Everyone Needs Darkness Art Exhibit

There's a super cool art exhibit at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center in Great Basin National Park called "Everyone Needs Darkness." School kids from across the Great Basin were invited to do art for this theme, and the results were quite impressive. I took some time one day to enjoy the exhibit.

Next to the artwork are displays with the artists' names, title, and description. Here we have "Children Need Darkness" by Elle from Layton, Utah and "A Mirror in the Darkness" by Burklie, Sam, and Rylee from EskDale, Utah.

Some exhibits were three-dimensional, like the bottom one in the photo below titled, "Draw Back the City, Let in the Night."

I didn't know what this was at first, but then read the title, "Embraced by the Night." The description is precious: "We wanted to show how important the night is to the world. We made the earth being hugged by the night sky..."

In this textile piece, each student decorated a piece of fabric and they stitched them all together.

There are too many pieces of art to show them all in this post, but here you can see the theater wall covered.

More artwork is shown out in the lobby.

Finally, three more pieces, with descriptions at the bottom. Check out this 3D owl from Eureka, Nevada student Scarlett.

This Great Horned Owl by Henderson, NV student Athena.

And this "Moonlight Dance" by Henderson, NV student Adina.

The show runs through September 8, which happens to be the Astronomy Festival at Great Basin National Park. It's worth a visit!

Night Shoot on the Ranch

 One clear night I couldn't resist getting up and taking some Milky Way photos. And what better models than some farm equipment? I think it looks extra cool at night. What do you think?

I finished by going out into the fields. Each pivot has a bright light on it to show that it's working, so I wasn't sure how that was going to turn out. Plus the moon was rising. Fortunately the effect was pretty cool!

Trip to the "Magic Grove"

 In June I took the Nevada Conservation Corps crew I had been working with on thinning projects plus some Rangercorps interns up Mt. Washington to apply verbenone to limber pine seed trees. Seeds were collected several years ago to test for resistance to white pine blister rust. In case these trees are resistant, we want to keep them safe from mountain pine beetles. When mountain pine beetles enter a tree, they send out a pheromone called verbenone to signify when the tree is full of pine beetles. So if we apply a synthetic verbenone, then the beetles are fooled and go to other trees.

The first obstacle getting up Mt. Washington is a very steep and curvy road. We also came across a log down, but fortunately the NCC crew had a saw and was able to take care of that.

The views are marvelous! This is looking into Spring Valley and the Schell Creek Range.

We summited Mt. Washington and then went down the other side.

It's kind of steep. Steep enough there are very few plants.

But there were a few of these gorgeous Nevada primrose (Primula nevadensis).

Then we got down to the "Magic Grove" of bristlecones. These tortured trees live with extreme winds, few nutrients, and a short growing season. Despite that adversity, or maybe because of it, they manage to live for millennia.

This natural area is delicate and not visited by many. Those who do visit are reminded to be gentle.

We posed by the "Quarter Tree," which is featured on the Great Basin quarter.


There are a lot of other cool trees up there too.

After applying verbenone to the selected trees,


it was time to climb up Mt. Washington from the other side.

This little tree is raising the treeline on the mountain.

You can actually find pieces of old bristlecone wood even higher, indicating that when the climate was warmer, the forest moved up the mountain. Dendrochronologists have taken sections and tagged these pieces of wood to find out exactly when the trees lived. There's lots more info stored on these mountains than might appear at first glance. That's also why campfires above 10,000 feet aren't allowed in the park--these wood fragments are too valuable to be burned up.

And before we left the mountain, I had to get a photo of the highest elevation cave in Nevada--that slit on the mountain. It just goes down to some snow, there's not much to it. But the scenery is spectacular!


And what better way to end a gorgeous day than at Kerouac's, listening to the Front Porch Pickers.

Spring Plants on the Sagebrush Discovery Trail

The Sagebrush Discovery Trail is a connection of two-track roads along ditches on the west side of Baker, Nevada. The Snake Valley Trails Partnership is working to improve the very rocky roads to make them more suitable for biking and walking. Right now you can take a jarring mountain bike ride or hike over loose rocks, but hopefully someday in the not-too-distant future you'll be able to push a stroller or have a kid ride a bike or an elderly person stroll along and not worry about tripping. On the map above, the purple line is the Sagebrush Discovery Trail, divided into several sections.

I often do trail runs on this trail, and if I have my phone with me, I stop and take photos of interesting sights. Since it's spring/early summer, one of those main things is flowers!

In March, I saw my first flower. For this and all the following identifications, I did my best, but am not 100% sure I'm right. If you know your plants and see a mistake, please let me know so I can learn!

It's not very large or colorful, but it is a flower! This little bit of joy is Ibapah spring parsley (Cymopterus longipes var. ibapensis). 

Something similar, but with a little longer and flatter leaves is wide-winged spring parsley (Cymopterus purpurascens), which is a frequent early plant below 9,100 feet.

It doesn't take long for the Ibapah spring parsley to go to seed, with purple seed pods.

These tiny erigeron pop up in just one place along the trail. They are compact fleabane (Erigeron compactus) and are still blooming a month after I first saw them.

This non-native red-stemmed filaree or common stork's bill (Erodium cicutarium) is much more common. The seed pods look like little swords, and the kids like to pick them and pretend to sword fight. This plant is the geranium family.

Variable Phlox (Phlox longifolia) decorates a few places, but the flowers don't last long.


This tansy mustard (Descurania sp.) goes to seed fast.

I bet you know this one! Good old common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

It is so pretty. And although it's non-native, the leaves are edible.

There are a number of shrubs along the way, including spiny hopsage (Grayia spinosa). The bush gets a beautiful pink glow to it when it's in bloom.

Check out how this spring parsley has pushed so far out of the ground. I've seen it move small rocks as it grows.

Indian paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) is easy to spot. It often grows next to sagebrush.

Mormon tea or green ephedra (Ephedra viridis) is a distinctive-looking bush.

I was so excited to see this flower. I only saw two clusters. This is showy Townsend daisy (Townsendia floriflora).

Willow (Salix exigua) grows along many of the ditches.

Yellow pea (Thermopsis rhombifolia) is easy to spot. And apparently ants like it.

After nearly a week of rain, I went back out on the trail and found a mushroom! Wow, so unexpected.

Also, these beautiful asters (Aster species).

Equisetum or field horsetail (Equisetum arvense) grows right next to the creek. It's such a primitive-looking plant that makes me think of dinosaurs.

The Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides) has little seeds. It's a perennial bunchgrass, and as the name suggests, was used by the Indians.

Woods' rose (Rosa woodsii) is the only native wild rose in the area, so it's easy to identify. And it smells so good! Just watch out for those thorns.

 Morning glory (Convulvulus arvensis) is a non-native plant that drives me crazy in my garden. It apparently also grows when there's less moisture.

The bright orange globemallow (Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia) always makes me smile. We don't have many orange flowers, so this one is easy to identify. It occasionally blooms later in the summer if we get a lot of rain.

Ready to get out and see some of these flowers for yourself? The trail is on the primitive side, but it's beautiful!