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.

Birds, Scenic Views, and More

 March has been a month of variable weather, like usual. The snow is melting, the reservoirs filling, and the wind blowing. We can always count on the wind! We lost part of the roof on one of our outbuildings this month. Some other roofs blew off around town this spring, along with other structural damage. I guess it's been windier than usual. The clouds can be amazing, though.

I really like the dramatic clouds and snow-covered peaks!


We've gotten some snow, which always makes me admire the early flowers that can handle the snow and freezing. These are blossoms on one of our currant bushes.

The robins are numerous now, and they get extra puffy when it's cold.

The American Avocets are back. They are such pretty birds.

The turkey vultures are migrating through. We'll see occasional ones throughout the summer, but spring and fall is when we see the most.

It's fun to watch them soar.

These chickens don't seem to mind the snow. Our last chickens wouldn't even leave the coop if there was snow, so it's neat to see these be a little more adventurous.

We often spot a red-tailed hawk in our trees or the neighbors'.

Desert Girl sometimes joins me on little rambles in the golden light, looking for good photos. She wants to win a big ribbon at the county fair this year.

We got a nice view of a Western Meadowlark that evening.

 

One evening, Desert Girl joined me on a short-eared owl survey. We didn't see any short-eared owls, but we had some beautiful views. Here's Crystal Peak off in the distance.

And U.S. Highway 50, which seems to go on nearly forever.


We also saw this impressive load. We counted 50 tires. It must weigh a lot!

It's fun seeing all the changes spring brings. Of course, if you don't like the wind or snow, it's possible to go hide in the kids' new fort--a buried 55-gallon drum. 

Sledding by Too Tall Tony

Another storm came and dumped more snow, and we got a call if we wanted to go sledding. Why not? It was beautiful and a great excuse to go outside! We went up to what we call the Too Tall Tony Hill, which is a pullout with a two-track. The south side is rocky, but once you pop over to the north side, there's a very snowy two-track.

Ava was ready to go.

And then we followed.

Did I mention this is a really long sledding hill? It's super awesome.

More kids were arriving, and they went to the actual Too Tall Tony Hill, a shorter but steeper hill up the road. So we went over to join them.

What's with Too Tall Tony? Oh, he's just a little too tall for his grave, so his legs stick out.

His grave is on an earthen dam that's nice and steep. Desert Girl loved it.

The clouds were drifting by, making the whole scene a little surreal.

Willow's expression is great on this one! She went up and down so many times. If this snowy trend keeps up, we'll be going on lots more sledding trips this winter.

Snowy, Snowy January

 This January sure has felt like winter! Lots of snow and cold temperatures. You'll see that theme in this and upcoming posts!

One afternoon we wanted to go sledding, but the roads were so bad we couldn't drive anywhere. So we went over to the nearby pond, which was now empty, and sledded into the bottom of it.

Desert Girl found a nice hill nearby and we all followed.

I love their expressions!

Desert Boy decided to climb a tree. Getting down was a little trickier.

Sledding party!

We decided to change our venue and go over to the gas station, which was being plowed. The old cabins looked very scenic with their snow coatings.

Looks like Ava wanted a snow coating too! This girl loves snow!

We trudged along in the snow, the colorful coats and sleds lighting up the afternoon.

You can see how deep the snow was by the spigots. Obviously no one was camping here that night.

Angie really loved the snow too, burying herself in it and running all around. This photo is bittersweet for me, as she was hit by a truck and killed the next day. She enjoyed her short life, but her bad habit (that we didn't quite manage to break) of chasing vehicles was a dangerous one that ultimately didn't work out.

At that point, though, we were ready for fun in the snow.

We saw the snow plows come by, at about 4 pm. They had been by at about 8 in the morning, then went back and couldn't get back to us until about 10-12 inches of snow later! The schools dismissed early and the kids still got home late because one school bus broke down on the road, another could barely move through the unplowed snow, and it all was a bit chaotic.

Once the plow came by, we had a semblance of normalcy and enjoyed walking down busy main street.

Oh my, this will be a winter to remember!

Grey Cliffs Cross Country Ski

 The kids didn't have school on Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the temperatures were in the low to mid-20s, so we headed up the Baker Creek road in Great Basin National Park to where it was closed. We pulled out the skis and headed up the road in ideal conditions.

Some snowshoers had been out, but we were the first skiers.

We headed down the incline towards Grey Cliffs campground. There was just enough of a hill to give us some glide.

We did pause to look at some of the numerous rodent tracks. We also saw deer tracks and maybe mountain lion.

Desert Boy really wanted to take a rest at the gate. He wasn't feeling so well, so he didn't continue.

But Desert Girl was ready to make some fresh tracks and broke trail for a bit.

This was about the only non-smiling photo I got of her. She was usually singing as we went skiing along. But she did ask several times when we were taking a break.

When we got up to Loop C, it was time for a break. We cleared off part of a picnic table and got out some snacks and our new JetBoil to try it out. The fuel canister was kind of empty, so we didn't get water to boil in two minutes, but we did get warm water...

...to make hot chocolate! Yum!
After a rest, I asked Desert Girl if she wanted to go on up to Baker Creek Campground and make the loop back down the road or if she wanted to turn around here. She chose to turn around.

She was immediately delighted with her decision, as it was so easy going downhill! In fact, she couldn't believe how fast we got back to the vehicle.

We did have to stop for another sit-on-the-gate photo. Then she followed me up the hill at a good clip. She will be ready for the Ely Birkebeiner's ski race this weekend!

It was so nice to have a perfect skiing day, with no wind, great snow, and beautiful vistas. We're already looking forward to the next ski!