature. I should also mention lots of birds were out: vireos, spotted towhees, mountain chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and more. 

Pole Canyon can be hot in the middle of summer due to its lower elevation (around 7,500 feet), but at this time of year, it is perfect for hiking.

An excellent reference: Glenn Clifton's 2012 Flora of the Snake Range (this is a big file, and includes photos of most of the 1,000 plants in the area)

Learn more about hikes in and around Great Basin National Park, along with natural and cultural history in this book.