Climbing Pahvant Butte, the Volcano South of Delta, Utah--with Kids!

 Continuing on our Volcano-themed Weekend, after we finished with Sunstone Knoll and Clear Lake, we headed toward the big volcano. That's when I realized I didn't have much of a plan for what would happen next. I had read that the volcano was hikeable, but I didn't know where to start. So we headed down the marked road and eventually saw a track up the Lake Bonneville shoreline. We headed towards that track, but when we got to it, it was too steep for the truck. However, there was another track that entered the canyon.

What an adventure! The track twisted and turned up the narrow ravine, and the cinders were like driving in deep sand. I knew if I stopped, we'd be stuck, so I kept my foot on the gas and we kept going. Fortunately no one was coming the other direction. Then we popped up into the middle of the volcanic crater. (The white line in the image below is the driving line, the red line is the hiking route.)

The inside of the crater surprised me. I was expecting to see lots of black lava, but instead we saw lots of orangish rock. This orangish rock is a tuff, a combination of basaltic lava the size of sand and gravel.

One of the things that is so cool about this volcano is that it started erupting underwater about 15,500 years ago, when the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville covered the area. As the volcano erupted, it grew taller, eventually emerging from the lake. The parts of the volcano that were under the lake still have the black lava, and the lake interactions made a cool formation on the northwest side called the Lace Curtains (which we didn't have time to see this trip). For more about the geology, check out this Utah Geological Survey page.

We got our gear and started our hiking trip. Our basic plan was to walk around the top of the volcano. It didn't look too bad from the bottom, but as we started up the steep slope to the south summit, I started having doubts of how far we could go.

We could see the pillars up on the south summit, remnants of a 1923 windmill project. Some say that it was a scam, as it was never finished and the project was rather odd, with no power lines in the area. Others say it was an early renewable energy project, which put Millard County ahead of the times. Overall, there doesn't seem to be much documentation about it. The old structures make for a rather odd  but intriguing sight.

They also make for a well-visited site. We found 8 OHVs on the top of the south summit. They had taken a road up the east side.

After a long snack break, we continued towards the main summit, following an easy ridge. We took a little detour to find a geocache.

Indian paintbrush,  phlox, and more were blooming, adding some extra color to the hike. I was delighted to see the hummingbird moth near the cryptantha.

As we got higher, we faced some interesting obstacles, where the volcano rim had weathered away, leaving steep cliffs. We had to do some backtracking to find a way, but we eventually did. Here and there you can find a bit of a social trail, but overall this volcano is pretty wild and untracked.

We kept seeing different groups of OHVs arrive at the south summit (lots of people were camped in the area for the holiday weekend), but no one else was hiking. The kids were doing an excellent job. It probably helped that I told them that the reward for not whining was going to the Delta swimming pool later that afternoon.

Soon we saw the triangular metal structure at the summit get larger and larger. We were almost there! The summit is at 5,751 feet.

A rock wren greeted us. We took a long time trying to find a geocache without success.

The views were outstanding, looking out at the Sevier Desert. I was a bit surprised when I saw there was no road directly to Delta. I think the old lakebed will bog down vehicles, and it looks like the Sevier River still flows through that area. We had a good view of Clear Lake to the southwest and the Pahvant Range and Tushar Mountains to the east.

Desert Girl hiked the whole way by herself. (She knew she had to, which is a big motivator.)

After rehydrating and eating and enjoying the view, we started heading around the rim. I was a little more nervous about this part, because I wasn't sure if we'd reach some difficult obstacles. We had one part that was a little steeper than I like, but the kids are good rock climbers and managed fine. We found that it was a lot easier to descend, especially when we reached a section with cinders that made going down feel like running down a sand dune.

I estimate we hiked about 2.5 miles, taking about three hours. It was really cool to be on the top of a volcano, and now every time we go to Delta, we will have a special appreciation of that volcano to the south. And the kids got to go swimming, which was the best part of the trip for them.

Pahvant Butte from Highway 6 & 50 west of Delta.

Random Signs of Spring

 I am so loving this spring. Every day brings new colors, sounds, and smells (okay, my allergies are awful, but I still love spring!). The tulips are blooming, and I find them such a happy flower.

 Our chicks are growing rapidly. I'm fascinated watching the little comb on the forehead emerge and the tail perk up. The chicks regularly try out their wings and are getting stronger.

 This mourning cloak stayed still long enough for me to get a decent photo. I've seen orange, yellow, and white butterflies. One of my goals this summer is to learn my butterflies a lot better, and since the BioBlitz at Great Basin National Park this summer is going to focus on Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), I have a good chance of accomplishing it.

Desert Boy really, really wanted to run through the sprinkler but thought it might be on the chilly side. So he put on his wetsuit (a yard sale find last year), and ran happily in the water.

Hope you're having a happy spring!

A Trip to Post-Fire Lexington Canyon

A little while ago we decided to take a trip up Lexington Canyon in the South Snake Range near Great Basin National Park to see what had happened since the Black Fire. The fire started July 1 and burned about 5,000 acres, with some of it getting a little exciting with big wind gusts that had firefighters calling for retardant drops and more than 100 firefighters. Other times the fire was quiet, burning slowly in high elevation forests. In late August we had quite a monsoonal pattern, with thunderstorms building and actually delivering rain nearly every day. Some of those rains were really heavy, including one over the fire that caused a flood washing many miles, out to the highway, with a wide debris path.

We stopped to take a look at the muddy wash bottom and were surprised just how wide and deep the water and debris had been. 

We sent Desert Boy to the bottom of the wash for scale (and to run out some of his energy!)

 He looks so small! Good thing this flood was in a place where no one lives.

 We drove along the road, not really seeing much sign of the fire until we got to these burned cottonwoods.

 That turned out to be the spot of a washed out culvert. It wasn't nearly large enough for all that water and debris washing through the channel.

The road was impassable at the culvert, but beyond it was in good shape (better than the Snake Creek road).

 One of the things I was really interested in was what plants were coming back in the fire. These beautiful purple asters made an appearance.

 A little farther down the road we found the old cabin. This is where the Woodwards lived for a short time back in the late 1800s. They tried their hand at farming and helping with Quate's sawmill up Big Wash, but eventually left the area. I don't believe anyone has lived their since then, as it is quite remote, and over the years the creek eventually dried up.

The firefighters had saved the cabin by cutting most of the shrubs around it. This makes it quite accessible now.

 It has no roof, but the old windows frame the view.

 Nearby is the dry creek, with the dead cottonwoods sticking up like burnt matchsticks.

  New cottonwoods are already making an appearance, and by next spring, this area will look a lot different.

 We continued up the road, seeing how the fire had mainly stayed down in the lowest part of the canyon.

 Farther up, we found willows growing.

 We also found skunkbush (above) and rose.

 As we neared the turnoff for Lexington Arch, we saw that the fire had climbed higher up the mountains.

The road was still in good condition, and we continued up to the spring, where we found a splash of green. We camped here in 2012, but it looked so different on this visit!

 The insects loved a blooming dandelion!

 The old trough was twisted even before the fire.

 Here's a view of the spring and tank from the other side of the dry creek bed. The rock formations in the background really stand out now.

 Mullein blooming.

Stinging nettles.

 The spring still leaves puddles in the road!

 Yarrow.

 It looked a little more burned as we continued past the spring.

 The fire was hot enough it even burned the rocks!

 The road was in good shape till we reached where a side canyon met the main canyon. Then the washouts got more severe, and before long, the road had turned into the stream bed.

 It was a strange feeling walking among all the dead trees--but it was easy walking.

 I rather liked this saguaro-looking stump.

 The power of the flood was evident in many places.

The kids weren't so excited about hiking, but we really wanted to get a view of the Arch, and we had already come this far.

 We kept looking for interesting sights. We saw that the flood had transformed the landscape in so many ways. In the photo above, the flood washed away enough of the soil that the tree roots were exposed.

 We took a little snack break and my husband took a couple photos so I could be in one!

 I had been on this road to Lexington Arch several times, but I had never been very aware of the tiny creek bed next to it, mainly because it was almost always dry. Now the creek bed is wider than the road.

 We walked in the creek bed for quite a ways, observing the tangle of roots in the banks.

 A cool burned tree.

 Rock lodged in the tree trunk.

 Desert Boy's sad, "are we there yet" expression. Then he spotted something.

 The trailhead sign! The sign still stands, although it burned and you can't read anything.

 We all took a look at it. We couldn't see the trail right at that point, but it's in good shape further up the hill.

 We found the road and hiked back on it (wasps were attracted to Desert Girl's sparkly shirt and were stinging her, so we took her shirt off and that solved the problem. We didn't have extra clothes and it was quite warm, so she was fine).

 Whenever I see islands of green in a burnt forest, I wonder what influenced the fire so it didn't burn that spot.

 I loved seeing this Indian paintbrush so far up the canyon!

 And then we saw it, Lexington Arch! Looking at this photo really makes me want to hike up there and see how it looks up close.

 It will probably be quite awhile (if ever) that the old trailhead is reestablished, but it's not that far from the end of the mostly decent road to the old trailhead.

To see what Lexington Arch used to look like, here's a post from 2008, and another from 2012.