Wheeler Cirque Glacier Area--Snow in July!

I was looking for some researchers who were planning to be up on the Wheeler Cirque Rock Glacier in Great Basin National Park. It's been a while since I've been way up on the rock glacier, so I welcomed the opportunity. Interpretive park ranger Andrew was doing a trail rove and joined me. As we kept hiking up, we found these beautiful pools of water about half-way up the rock glacier. I had never seen them before and pulled out my cell phone to photograph them. The color indicates that the pools are from glacial melt, and the location says that it's from the rock glacier melting. So the pools are really cool, but also a little sad, as that means the rock glacier is decreasing in size. (A rock glacier is ice covered by rock. The rock insulates the ice from melting. At least for some time. If the climate is warm enough, eventually all the ice melts, and just piles of rock are left behind. That's what has already happened to the lower part of the rock glacier.)

I saw splashes of yellow and went over to check out these flowers, which I had never seen before. (Still haven't had time to look them up--the last few weeks have been extremely hectic.)

We continued on the uneven footing and reached this sign: Rock Glacier, Elevation 10,800 feet. But it still continued!

So onward we went, up towards the real glacier, which is still covered with snow. For years I was skeptical that it was a real glacier. I worked a couple seasons up in Glacier Bay in Alaska, and we took glaciers pretty seriously. Our criteria were they had to be moving, at least an acre in size, and consist of ice. A few years ago I got a good look at the glacier from the summit ridge of Wheeler Peak and I saw that the glacier is at least an acre, although most of it is at a very steep angle; has some blue color, which indicates ice; and has crevasses, which indicates movement. In addition, the latest peer-reviewed publication about it (Bevis and Osborne) call it a glacier. Right now, it's snow-covered (see photo below), but that snow is melting rapidly and soon the blue and crevasses will be evident.

We saw many patches of rock on top of the snow. The Prospect Mountain Quartzite is rather crumbly, and that contributes to the rock glacier. It's not a good idea to get too close to the walls.

The snow was rather soft, and I thought it might be a nice change to have soft footing than the jumbly talus. So Andrew and I headed across the big snow patch at the top towards the glacier.

Eventually it got too steep, so it was time to sit down and slide. Whee! It was fun.

Andrew didn't look so sure, but he gave it a try.

I was keeping my eye out for Black Rosy-Finches on the glacier and was delighted to see three. They breed up in that area. They are mostly black with white patches on their heads. You can see a fuzzy one in the photo below under the "e."

We had come up the right-center part of the glacier and decided to go down the left side, where I had noted a continual patch of snow.

We found lots of green bugs--Hemiptera.

The continuous snow gave us an opportunity to practice our glissading skills. That takes some balance!

We came across some pink snow and I got excited again. This is watermelon snow, where bacteria are producing that color. They in turn become a food source for bigger creatures. Just like yellow snow, don't eat the pink snow.

We found the researchers on the way down the trail; they had been delayed. It was a good reconnaissance of the rock glacier area, and I was able to share with some birders that there were indeed Black Rosy-Finches present. Here's to topography that allows for visiting snow in July!

Spring Wildflowers up Hendry's Creek

Back in late spring (mid-May, I think), we took a Sunday drive up Hendry's Creek (en route to doing some ranch work for my husband). I was amazed by the orange desert floor, lit up by globemallow.

We continued driving up the road until we got to the Hendry's Creek trailhead. Hendry's Creek is the main trail on the east side of the North Snake Range, especially now that the Hampton Creek road has been obliterated by the flooding following the wildfire.

It must have been a chilly morning if Desert Boy had to wear his winter coat!

It was warm enough that flowers were blooming and insects were pollinating them.

We didn't get far when we reached the obstacle. The trail crossed the creek bed. While it is sometimes dry here (like last fall), on this spring day it was roaring, and we didn't feel like getting our shoes wet.

So we hiked towards the cliffs and found a beautiful patch of Solomon's seal, a wetland-loving plant.

As we climbed higher, we got a nice view of the cottonwood-lined creek from the lichen-covered cliffs.

We could have gone farther, but we decided that was enough hiking, so we headed back down.

On the way we saw a gopher snake on the trail. These are awesome snakes, they eat a lot of rodents. I wouldn't mind a few more near our house!

I wanted to spend some more time with the flowers and I had my bike, so my husband and the kids went on in the truck, and I took a leisurely bike ride back down, stopping for photos.

When I came down the bench further and saw the majestic snow-covered Jeff Davis and Wheeler Peaks, I took a ton of photos. What a beautiful sight!

2016 Centennial Bird BioBlitz at Great Basin National Park

 May 20-22, 2016 was the Centennial Bird BioBlitz at Great Basin National Park. Over the course of three days, 150 people gathered to learn about and help document the birds in the park. The BioBlitz started off Friday with an afternoon of workshops.

Joe Doucette from the Nevada Department of Wildlife brought Hedwig the owl. He was a big hit.

Later, Ranger Mark showed the audience how to whistle and make various bird songs. It was really cool. Every time I hear a nighthawk now, I think of his "Beans" imitation.

Past artists-in-residence for Great Basin National Park, Miki Herder and Kristin Gjerdset, attended and led bird illustration workshops.

About 35 school kids attended and did their best to draw an owl. Some of them had amazing drawings.

It wasn't all birds--we also had a talk about bird food, aka reptiles. The kids (and adults) loved seeing specimens up close.

The next morning there were nine different bird walks to choose from. I joined one near the visitor center. I didn't think we would see that much in the pinyon juniper.

Boy, was I wrong. We found 17 species, including this green-tailed towhee.

Then I joined a walk up South Fork Baker Creek. It was a much bigger crowd, as it started later in the day.

We saw beautiful scenery, but not quite as many birds. However, a goshawk flew over the group, so that was super exciting.

You can tell that people are into their hobby when their license plate reflects it!

The afternoon included more talks and demonstrations. Martin Tyner from Southwest Wildlife Foundation showed several birds, including this falcon

The golden eagle was really big.

The second bird illustration workshop was a little smaller, allowing each attendee to get some personalized attention.

The kids enjoyed drawing more.

On Sunday morning I joined another bird walk. As you can see by the clothing, it was a little cool.

I happened to be taking a photo of the group when a bird was spotted behind me. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of the birders!

I did photograph a few birds, like this mountain bluebird.

This Say's phoebe was taking some lunch to the nest.

The BioBlitz concluded with a lunch sponsored by the Great Basin National Park Foundation.

Following the lunch, we learned the preliminary results from Kelly Colegrove of Great Basin Bird Observatory. Over 70 species had been tallied, with data still needing to be entered.


Then it was time for some raffle prizes donated by the Western National Parks Association.

One last thing--a group photo! 

It was a very fun event, and now the park knows more about what birds live or visit there in May.

Exploring the New Basin and Range National Monument, Nevada

About a month ago I joined some friends and acquaintances to do some exploring in the new Basin and Range National Monument, located in south-central Nevada. This national monument was designated in July 2015. It is managed by the BLM and is huge--about 704,000 acres. There is no visitor center, no amenities, few signs, and few paved roads (Nevada Highway 318 goes through part of it.) Here's a link to the BLM website with a map and more info.

We had topo maps, 4WD vehicles, and a sense of exploration.

The fossils in the Joana limestone are terrific, with lots of crinoids.

This crinoid stem had a nice star shape in the middle.

The northern end of the national monument is in the Great Basin desert, but at the southern end it is a transition zone to the Mojave desert, and cholla appear.

There are a few homesteads on the monument, including this abandoned sheep ranch.

This is a corral in a different part of the monument, when I approached from Highway 318 north of White River Narrows. I liked the series of mountain ranges framed by the corral entrance.

Most of Coal Valley is encompassed by the monument. I thought the sagebrush looked really healthy in much of the valley, and there wasn't much cheatgrass, which was nice.

There is cattle grazing in the monument, and I spotted this water tank by one of the hills.

We put up tents in a leave-no-trace makeshift campsite and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The next morning it was time for some hiking.

We loaded up our packs and started heading up into the mountains. Note the lack of trails.

The number of fossils was amazing. This entire rock is covered.

We were also lucky to see some claret cup cacti blooming. They are so gorgeous!

Numerous holes dotted the cliffs. This one went in about ten feet, enough to get a fun view.

We kept hiking up and up and eventually made it to the top of the Golden Gate Range, the mountain range in the center of the monument. We found a survey marker and some assorted equipment that made us wonder what had been there previously.

To the west we saw Garden Valley and the Grant Quinn Range. It looked even more impressive the next morning with a fresh dusting of snow.

Here I am on the windy summit! It got so windy that day. My tent didn't do so well with all the wind.

We did some more hiking along steep slopes. Again, no trails. This place is wild!

Then we rappelled off the side of a mountain and into a cave.

It looked like we made the first footprints into the cave.

It didn't go far, but it had some nice speleothems.

The entrance was nice and wide and tall. It was fun being in a cave that didn't require crawling the entire time.

Some birds make their home there too.

I also saw some of the most amazing midden ooze that day, very orange. It looks soft, but it was actually very hard.

Later we were walking around some other cliffs and found this climbing rope dangling. It looks like climbers are putting up new routes (but I sure wouldn't leave my rope there, it wasn't that far back to the vehicles!).

It will be interesting to see how the monument is managed. They are currently working on a management plan.

A marker glued to the wall. Maybe this is the Scorpion King wall?

It is a gorgeous area. I really liked the cliffy mountains, abundant fossils, small caves, healthy sagebrush, numerous wildflowers, and isolation. We saw about eight vehicles all weekend. If you go, take supplies to stay overnight even if you're not planning to be there over night, as it's really remote and you may or may not run into someone else. Good tires, plenty of water, maps, and a good sense of direction are also helpful. I'll be back to explore!