Great Basin's Glacier

 We decided to go see how a glacier could survive in the desert and headed up to the high country. It was nice to find some cooler temps, but they weren't as cool as we thought, despite our early start, so we were sweating as we hiked up the Bristlecone Trail in Great Basin National Park. Lots of people passed us on the trail as we had no fewer than four snack breaks on the way to the bristlecones (it's just over a mile to get there).

 After all those snack breaks, the kids were in a good mood and had their hiking groove on. We continued past the bristlecone grove to the Wheeler cirque glacier.

 Soon we had a good view of the rock glacier. The actual glacier is at the headwall, covered with snow and falling rocks (we heard quite a few while we were up there). When I was in Alaska, I was taught that in order to be called a glacier, three conditions had to be met: 1. Ice 2. Moving 3. At least an acre in size. I've hiked up to the headwall previously and can verify that there is ice present (and it's quite slippery!). Being tucked against the north-facing wall has protected it from most of the sun's rays. Here's a view from October 2012:

A couple crevasses show that it is moving (ice cracks when it moves, and a crevasse is simply a fancy name for a crack in the ice).

The third condition, the size, is the one I'm not convinced is met. It's hard to tell because so much of the ice is covered with falling debris, so it's hard to determine what's ice and what's rock. According to Gerald Osborn and Ken Bevis in their 2001 article "Glaciation in the Great Basin of the Western United States," a glacier exists, so until a scientific article proves otherwise, I'm going with it. This makes this glacier the only one in Nevada. Who knew Nevada had a glacier?

I'm much more comfortable talking about the rock glacier, which is the bulk of what fills the cirque. A rock glacier is ice covered with rock, and the rock acts like an insulating blanket, protecting the remaining glacial ice from melting. Various studies have been done over the years, and one of the most recent looks promising to help explain if the rock glacier is active (moving). More on this in a future post (once the data has been verified and published).

You can find an excellent blog post written by a geologist friend with more info about the glacier and rock glacier here. Also, the glacier is covered in Chapter 5 of Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area and includes additional info, including the strawberry algae that makes the snow a pink color. (Note: pink snow should be classified with yellow snow in the 'do not eat' category.)

 Desert Boy was happy to do a rock star pose for me. Desert Girl had a hard time deciding on her pose.

 The flowers were great as we continued.

 It's such a different looking world being in the cirque. On three sides are mountain walls over a thousand feet higher, and the steep cliff face of Wheeler Peak rises over 2,000 feet from the cirque. It's so barren looking, with so much grey rock. But the many flowers definitely brighten up the place for a month or two each summer.

 We found a patch of snow and the kids had SO much fun playing in it.

 The clouds floated by quickly, letting the sun peek through and illuminate various parts of the cirque.

 Finally I made it to the sign that says "Rock Glacier Elevation 10,800 feet." The trail stops here, so if you want to go any further, you have to figure out your own route. Rocks fell every few minutes, with the crashing sounds echoing in the confined space. A raven flew nearby, squawking and sounding so much louder than at lower elevations.

 The kids were excellent troopers. They had cooled off enough to put on an extra layer, and on the way down Desert Boy decided he was ready to carry his pack. We talked about moraines and how glaciers had pushed rocks around. He thought that was pretty cool.

 He also wanted to check the GPS periodically. Desert Girl mainly wanted to climb and jump.

On the way back through the bristlecone grove we went slower to absorb the ancient trees. They weren't here when the glacier was at its maximum, but they've been growing here for thousands of years. Seeing a tiny strip of a tree alive (like the one above) makes us marvel at the adaptations life can make.

This was a very fun outing. We were not particularly fast, as the terrain is rough, and we started at about 10,000 feet in elevation. To the glacier and back was a bit over four miles. Desert Boy did it all, and Desert Girl did over three miles (and slept the fourth--she was plain tuckered out!). The trail is generally accessible on foot from June through mid-October. It's possible to ski or snowshoe here in the winter and spring, but it would be a long approach from the Upper Lehman Creek Campground, where the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive closes in the winter. Nevertheless, someday I would love to see the  rock glacier covered with thick snow, bringing thoughts of a colder, wetter time period in the Great Basin.

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Cedar Breaks National Monument - BioBlast

 Following our rained-out Fourth of July, I took the kids to Cedar Breaks National Monument. With a 40% chance of thunderstorms I was mostly expecting to wimp out and spend the night in Cedar City, but when we got up to Cedar Breaks, it was beautiful so we set up our tent. We nabbed one of the last pretty sites in the campground (the campground has a mixed bag of campsites, including 10 that can be reserved in advance, but all of them had been taken when I had looked a few days before).

 Then we headed to the visitor center and Point Supreme, over 10,000 feet high.

 The kids peeked between the logs to figure out what they were looking at. We had been there in 2011 and 2010, but the kids didn't remember it.

 I had binoculars, which made it extra cool.

 Actually, nothing special was needed to take in the beauty of the Pink Cliffs, also known as the Claron formation, made up of limestone rock. The stormy clouds made for some fantastic light.

 The clouds made it a little challenging to get a good view through the solar telescope, but we eventually managed.

Then it was on to do some BioBlast activities. We had timed our trip to take advantage of this new program, which was celebrating the biodiversity of birds, bats, and bugs. The kids made some shrinky-dinks, an activity which I had never seen before.

Then we went on an hour-long "Follow a Scientist" hike led by a professor from Southern Utah University.

Our first stop was right on the main trail to look at some Southern Ligusticum. Looking closely, we could see that the flowers were not alone.

On their stems were tiny aphids, which were "milking" the plant for its juice. The aphids were being closely guarded by ants, who like to partake of the sweet juice. We also spotted a ladybug, who likes to come over and eat the aphids, but is excluded by the ants from eating their milkers. Such a cool little ecosystem on just one plant!

We continued down the campground trail, flipping rocks and dead trees. We found a plethora of interesting things to survey. Professor Bill had some handy little vials so we could put the treasures in and take a closer look.

The kids were so excited about the finds. The adults were too. This walk was showing us a lot more than what we would have seen if we had done it on our own.

This little wolf spider was carrying a blue egg sac around with her.

What a fun hike!

I took a moment to enjoy some of the beautiful wildflowers, like this Colorado columbine with a fly pollinator.

I couldn't resist a quick photo as we passed a scenic overlook along the trail.

Our next stop was to the Ranger Station to meet our friend Ken, who was volunteering as an entomologist for the BioBlast. He was busy!

Desert Boy got to release this beautiful butterfly.

Then it was time to go back to our campsite and eat a quick dinner before going down to the campground amphitheatre for the next BioBlast activity: Make a Moth Catcher.

The concept was simple: put an LED flashlight in a bucket, cover it with cloth, and make a funnel-shaped opening that would let moths in but inhibit them finding their way out.

The kids loved making this. Then we took the buckets back to our campsite to find a nice spot for them for the night.

The kids and the kids from the campsite next to us had a wonderful time climbing on the pile of boulders. The family next door turned out to be from Australia, and we gradually got to know each other better. I snuck off to take a hot shower. Yes, a hot shower! Shhh, this is an amazing feature of this campground, and if more people knew there might not ever be empty campsites!

Then it started to rain, so we loaded up and went to an indoor BioBlast program about bats. The kids were really into it. By the time it finished, the rainstorm had passed and we drove to Sunset Overlook for a beautiful view.

Oh my, I felt so blessed being in such a beautiful place.

The flowers near our campsite provided a beautiful vista.

Desert Boy joined our neighbors on a bat hike while Desert Girl and I went to an owl program. We all got to bed late, and the next morning Desert Boy slept in.

Meanwhile Desert Girl and I were busy looking at the wonderful wildflowers and searching for interesting insects.

With everyone awake in our campsite and next door, it was time to work on the junior ranger booklets. And then play. And the parents really enjoyed chatting. We actually had the Australian family come visit us the next day at our house and continued our adventures (which I didn't photograph). It's so cool to have a great connection with camping buddies!

When we took the junior ranger booklets back to the visitor center, we found that more activities had been set up for both the BioBlast and Cedar Breaks' Wildflower Festival (an astute piece of marketing, if I do say so myself).

Desert Girl drew a beautiful wildflower with chalk on the walkway.

Finally it was time to become junior rangers. The kids said their pledge with Ranger Daphne.

Desert Girl's hand kept sinking lower and lower as the pledge continued. She might still be a little young for some of these junior ranger programs, but if big brother does it, she wants to too!

We had one last stop before leaving, taking our moth buckets to the Ranger Station, where we learned more about what we had collected.

The BioBlast surely was a blast, lots of fun, educational programs. It had something for all ages. I highly recommend camping at Cedar Breaks (the hot showers totally won me over, along with the scenic views), although some coworkers told me about a less-than ideal campsite they got there that left them with a very different impression. Finally, the Wildflower Festival continues through July, and the high country is worth a visit, it's a great wildflower year. Hurray for Cedar Breaks!

Desert Destination: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

 North of Salt Lake City and west of Brigham City, Utah lies the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. It protects 80,000 acres of marshes and other habitats where the Bear River enters the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake. This freshwater area is known for its abundance of birds, and our goal was to head out to the 12-mile auto tour route.

 We drove out to the beginning of the loop, where a picnic pavilion had been overtaken by cliff swallows. Picnicking here was no longer a good option, but bird watching and photography were fine.

 The cliff swallows were in various stages of nest building.

After observing them for awhile, we got the bikes off the back of the van (last year we bought a bike rack, and it's been useful several times). Our plan was to bike the loop part of the auto tour, which we estimated to be about 9 miles (we couldn't find the actual distance anywhere, and it certainly felt longer, so perhaps when they say 12-mile auto tour that is just the gravel loop and not the part before it).

 Right away we saw lots of birds. My husband and the kids kept riding while I stopped to take some photos.

 The always-impressive American white pelicans.

 Black-necked stilt

 Cormorant--look at how low in the water this bird species is!

 The road was really flat, which is why we thought we'd enjoy the bike ride. Desert Boy wasn't in the best of moods, so we took frequent snack breaks. Eventually the food pepped him up and he did great.

 A tern--one of my favorite birds due to the amazingly long migrations they have.

 I made frequent stops to photograph more birds--a black-necked stilt and an American avocet in the photo above. This is such the birder's paradise, and I felt that on bike I not only got to see them, but also hear and smell them better.

 The yellow-headed blackbird is also common around parts of the ranch.

 A few vehicles passed us on the one-way loop, but there was very little traffic.

 A glossy-faced ibis. I love their beaks.

 A few rays of sunshine peaked out from the clouds. This was also about the time that the slight breeze went away. I had been counting on the headwind to help us get back. It's dissipation meant we wouldn't have that advantage. Even more important, the lack of wind also meant that the insects started finding us and eating us. We are not used to insects (one of the advantages of living in the desert), so we didn't have any insect repellent.

 Great blue heron

We not only saw birds, we also saw some wildlife, like the striped skunk, above.

And many muskrats. Many, many muskrats. We were surprised how many we saw.

 Great bike riding.

 It reminded me slightly of Shark Valley down in the Everglades, with the flatness (although the background mountains sure were different!), amazing birds, and plenty of water. We teased Desert Boy to be on the lookout for alligators.

 We came across a broken egg and wondered what had happened. Later we found a raven with another broken egg in its beak. Between the ravens and skunks, it could be a challenge to raise young, but the sheer number of birds help them to survive.

 Another favorite--a snowy egret, with its yellow slippers (feet).

 More black-necked stilts. We saw a lot of these!

 We reached an overlook and gratefully stretched our legs. We still had a few miles left, where we got even more insect bites from mosquitoes and deer flies. They didn't itch much then, but for the next couple of weeks Desert Boy and I suffered. (My husband and Desert Girl seemed to be immune to the bites.)

We eventually made it back to the van, happy to escape the insects. It was getting late, so we headed to downtown Brigham City to find some food. The downtown has a large sign stretching across main street that says "Welcome to Brigham, Gateway to the World's Greatest Wild Bird Refuge." I had been reading Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams, which had made me appreciate the bird refuge more. She also had some interesting information in the book about Brigham City, which started off as a communal living effort.

After dinner, it was time for a late night swim at our hotel pool. The kids improve so much each time we get to a pool. I was a little pool rat when I was a kid, so I'm hoping they can learn how to swim well.

So, in closing, I'd recommend a trip to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge if you like birds and getting away from the city. The bike loop is great IF you have insect repellent. Otherwise, it might be better to do it in a vehicle! The kids liked trying to find different types of birds (by colors, activities, sizes). They also liked seeing the skunk, muskrats, and enormous (gross) carp by some of the water structures. Some of them weighed more than the kids. All in all, it was quite enjoyable.