Spring Break in Southern Utah

The week before the kids' spring break, my brother and sister-in-law from Kentucky had their spring break and decided to come out West. We wanted to meet up with them since we don't see them often, so the kids got to take a couple days off school. After a successful dentists' visit, we headed up onto the Colorado Plateau to the Ponderosa Grove campground near Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. It was a great somewhat primitive site, and although there were plenty of spots in the mid-afternoon, by the evening it had filled up.

The next morning, Desert Boy tried out his new guitar and entertained us during breakfast.

We also made use of the big ponderosa pines and put a rope up in the tree. Giacomo, an exchange student from Rome, got to try out a new technique and loved it.

Then it was off to the sand dunes. There were quite a few people there. I really like the rule of no ATVs before 10 am, as it gives you a chance to go out on the sand and not worry about getting run over.

The kids' favorite part was digging. They dug and dug, but still didn't make it to the bottom of the dune.

From there we went to the nearby Moccasin Mountain dinosaur tracks. We had visited a few years previous, but it's been developed a lot more, with a huge primitive camping area just off the paved road with a confusing network of roads, and then the road leading to the tracks was in better shape than I remembered. We enjoyed looking for dinosaur tracks.

With all the changes, it doesn't seem as remote a spot, and we shared it with a bunch of other people on a weekday morning.

It is just so cool thinking about dinosaurs walking along here millions of years ago!

We climbed up on the rocks and got a most awesome view of the rock layers. This place is gorgeous!

After a picnic lunch in Kanab, we went to Peekaboo (Red) Canyon. It turned out to be a great adventure to get there, on extremely sandy roads. We eventually made it in our 4WD pickup. Barely. We weren't sure if we were going to make it out, as it was slightly uphill. We decided not to sweat it and just enjoyed the slot canyon.

Desert Girl insisted on getting past this obstacle all on her own. She eventually found a technique that worked.

The red rock makes such a nice backdrop for photos! My niece wasn't feeling so great, so she might not remember much, but the photos prove she was there.

The slot narrowed enough in some parts to make it rather dark.

The canyon was rather short, about a third of a mile until we reached a 20-foot drop that we couldn't find an easy way up. So we turned around and headed back.

The drive out was a little eventful, with a patch of really deep sand we almost got stuck in. I don't think I'd go back in a 4WD full size vehicle. We could have deflated our tires to help, but ATVs are better vehicles to get out there.

Our next destination was Zion National Park. Zion's popularity has swelled, and they now receive over 4 million visitors a year. We were hoping that by going very late in the afternoon, we might be able to find some parking spots. We saw some bighorn sheep on our drive in from the east entrance.

And we found some parking at the Overlook Trail, a trail I hadn't done before. It's just one mile long each way, but it's a bit of an adventure hike, with some steep dropoffs.

It provided us with some challenges. And I was surprised how many other people we saw on the trail at the late hour. Apparently they were going to make the most of parking spots too!

We all made it to the overlook!

I knew of a fun off-trail hike on the other side of the road, but it turned out it was flooded, and no one wanted to wade in the cold water.

So we went up to the Zion Canyon entrance and found some parking there and got on the shuttle bus to go up to the Riverwalk. When we got off the shuttle, we found some turkeys and deer.

The Zion River was flowing high enough that no hiking through the Zion Narrows was permitted. That was okay with us, it was getting dark and the air and water were very cold! But we still found a rock to go stand on to be in the river a little!

That night we had camping reservations for Sand Hollow State Park, but we arrived at 10:04 pm and the gate closes at 10 pm and there's no getting in after that. (If we had known, we would have arrived earlier!). So we spent a very windy night at a BLM trailhead that we called our campsite for the night.   (All the hotel rooms within two hours drive were full.) None of us got much sleep, and Giacomo had to take the ACT the next morning. Hopefully he did okay! We played in St. George parks for awhile, my husband and I bought a new used van, and then we had lunch together before we parted ways. It was a fun trip. Southern Utah is very popular in the spring because the temperatures are great and it's so scenic. Although some spots are very crowded, there are places to get away from the crowds, they just take a little work to get to!

2017 Astronomy Programs at Great Basin National Park

 Last night Desert Girl and I went up to the Astronomy program at Great Basin National Park. For the months of April and May, they are held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday nights. They will be held three nights a week after Memorial Day weekend (I believe--check with the park at 775-234-7331 to be entirely sure) through Labor Day weekend.

One of the things we learned at the program was what a.m. and p.m. mean. I guess I hadn't really thought about it much. Ante meridian is Latin for before midday and post meridian is after midday. We also learned about Pope Gregory wiping out a week in October back about 852 and then the institution of the leap day so that wouldn't have to happen again. Except leap day isn't celebrated every 100 years, so it didn't happen in February 1900. But it did happen in February 2000 because every thousand years they need to put it back in. And sometimes there's a leap second, like in June 2015. Or something like that. But don't worry, the atomic clock is accurate to 1 second in 30 million years, based on the cesium atom. I think that's right. I wasn't exactly taking notes, but it was interesting.

Then it was time to line up at the telescopes and look at the night skies. There was a good turnout, as it was a clear night, and somewhat warm (above freezing, anyway). Probably about 40 people were there. It was cold enough that Desert Girl and I had on winter coats and winter boots and had two blankets and were still a bit chilled, but we were better prepared than most.

Desert Girl was a good sport while I took some photos of telescopes. One person had his own positioned near the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, which was lit up in red to preserve our night vision.  The blue line is the glow-in-the dark paint along the curb.

We could find the Big Dipper easily, with the handle arcing to the bright star Arcturus, which Ranger Steve was pointing out. Through the telescope our first object was even easier to find--the moon. With a crescent, it made for some really great shadows.

Then we lined up again to take a look at Jupiter and four moons. I was also able to see these through our binoculars (binoculars, lawn chairs, and blankets are great things to bring to an astronomy program, as well as red flashlights).

Then it was on to the M3 globular cluster. It looked like a big fuzzy spot, even though it's made up of 500,000 stars. Why fuzzy? Well, it's over 30,000 light years away! There's nothing like looking up into the heavens to help put life into perspective.

Desert Girl had seen enough at this point, so we left, but other folks stayed on, looking at more amazing things. We hope to go to more astronomy programs this year, the kids really enjoy them, and it's always great to spend more time looking up at the stars and learning more about them.

Caving in Quintana Roo March 2017

Earlier in March I had the opportunity to go to Quintana Roo on a caving expedition. Quintana Roo is a Mexican state in the Yucatan peninsula. I found a cheap flight on Southwest to Cancun with Carol, a caver from California. We arrived to the warm, balmy weather, and our host and expedition organizer Peter picked us up and took us to his palapa in Paamul. Paamul is an RV park that has gotten fancy, with many RV owners putting thatched roofs over their RVs and sometimes enclosing the entire living space. Some are rather simple, others are deluxe, all are close to the beach.

The Paamul beach has a mixture of tidepools and white sand.

After a night to adjust, we headed into the jungle the next day to go survey caves.

For part of the two-hour hike, we hiked through caves, as it was easier than hiking through the jungle!


Here's a photo of me taken by Frank Bogle, one of the participants. The Melgarita cave pants did well on this trip (I took out the kneepads to make them cooler for the jungle hikes).


After surveying all day, it was time to eat and enter cave data. We returned several times to Mr. Trompo, an outdoor cafe on the pueblo side of Puerto Aventuras. Trompo is apparently a way to cook pork on a skewer. They put strong seasonings on it and it looks sort of like a carrot, including the color. You can imagine the fun we had with their logo. (Photo by Frank Bogle)


Each day was different. The second day of caving involved a lot of passage like this:

It felt like the room that never ended! Fortunately the water was warm. I was sketching each day, and seven days in a row really helped my sketching ability! The sketches, along with the measurements we take (distance, azimuth, inclination) help make the cave map.

A couple mornings I had energy to go for a run. North from Paamul was a lovely trail along the beach.


South of Paamul was a very rocky shoreline littered with ocean garbage, but the reward was a Mayan pyramid between two freshwater flows into the ocean. Here's the view from the top of the pyramid:

Each day we had different people helping with the cave survey, although for the week we had a core group of seven. We would get the lineplots, if they existed, the night before on our phone. Then we would tie into those the next day and continue surveying. Here's part of the group getting briefed on their mission.

For two days, Frank and I got to survey a wet cave, which involved inner tubes. They run snorkel tours through the cave. It was amazingly beautiful.

Another day we were again far out in the jungle, sketching in a line plot that some cave divers had surveyed. Then we found a little crawl that kept going and going, and eventually got to a huge magnificent room full of formations. And it kept going!

Sac Actun is a mostly underwater cave in the area that cave divers have been exploring for decades. It is the second longest cave in the world, after Mammoth Cave. We surveyed some cenote (sinkhole) entrances and added about 800 meters to the length one day. Here's a view of one of the sinkhole entrances. There's a diveline that goes back in the dark spot.

I'm not a cave diver, but I did go snorkeling! I went several times, amazed at the ocean life all around me. It was fun being in the waves.

I also snorkeled one of the cenotes, and saw these catfish. They were hanging out under some bats.

Pausing for a quick photo through some tree roots.

Here's an example of the data and sketch.

All too soon, the week came to an end. It was organized so well and I was able to totally put myself into the caving mentality so that's nearly all I thought about each day. It was a relaxing vacation because my mind wasn't whirring in a thousand directions like it usually does, instead I was very focused.

On my last day, I had a late afternoon flight, so in the morning I took the colectivo (bus) down to Tulum to see the ruins. Tulum is on the coast and very scenic.

I went early in the morning, as it's also very crowded.

High waves meant that you weren't allowed to go in the water past your knees, but that was okay, I was there for the view.

This iguana and I hung out in the shade for awhile.

Then it was time to fly home. There are lots of commercial caves and cenotes in Quintana Roo, so even if you're not on a survey trip, it's easy to experience the underground marvels of the Yucatan. I hope to go back, it's an amazing place! Thanks so much to Peter for organizing the trip and being such a great host, to Carol for being a wonderful traveling companion and roommate, Frank for letting me borrow some photos, my husband for agreeing that it was a good idea for me to go, and all those who took care of the kids while I went on a nourishing retreat!

Gretchen sketching in Cueva Olchun, Photo by Frank Bogle.