2014 Nevada Bat Blitz

The Nevada Department of Wildlife holds an annual Bat Blitz to survey bats in an area. This year it was centered at Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, and I was delighted to be able to attend. In order to handle the bats, you have to get rabies shots, three of them, which I did. They are very similar to the regular flu shot.

Our first night was rained out, so we didn't get to put up the mist nets, but the second night we did, right where we were camping, at Hobart Reservoir. We had some triple high mist nets, which were very interesting to set up and see how they worked. The particular net below stretched across the reservoir outlet. After we set them up, we closed the nets (tied them shut) so that birds wouldn't fly into them.

Once it got dark, we opened the nets and waited. The nets I was at didn't catch anything, but the one at the outlet did quite well, and a couple bats were brought to our group so we could take a closer look.

The folks from NDOW were impressive with all their bat knowledge. I tried to soak up as much information as I could, such as how to tell an adult from a juvenile by shining your light through the wing.

With our nets still not catching anything, I wandered over to the other group, where I found a net caught in the net and biologists working to untangle it.

They were so kind and let me do the workup for the bat, which included checking its gender and age. I ran through a dichotomous key to figure out what it was.

We also weighed and measured it.

It was a lot of fun, and even though I was worried about staying up late, sugar and caffeine did the trick.

The next day we went on a pika training up near the Mount Rose summit. I had never been in this area and was fascinated with the different trees and plants. The western part of Nevada is so different than the eastern part!

A few folks saw pika, and although I saw some movement, I can't say I definitively saw one. I did see pika scat and haystacks, piles of cut grass that they eat during the winter. I guess I'll have to go back!

The next night we were looking for our next site when Bryan caught a rubber boa, which Meg is showing off below. It's a rare sighting.

Then we put up nets and waited for it to get dark. Right after sunset we caught a bunch of bats, but then it tapered off. I got some practice freeing bats from the net.

The moon rose and was quite bright. We also watched some distant thunderstorms.

Since the bats were slow, we played around a bit with long exposures and painting. If you can't find a bat, make one!

Just a handful of folks who were at Bat Blitz 2014. It was a great experience, and I'm very thankful to all the biologists who shared their knowledge.

Artist-in-Residence Presentation of Bristlecone Pine Painting

Recently Great Basin National Park 2013 Artist-in-Residence Bain Butcher returned to the park to unveil his work of art inspired by his stay last fall in the park. He did a beautiful oil painting of old-growth bristlecone pines on a limestone terrain with storm clouds in the background.

As part of his presentation, he shared how he had come upon deciding what to paint based on his trip to the park. Previously he had done many portraits, so I was curious how he would make the transition to landscapes. 

Bain said that when he walked among the grove of bristlecones on the northeast flank of Mt. Washington (a place he backpacked to), he found that the grove was alive. Bain is also a medical doctor, and I liked how he found an analogy between a twisted bristlecone pine and a human heart.

His artwork was well received and is displayed at a park visitor center.

During his presentations, young artists worked on honing their skills. Maybe someday they can become the Darwin Lambert Artist/Writer in Residence at Great Basin National Park!

Pyramid Peak Hike, Great Basin National Park, Nevada

To recap from a previous post, my husband and I climbed Pyramid Peak in Great Basin National Park last weekend. We started about 8,100 ft to reach the 11,926 foot summit. We chose to gain that 3,800 ft (more than climbing Wheeler Peak) by hiking near Dead Lake, which I covered in this last post.

Then we wanted to head over to the main Johnson Lake trail. On the topo map it looks quite easy, and the terrain wasn't too hard, with Engelmann spruce trees and patches of manzanita, but it sure felt long.

Eventually we reached the trail, where the going was a little easier. The trail must have had quite a rainstorm recently, because quite a few sections had sizeable gullies in them.

I was so happy to reach the Johnson Mill Historic Site, where we took a welcome break.

Then it was the very steep section up to the historic cabins near Johnson Lake. Imagining what it was like to be a miner is always fun--and intimidating. That could not have been an easy life.

After a quick snack and swimming break at the lake (it was warmer than expected), we took the steep trail up to the ridge.

This is a trail bighorn sheep would like--very steep and rocky!

As we reached the ridge, Pyramid Peak didn't look so far away.

There's no trail up to the top of Pyramid Peak, so we just made our way up the talus slope. As it got steeper, the peak looked farther away.

We kept hiking and hiking.

Johnson Lake looked very small below, so we knew we were making progress.

I busied my mind by searching for the beautiful alpine wildflowers, like these alpine fleabane (Erigeron leiomerus) and Holmgren's buckwheat (Eriogonum holmgrenii). I especially like the buckwheat, which only grows on the Snake Range.

Finally we made it to the top and got a photo to prove it (there's no register like in past years). In the background is the backside of Wheeler and Jeff Davis peaks. This view makes it a little more understandable why some of the early explorers thought the peak was volcanic, since it does somewhat resemble a crater. However, the rock is in fact quartzite. (Nevertheless, over 20% of the Great Basin is volcanic, a fun fact you can learn about more in my new book The Great Basin for Kids, available in the sidebar.)

From the top of Pyramid Peak you can see a bit of Baker Lake. It looks very small and by late summer a lot of the water has evaporated from it.

 We saw bird on the peak that still stumps me. If you know it, please leave a note in the comments!

We also saw white butterflies chasing each other. They never landed so I couldn't get a photo of them, but this butterfly, I think a Great Basin Fritillary, did stop nearby.

I was also excited to see this Anise Swallowtail, my first viewing of this species.

Instead of going back the southwest ridge and retracing our steps by Johnson Lake, we decided to take the eastern ridge down, join the Shoshone Trail that goes over South Fork Baker Creek to the Johnson Lake trail, and then loop around. From the top it didn't look too bad (it never does, right?).

We saw some different plants on the eastern side, including this Purple-flowered Stonecrop (Rhodiola integrifolium). It contrasted nicely with the Erigeron.

 As we descended, I really liked the view of Wheeler and Jeff Davis Peaks with their cloud shadows through the saddle of Pyramid and False Pyramid Peaks. I've hiked that saddle once, a pleasant hike. But then we decided to go down and meet up with the Baker Lake trail--not a good idea, the slopes are so steep that when you set a rock rolling, it just keeps rolling and rolling.

The clouds were building, so we were going down as fast as we could, but the descent was hard on our knees (mine still hurt a week later). We are definitely in monsoon season, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms.

A rock wren flitted on the rock in front of us.

Eventually we entered the trees, and before long the forest was so overgrown we could no longer follow the ridge. We dropped down on the Snake Creek side, bushwhacking through all sorts of vegetation. My favorite were the aspen groves, as they provided some shade and were a little easier to travel through.

Finally we made it back to camp, about seven hours after taking off. It was eight miles in total, but with our heavy packs, I don't think we could have gone much faster. We soaked our sore feet in the cold creek.

We packed up our camp before it started raining hard and paused to take a slightly blurry family photo. Thanks so much to our family and friends who watched the kids while we did the training hike. The kids certainly had a lot more fun with their cousins than they would have on that hike!

So in summary, Pyramid Peak is a beautiful peak to climb. If you climb it from the ridge between Johnson and Baker peaks, it's not too hard, but it still is a lot of elevation gain. Bushwhacking, as usual, makes a hike more difficult. But it's kind of fun seeing the less-traveled parts of the world! So I guess even though I was sore and tired after the hike, I will be doing more hikes.

Life on the Ranch: Branding

 We found out that a branding was happening, so I packed up and took the kids to it. We had missed some previous ones because I was out of town, and I enjoy seeing the cowboys in action.

Brandings usually occur when the cattle are moved off the winter range. The calves were born in March and need to be marked so that they can legally be sold next winter. It's possible to just process the calves through a chute, as I wrote about in 2009. However, the cowboys much prefer the old-fashioned method, which involves roping the calves, separating them from the rest, and then processing them. The roping allows the cowboys to hone their skills and also provides a social function, as friends and neighbors often come to help.

We watched some excellent young cowboys rope calves and bring them back.

Sometimes it can be tricky to keep the calf down, especially if the special gadget to keep them confined doesn't get attached. Once they're down, they're vaccinated and have their ears cut. Instead of branding with a red-hot iron, ear cutting is what the ranch uses (but the whole get-together is still often called branding). If it's a male calf, a rubber band is applied to his delicate parts to cut off blood flow (in effect castrating it, but without Rocky Mountain oysters flying all over).


Here's an overview of what the process looks like: the cowboy and horse pull the calf into position, while other cowboys move in to do all the tasks necessary.


Cowgirls are very much a part of the whole operation.


It takes a lot of skill and communication to make sure that the calf is held at just the right tension.


This little cowboy was one of the best ropers out there. He made it look easy. Yet when I try to lasso something that's not even moving, I have a hard time.

Now, for some of the details.

The lasso.

The spur, stirrup, and chap fringe.

The wannabe cowboy (aka Desert Boy).

Chaps are just way too cool.

Getting new eartags ready. These have insecticides on them to help keep the flies from bothering the cows.

My nephew. The mountains in the background are something we almost take for granted. 

The high desert of the Great Basin is such a breathtaking place.

It's time to rope!

The lasso goes out...

And makes contact! The calf is pulled.

A beautiful horse.

 One thing the photos don't quite show is how hot and dusty it can all be. My camera was coated with a dust layer (of course lying on the ground may have contributed to that!). When you're right up there with the animals, it's even dustier.

A well-warranted drink break. But only if you're wearing chaps.

 Lasso up...

Nice try!

This one's a keeper. This cowboy was a great roper, even with a broken arm.

The kids got worn out fast, but I was still glad to have the chance to watch for awhile. The skill these cowboys show is amazing, something that takes years to hone.

And if you'd like to see even more photos of ranch life, A Handful of Dust Documentary has some terrific ones.