Padre Canyon Hike, near St. George, Utah

Near the beginning of October I went to St. George. I had part of the afternoon free and decided to try out the Padre Canyon hike, which I learned about from Eric Hansen's On and Off the Beaten Path: Hiking Routes near St. George, Utah. The book is available locally from various stores.  I stashed my bike at the Hidden Pinyon trailhead and then drove up to Tuacahn.

I had never seen Tuacahn. It's an outdoor theater and also an alternative high school.  

After skirting the edge of the property, I finally reached the only trail sign I saw on this end for the hike. The hike up from Tuacahn was a very faint trail, but I knew that I needed to get to the saddle. On the other side, the trail was much easier to follow.

I saw several of these beautiful butterflies.

The trail led down a wash, and I found Padre Arch.

A bit further on were some fun sandstone formations.

And tiny frogs!

I couldn't resist a selfie. I was really there. Ha, ha.

Eventually all the fun obstacles ended and I came out to a big, sandy wash.

The flood debris reminded me that slot canyons aren't good places during rainstorms.

It was interesting to see how lava intruded in the sand.

Back to my bike and a great multi-use trail. It took me about two hours for the hike, and another hour to set up and complete the shuttle.

The hike was so much fun that I returned there the end of the month with my brother and kids. The kids enjoyed the secret pool next to a giant fin.

Some serious uncle-nephew conversation.

I knew the kids would love the hike because of all the obstacles. And I was right. They had to problem solve and stretch their minds and bodies in new ways. None of it was too technical--although at first it might have looked that way.

The numerous drop offs always had options to get around them.

The recent rain had left the pools a little higher, making it more challenging to stay dry.

Desert Boy tried to get his shoes across the pool, but didn't throw them far enough. Fortunately they floated!

Taller people had more options.

Desert Girl loves to jump!

The reflections were fun.

We all had a good time, and I highly recommend this hike to people looking for a little more of a challenge and not afraid of route-finding and a little backcountry. We didn't see other people on this hike on either of the trips, so you really feel like you're way out there. To learn more about this hike, check out the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve website.

Odds and Ends October

Another mish mash of photos from the neglected October pile!

 October means school photos! I had fun photographing the kids before school in the morning light.

Meanwhile, the dog was getting chased by cows.

There was a vehicle fire at the Border Inn that spread to one of the rooms. Fortunately quick action by Border Inn employees and patrons and the response by three local fire departments and Ely kept the damage confined.

We've had a number of people getting hurt or sick. For the more serious incidents, medical helicopters fly in to evacuate the people. It's nice to have access to this high level of medical care.

The kids and I on a long weekend trip to California for caving. (This photo was on my phone, and those phone photos often get neglected.)

We had a great time with our friends Teresa and Ron, as well as some other friends there.

The new water tower in Baker. This was a major issue to get built due to sage grouse, even though the old one was leaking like a sieve and we weren't sure if the community would have healthy drinking water or water to put out a fire. This got escalated up to the Governor's office and even reached Washington D.C.

Our dog seems to like the zipline a lot. It's a little strange to watch her dangle from it.

Checking out the truck that my husband learned to drive in. He pressed the pedals while his brother steered.

Making our own caramel apples!

A little impromptu softball practice one evening.

Auctioning off the high heel chair at the Diversity Party at the Border Inn. The party was so much fun.

A pseudoscorpion in Lehman Caves.

A cool soda straw with an extra growth on it.

This column looks like something out of Dr. Seuss.

My kids like curry! At least the broth and chicken. They'd rather skip the vegetables. There's a super Thai restaurant in Cedar City: Thai Basil.

Don't get eaten by the dinosaur! This is a cool new park in St. George that we visited during fall break. And soon I'll have photos up about that trip.

Superhero princess in search of candy. Trick-or-treating in the rural high desert presents some challenges.

Happy November!

September Odds and Ends

 I should probably do this for every month--post the photos that didn't make it into a regular blog post. Here's September, the campout for the Perseid Meteor Shower. Okay, that was actually in August, but somehow the photo is in my September folder. Can you spot any kids still in sleeping bags? We went to the Baker Archeological Site for some beautiful dark night skies.

One of our chickens. They are great layers and the kids love having them as pets. Okay, so do I. :)

Some pronghorn were really close to the road one day and I happened to have my camera on hand.

One of the cutest hats around. This was made by the Silver Sage Grotto in Idaho.

We dried a bunch of peaches from our tasty peach tree.

Desert Boy getting a driving lesson. You can see how I feel! I'm sure he's going to turn out to be a much better driver than me. I'm okay with the idea of driverless cars entering my life.

Dentist visit! The kids love going to the dentist, which is such a blessing. They love the toys in the waiting room, the fish tank, watching movies while waiting, and getting a prize at the end. I love no cavities.

The new observatory at Great Basin National Park. It's remotely operated, which means there's not much more room than for a telescope in the orb. It looks pretty cool.

We go and say hi to the cows often on evening walks with the dog. The cows are usually happy to greet us.

I love sunflowers, and there were lots in September!

Hope you had a good September! My, that seems so long ago!

New Road Art

Note: I've been working on this post for about a week (yes, sometimes it takes me a while!). Today I got a phone call that NDOT had taken a loader and dump truck and removed the road art from along the road. An email thread on our local listserve indicated that according to Randy Hesterlee, Assistant District Engineer for NDOT, someone had called the NDOT office complaining about the road art being a safety issue. NDOT stated they have a right-of-way 100 feet from the center line in each direction and removed road art within that distance, except for things hanging on the fence, which they didn't think caused any danger. If any one wants to claim the road art as theirs, they can call John Ogden at 775-289-1700 to arrange a pickup.

Some new road art has been appearing on the road to Great Basin National Park. I was talking with another local about it, and he said he stopped when he saw one of these new pieces being installed. A sixth grader, who's being homeschooled in North Snake Valley, made these creations. They represent images in our dark night skies. The one above is the Dolphin, leaping from the waves.

She did a great job welding lots of details onto the dolphin. The wind blew it over, so we tried to stick it back upright so more people can enjoy it.

This one was put up earlier in the summer and is the winged pegasus. I heard that it was put up in celebration of the Dark Sky Certification of Great Basin National Park.

Again, the details are marvelous. Here are the feet.

And a close up of the head.

Desert Girl really wanted to go for a ride!

The Big Dipper (I think--could also be the Little Dipper) is new near the Baker Ranching Exhibit (which has some marvelous metalwork done by Bill and Kathy Rountree).

Each of the stars has a spigot.


Nearby is this constellation. Do you know it?

If you need a clue, the name is written on it.

The queen not only has her crown, but also her "W" shape. And the mirror lets anyone who wishes to be queen see herself. It's a great design!

We stopped and took a closer look at "Hang Out," which has been up for awhile, but we hadn't made the time to really look at it.

Again, the detail was fabulous. So much thought went into each part!

There are decorations hanging out too.

Last year this concrete buck appeared under the juniper tree. It looked really cool, and I wondered how long it would take some idiot to think it really was a deer and shoot it. Well, it took a few months, but eventually someone did blast it. (Doesn't give you much hope if someone can't tell a concrete buck from a real one; plus shooting from the road is illegal.)

We found the face on the ground, and Desert Girl held it up for a photo.

This is another constellation, but you might have to go by the British name to identify it. They call the Big Dipper the Plow.

Here's the Flower Bed. Or maybe the Bed of Roses? Part of the fun of Road Art is trying to figure out what they are. Most have puns as part of their art.

This is a true masterpiece: "Wheeler Peak." The "peak" is make of bicycle wheels. But there's more.

The faces that adorn the sides are made from old bike seats with interesting adornments. They kind of look like aliens. Which is fitting, since the Internet says that a UFO crashed on a nearby dry lakebed, and that the ETs took refuge in the area. (Seriously, this does exist on the Internet. See more here.)

Then check out this huge dreamcatcher, called "Baker Mix." it is made with all sorts of baking utensils, like whisks and slatted spoons and measuring cups and cookie cutters. It is amazing.

A few paintings also dot the fenceline, some calling attention to the beautiful night skies over Snake Valley.

I would usually say go take a look at this marvelous art, but most of it is now gone. You can see some more road art in these posts: 2015, Our Little Solar System, Solar System Restored, 2012, Rollin Springs, 2009, Introduction to Road Art.