Hendry's Creek Pronghorn Trap

After we looked at the burned area in Hampton Creek, we drove across the bench to Henry's Creek.  We didn't have a specific destination, and while my husband and I were talking, the subject of the Henry's Creek pronghorn trap came up. I had found some information about it for my guidebook of the area, but never had had the chance to investigate it.

According to pioneers, the Shoshone Indians built a V-shaped trap between a couple ridges and would herd pronghorn into it. About fifty Indians were needed to make this work, and they would smoke themselves with sagebrush to hide their scent.

We decided to hike over to the trap, as my husband knew where it was. I looked it up on Google Earth later so I could see it better. I outlined the trap with the red line below--look just inside it and you might be able to see the rock wall.

The boulders were still in place, but the willow branches my husband remembered seeing in his youth were no longer there.

The bottom didn't look much like a V to me, more like a U. I'm guessing the boulders used to be higher, or at least the branches, because they aren't very high walls now.

 

It was pretty cool seeing this remnant of a different culture out on the landscape.

Death Valley's 2016 SuperBloom

 Last weekend, while jogging with my husband, an idea came to me: Why not go to Death Valley today? I had been seeing multiple posts about the fantastic wildflowers, products of October flooding. One friend who works in Death Valley said it's the best she's seen since she's been there, which is about fifteen years. I didn't have anything too pressing at work, it was only about six hours away, and I had the energy and desire. So I asked my husband if he would mind if I went. He said fine, and thanks to friends Nomi and Jenny, the kids were taken care of after school.

I had packed quickly and meant to leave early afternoon Sunday, but was having so much fun with friends on a bike ride that I didn't leave until 4:30 p.m. That worked out fine, I saw a beautiful moonrise near Ely, listed to a great audiobook, Duplicity, and before I knew it was in Beatty, Nevada. I decided to go a little further so I could get to the flowers even faster the next morning.

That turned out to be a great decision. The upper elevations didn't have many flowers, but were beautiful (see photo above). But as I descended along the Beatty cut-off road, there was a cacophony of flowers.

Because I had a very loose itinerary, I just stopped where ever I wanted, climbed various hills, and snapped lots of photos. I bent low and smelled the flowers--delicious! Although the yellow Desert Gold (Gereae canescens) flowers dominated, there were many others, at least 12 species along this road.

I wasn't the only one stopping. It seemed when one vehicle pulled over, others would stop too. It reminded me of the "bear jams" we used to see in Yellowstone. I was now experiencing "flower jams." Fortunately, the shoulders of Death Valley roads are graded so it's very easy to pull all the way off the road. The mountains in the background are hazy because it was extremely windy, blowing the sand from the dunes near Stovepipe Wells down the valley.

I stopped at Furnace Creek for a while, including a $16.95 hamburger at the cafe that was totally worth it, one of the best I've ever eaten. Then I headed further south, where the report was that the flowers were excellent. When I got to Badwater, the lowest spot in Northern America at -292 feet elevation, I didn't expect to see any flowers. But on the edge of the road, overlooking the salt flat, flowers bloomed, creating an amazing juxtaposition.

I took some time to look at some of them in more detail, like this Gravel Ghost (Atrichoseris platyphylla), which seems to float in air above the gravel due to the camouflaged nature of its stem.

And these purple flowers made beautiful patterns.

The Desert Gold made fields of gold.

Some of these fields extended over entire alluvial fans. Which, when you think about it, is so remarkable. There is practically no soil on these alluvial fans. These flowers are growing out of the gravel. And in just a few weeks (or less, depending on weather conditions), the alluvial fans will be back to their normal grey and brown colors.

I tried to find a different way to get a photo. After all, how many fields of flowers did I need to take? (I did take over a thousand photos on this two-day trip!) The afternoon light was just stunning.

I kept heading south, in a race against the setting sun. The dark colored mountains contrasted with the yellow flowers. I started thinking of them as "hairy hillsides."

The road kept going and going. By now, most people had turned around, as the flash floods had closed the highway ahead. But I decided to go ahead and take the load less traveled. (Relatively speaking. There are some really less traveled roads in the Death Valley area!)

I arrived at Ashford Mill Site, where I tried to get some shots of the rising moon (not so successful) and of the moonlit ruins and flowers under Orion and Canis Major (a little better).


This looked like a great place to be in the morning, and when two SUVs full of photographers joined me the next morning, I knew I was right. A few clouds provided a very nice sunrise.

The full moon was setting as the first light hit the tops of Telescope Peak and the other mountains. It was dreamy.

And then there was a little reality check. A Stealth bomber flew overhead with an accompanying jet. They made a few laps up and down the valley.

Fortunately I found I could easily be distracted by the flowers. Here are a few (sorry, I don't know the names of them all! I wish I did):

pretty white flower in the Sunflower family

 Desert Five Spot (Erimalche rotundifolia)

Cute little composite

Cryptantha (Borage Family)

The afternoon and morning light are definitely the best for photography. After my second morning photographing flowers, I went for a bike ride, hike in a canyon, and a swim at Furnace Creek ($5 to get a pool pass for the day!). Then it was time to head home. The trip was quick, but totally refreshed me. Seeing the beautiful flowers growing in such a desolate place revealed more of the beauties of our planet and made me feel so alive.

If you'd like to know more, the DesertUSA has a Death Valley Wildflower Report has more info on what's blooming now.

Joshua Tree National Park with Kids

The kids and I recently visited Joshua Tree National Park. We had a whole day to explore, and we started at the Oasis Visitor Center.

The kids picked up Junior Ranger booklets and Desert Boy immediately started working on his.

When we left the visitor center, we were standing around, probably looking a little clueless, when David Larson from the Joshua Tree Natural History Association came outside. He asked the kids if they liked owls and proceeded to tell us about a barn owl that liked to perch in a certain tree. We walked over and found owl pellets underneath. The kids were fascinated. He also showed us a cactus wren and a mockingbird, and the kids were suddenly much more interested in spotting wildlife.

We drove further into the park and I had the kids get out and smell the creosote bushes. They weren't too sure about that, but they realized that we don't have them in the Great Basin desert.

One of the things I didn't realize about Joshua Tree is that the transition zone from the Mojave Desert to the Sonoran (Colorado) Desert is located there. I found it fascinating to watch the plant communities change as we headed south and lower in elevation. We stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden for the quarter-mile hike. The kids didn't want to hike, but they decided they could manage a quarter mile. It was one of the coolest quarter-mile hikes I've ever done, the cacti are amazing.


I couldn't help pretend that I was hugging a teddy bear cholla cactus. I made sure not to touch it, as it has microscopic spines that can be annoying for days.

 

I saw on the park map that the Ocotillo Patch was a little farther down the road, so we continued on. The ocotillo at the Ocotillo Patch pulloff were looking a little sickly, so I stopped next to a nicer looking one for photos.

A closeup look at them is worth it--these are strange plants!

Then we turned around and headed to the Jumbo Rocks campground area. My research on the park said this was a great area for kids to just play around, and as the kids didn't want to hike, I told them we could just go play on the rocks. They were all for it. We were surprised by how big the campground was--and how cool it was. It would be really fun to stay there.

Desert Girl thought she was the Queen of the World (and sang a song to that effect).

From there we headed towards Hidden Valley for lunch. Along the way I pulled over to enjoy these beautiful Joshua trees.

These Joshua trees are a subspecies known for being taller and with fewer branches than those found in Mojave National Preserve. This one sure let us know that it had read the book.

After a picnic lunch at Hidden Valley, it was time to play on the rocks again.

We found some narrow corridors.

And even some boulder caves, which was appropriate because the reason we were here was the NSS Western Regional meeting (a gathering of cavers). The kids decided to crawl through a tight hole. I didn't follow. That monzogranite was rough!

We then leisurely went to the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, where ranger Bret swore the kids in as junior rangers. I was so impressed with him and David Larson at the other visitor center that I wrote a letter to the park superintendent. He responded that he loved getting letters. He said he wanted to know about the things that weren't going so well in the park, too, because it was his responsibility was to make the park the best place it could be. I was also impressed with this response.

The kids posed outside with their completed books and new badges and hats.

 

We did a few other activities, changed our clothes to go to church, and then had time to visit one other part of the park, Indian Cove. Can you say rocks? They were everywhere!! I was stunned. The huge campground was also completely full.

The secret is out, Joshua Tree is a really cool place to visit. Just don't go in summer and be prepared for long drives.

Flash Flood Followup

 We drove past the site of the flash flood a few days later, and this is what we found: a puddle. No flowing water, and unless you are paying attention, you could easily miss that water had been running across the road and desert.

The ground still looked damp on the uphill side, but there weren't any puddles.

I scrambled down to take a look at the culvert. The four-foot diameter culvert was pretty much dry. It wasn't quite big enough for a few hours, but for the other 8760 hours of the year, it looks mostly like this.

Fortunately there was no damage to the road, so life in the desert continues with only a few realizing this sudden event even occurred.