A Sunday Hike to Granite

A few Sundays ago we decided to go out for a family hike. Before we got far at all, we saw these amazing clouds and very low rainbow. 

We drove by the town water tank and checked it out. It's the cause of great controversy, as a new tank is needed because it's leaking, but because of recent sage grouse regulations, new development is difficult to not possible. (More on that in a different post.) 

We went up towards Kious Basin, where there are granite outcroppings. We thought it would be fun to scamper around with no real destination.

The wind started blowing and we got pelted with snow as we ascended.

No beautiful rainbows now!

Nevertheless, we persevered. It wasn't that cold, so we explored a little.

And tried to keep our backs turned to the wind.

Desert Boy and I started down a steep way. I got to the point where I wasn't comfortable and turned around, but he kept going.

And going...

And he made it! I was impressed.

Then we found another rock outcropping to explore.

This strange red pool of water was at the top.

The weather cleared up a little.

So we tried to drive further up, but eventually got to too much snow and had to retreat. Nevertheless, it was a good excuse to get outdoors!

Our First Sledding Trip of the 2015/16 Winter

 On Veteran's Day we went sledding. We thought that there would be plenty of snow at 7500 feet. Nope, not really!

We moved to a shadier part of Upper Lehman Campground and found a little more snow.

The afternoon light was beautiful, and we were happy to be with friends.

Desert Girl was sporting some shades, even if she couldn't quite stay on the sledding track.

Everyone who was there took a turn, even all the adults! Yippee.

 I love the expressions of fun times outdoors.

Finally it was time to go. Bummer. But we're crossing our fingers for more snow and sledding opportunities this winter, maybe with more snow and on steeper slopes.

Desert Girl figured out a way to make it snow--at least on herself!

Second 2015 Snow Survey

 So right after we did the last snow survey, we had a big snow storm. Hurray, we thought, the mountains will be snowy again. And then it didn't snow. At all. For the rest of the month. So when we headed out on the April 1 snow survey, we knew it wouldn't be pretty. In fact, we didn't even bother to take skis. We had snow shoes, but it turned out we barely needed them.

The first site was devoid of snow. That made it take about two minutes long to do the survey, nothing to measure. Fortunately the second snow course had snow on it, although in the photo below, you can see the nearby hillside had melted out.

The lower snow course marker was in a bare patch, but fortunately we didn't have to measure there. We had been warned that we might have record low snow levels and to take lots of pictures. Well, the good news is that we didn't have record low snow levels. The bad news is that we were the second lowest in the 70+ years the snow survey has been conducted.

We weren't sure what we would find when we reached the third snow course. Turned out we saw our ski tracks from the first survey. I guess that big snow we got lower on the mountain didn't happen up higher. Seeing month-old ski tracks is not a good sight.

We measured and remeasured until the numbers agreed and found again we were at second lowest record level. Fortunately, that still amounted to about 40 percent of median. Not as bad as the Sierras, but still quite bad. Everything seems so dry.

Sometimes getting that snow measurement isn't so easy. Maybe it's a good thing we weren't on skis, it would be pretty hard to do this!

And if you wondered what the snow core hole looked like:

What, you didn't wonder? That's okay.

We finished the snow measuring before noon. We usually don't even get to the third site before noon. So we had a leisurely lunch on the dry grass in the sun. We took off our snow shoes, let our gaiters and snow pants dry out, laid back on our puffy jackets. And then we heard a noise. We listened and realized that people were approaching. But these weren't any hikers. These were super hikers. Complete with shorts and flip flops. We were impressed, hiking in the snow in flip flops is not for the faint of heart.

Giggling, we headed downhill, revisiting the sagebrush buttercups that like to bloom right after the snow melts.

We also found some desert biscuitroot,  a less conspicuous flower.

There's some rain in the forecast next week, and we sure hope it comes. The dry, warm winter we've had is a harbinger of wildfires, diseases, and pests. But right now it's a great time to get outdoors and enjoy!

A Better-Than-Expected Adventure

With our very warm March, we spent more time outdoors than usual, and one Sunday we decided to take a hike to check out a cave I had the coordinates to. I didn't have much more information than the coordinates, so we didn't know what to expect. We packed up and enjoyed the hike, seeing a few splashes of color as wildflowers like Indian paintbrush (above) and milkvetch (below) bloomed.

This juniper on the top of a cliff looked like a bonsai tree.

It took us about 45 minutes to find the cave. I rigged a rope to check out the entrance and found this western fence lizard hanging out on a midden part way down.

I had managed to forget a descent device (never mind that I have seven), so I rappelled on a munter. (It's great to know different techniques--if you'd like to learn more, check out this upcoming cave rescue training.) Then I climbed out and lowered my husband and Desert Boy. Desert Girl didn't want to be lowered, and I wanted to move the rope to an easier spot to get out of the cave, so we went in from this side, where we could see the dark mouth of the cave beckoning.

We only found one historic signature in the cave, Cliff Bellander on June 25, 1955.

The entrance descended steeply over boulders and cobbles.

Before long we saw old, weathered formations. The floor was primarily a packrat midden.

The cave kept descending fast, and I was glad I had my 20 feet of webbing to help belay the kids down the steep sections.

Most of the cave was very dry, but we did find this wet formation with very pretty decorations.

The cave wasn't large, but it was certainly larger than we were expecting. And more beautiful too. It's such a treat when things turn out that way! Then it was time to head out. Desert Boy scrambled out with the help of the rope before I even finished taking photos. Desert Girl tried, but needs a little more strength.

She was happy to be hauled out.

I wanted to get a family photo, but those seem to be hard to get when we all look happy.

We knew the truck wasn't far, and the kids wanted to get to the snacks. So they took off. I was impressed with how Desert Girl ran through the bushes, jumping over small obstacles.

I was a lot slower, pausing to take photos, like this bitterbrush seed.

It was a fun adventure and a good day.