Lifeflight Training

Last week the Life Flight helicopter from Provo came out to provide an orientation and training for the services they provide. We (the local volunteer emergency squad) actually called Life Flight a few weeks ago to respond to a motorcycle wreck, and it was so good to know that advanced medical help was coming, as it's about an hour ride in an ambulance to the nearest hospital.

For our training, they landed in a parking lot and then we proceeded to a classroom, where we learned lots of useful things. They fly Agusta helicopters, with a 150 mph cruising speed in the summer, and 130 mph in the winter when they add the skis (they get a lot of ski resort business in the winter). They have hoist capabilities, but that takes some extra time to set up before they start the mission. It took them just under an hour to fly to our location, and it takes about 5-8 minutes to get into the air from the time they get a call. They have enough fuel to get to our location and part way back, but have to do a refueling stop on the return flight.

Life Flight flies day and night. At night they use night vision goggles, so they gave us some guidance of what lights they want on the ground when they come so they know where to go but aren't blinded. We also went over the landing zone criteria, especially for the backcountry.

They gave us a tour of the helicopter. The usual crew is the pilot, a paramedic, and a flight nurse. They have room for one patient on a gurney. Because of the high level of training of the crew, they are essentially operating a mobile intensive care unit.

The crew talked about how to approach the helicopter and other safety precautions. I've heard most of it before, but a refresher is good because I simply don't deal with helicopters that often.

After a couple hours they lifted off and headed back. They had been surprised on their way out here about the vast stretch of "nothingness." When you travel at 150 mph and think that, it gives you a good idea how remote we are! It sure is nice to know that even though we are remote, we have access to top-notch medical care, although it will take a little while to get here.

Here's a link to Life Flight's website if you'd like to learn more about their bases, aircraft, history, and more.

Floods and Mud

Sunday afternoon we went out to see some of the flood damage on the North Snake Range. We've had some major cloudbursts from the long monsoon season this year, and it seemed that several of them centered over the same drainages, some of which happened to burn in the Hampton Fire. The combination of burn and flood has transported lots of mud for miles and miles. In the photo above, we visited a house that had mud carry the aluminum cans away from the bin.

Desert Boy couldn't wait to go swing on the tire swing. As he ran towards it, we warned him that was something different.

"What?" he asked.

"You'll find out."

When he got to the swing and saw that the ground was now pressing against he, he understood better. The ground level was now higher. No swinging now!

Heavy equipment has been brought in to try and divert future floods from inundating the home, but a lot more work still needs to be done. Up on the bench the alluvial fans have fresh material on them for miles out of the canyons. Even canyons that didn't burn have greatly extended alluvial fans. We saw lots of evidence of overland flow (where water flows over the land instead of going into channels).

The Hampton Creek channel has been partially dug out, partially eroded. We didn't stay long because the clouds in the background were threatening.

This buried cable sign had been buried by a couple feet of mud.

 We really wanted to go up in the canyons, but the approaching thunderstorm convinced us that we had better take the safer route and head home. That turned out to be a good idea, as when my husband returned the next day, he found several places where water and mud had run across the Gandy Road.

Maybe next time we can see more of the flood damage.

In the meantime, here are photos posted on the new blog, Life on the Ranch. If you check out some other posts, you may see some familiar things!

Hiking with Kids-North Schell Peak, Nevada

My husband and I will soon be off on our tenth anniversary trip. We decided to climb Mount Rainier, at 14,410 ft. To prepare, we decided we should hike one mountain peak a month, and we've amazingly been able to stick to that training plan.

In April we hiked Crystal Peak, 7,108 ft, 2.5 miles round trip, a few hundred ft elevation gain.

In May we hiked Wheeler Peak, 13,063 ft, eight miles round trip, about 3,000 ft elevation gain.

In June we hiked Mount Moriah, 12,050 ft, 7.5 miles round trip, about 2,000 ft elevation gain.

In July we hiked Pyramid Peak, 11,998 ft, 8 miles round trip, 3,900 ft elevation gain.

And in August we hiked North Schell Peak, 11,883 ft, 6 miles round trip, 2,800 ft elevation gain.

Here's the story of the North Schell Peak trip, a peak I really enjoyed.

The night before we stayed at the Timber Creek campground. Since it's not far from Ely, we fully expected it to be full, but only two other campsites (of about 11 there) had tents up. Each site had a concrete pad, fire pit, picnic table, and lots of space. Potable water and pit toilets were nearby.

It was a chilly night, and we woke to frost on our packs. So we got up, left the tent in place, drove to the end of the road, and started hiking. We followed an old road through the aspens.

The old road followed Timber Creek as it curved to the north. The scenery was gorgeous.

The trail climbed steadily along the drainage. I hadn't even expected a trail so far up, so was very pleasantly surprised. The creek went dry, but we did find an occasional spring.

I even found a few ferns in a cool, moist spot.

And also a deer skeleton. Even though it's bow season, we didn't see any hunters.

The trail petered out as the creek bed merged into alpine slopes. We stopped for one of many snack breaks and snapped a quick family photo (I've learned not to wait until the top!).

Then we knew we just needed to go up. A gentle ridge beckoned us.

The lupine was still blooming, although some seed looked ready.

We found some wood up high on the slope, above any trees, indicating that the forest used to be up higher on the slopes.

Although Desert Girl was carried for about 500 ft elevation gain, she did most of the hike. One technique that was particularly effective was for her to share her dad's hiking poles. When he moved a pole forward, that helped propel her forward.

Desert Boy was charging ahead to the summit, except that what he thought was the summit was a false summit. It was a hard lesson to learn. Fortunately the bribe of pizza after the hike helped rekindle everyone's spirits. Plus as we got higher, the scenery was so dramatic.

Finally we only had the last ridge to climb, past the small wind shelter.

I got distracted by the alpine plants, which are so diminutive due to their short growing season and harsh conditions they have to withstand.

When I looked up from photographing plants, I saw my husband and kids making good progress.

The ridge had looked so sharp from below, but was not at all hard to hike up. We were glad we had our coats, it was cold!

And then we were there! Even our dog Henry made it.

Of course the top isn't the end of the hike, it's only halfway! We still had to get back to the vehicle. We debated going back the way we had come (which would have been a good idea and easier) or following the ridge and taking the straight line down. Since we seem to be suckers for taking the hike less traveled, we followed the ridge.

A huge group of ravens hung out in the leeward side of a saddle.

The buckwheat was beautiful.

Someday I'd like to hike a lot more of the crest. The Schell Creek Range is 142 miles long. I don't think I need to hike all that, but a few more miles would be beautiful.

Can you spot the people? We didn't see anyone else on our entire hike. The register from mid-July had seven people signed in. Nevertheless, North Schell Peak is a popular peak with those wanting to hike peaks with greater than 5,000 feet prominence. (Here's a list of ultra-prominent peaks in the lower 48).

It was blustery on our way down.


Although the landscape views are superb, I like taking in the little details, too, like the little wasp. It had a variety of flowers to visit.

Some of the quartzite rocks had interesting patterns in them.

And here's a pretty butterfly.

The scenery was absolutely spectacular. Have I mentioned that already? I know that I certainly never pictured Nevada looking like some of it does. The Basin and Range topography makes for a huge diversity of habitats.

Before long we reached a huge aspen grove, with most of the aspens bent due to winter snows.

It took us four hours to get up and about 2.5 hours to get down, with a round-trip total of close to six miles. It could certainly be done faster if you didn't need to take as many snack breaks!

Before we left the canyon, we had to stop at the playground. Yes, Timber Creek campground has a playground!

I hope to get back to the Schell Creek Range to do some more hiking. It is gorgeous and uncrowded.

White Pine Public Museum, Ely, Nevada

One of our favorite places to stop at when we go to Ely, Nevada is the White Pine Public Museum. The museum front isn't very large and there's no parking lot, so it's easy to miss, but it's right on main street at 2000 Aultman Ave., so you don't even have to go out of your way. One of the things we like best about it is that every time we see something different. There are so many details that you can't absorb them all in just one visit, especially if you have fast-moving kids with you. 

When we had family visit in July, it was the perfect time to stop in. 

The museum advertises its Cave Bear. And it is spectacular.

Two bear skeletons were found in a local cave, which sure shows that the fauna in the area was quite a bit different! The giant short-faced bear  (Arctodus simus) was quite a bit larger than today's grizzly bears. The museum shows a model of one of the cave bears. 

 Near the cave bear was one of the kids' favorite exhibits, an interactive paleontology table where they could uncover part of an ichthyosaur, Nevada's state fossil.

This little guy really liked the video of explosions at the mine.

And Desert Girl pointed to an animal case and said, "I know crows."

Then it was time to head outside to the one-room school house from Baker, Nevada.

The kids thought it was great fun to pretend they were in school. Well, for about five minutes.

We checked out the Cherry Creek depot, the old caboose, and this massive mining car.

Some of the exhibits aren't too impressive, like these old, rusty wheelbarrows. You can never have too many, right? (I think the museum has seven.) I guess it's hard to turn down donations.


Outside by the beautiful mural, the kids spent some time in jail.

The museum doesn't have the most up-to-date, techno gadgety exhibits, but it is a lot of fun. Entrance is by donation and hours are variable (but it's usually open in the middle of the day on weekends and some weekdays). You can learn more at the White Pine Public Museum website.