Climbing Crystal Peak in Millard County, Utah --with Kids!

 We concluded our Volcano Weekend (Sunstone Knoll, Pahvant Butte) with a trip to Crystal Peak. In the late afternoon when the sun is out, the mountain sparkles, looking so impressive rising from western Millard County, south of Highway 6 & 50.

 The peak is remote, but since it was Easter weekend, we were expecting to share it with others. To our surprise, no one was parked at the camping areas near the road that goes by the peak.

Our goal was to climb the peak. Many years ago, my husband and I climbed it via the north face (photo above), and it was a terrifying climb. I tried another time in 2009. We knew the best way was to circle around to the south side and approach up the southwest side. Because Desert Girl had done so much hiking the previous day and my husband wants to get in shape for our Mt. Rainier trip in September, she got a free ride in the backpack.

Crystal Peak is made of Tunnel Springs Tuff, a volcanic rock that has a high quartz content in it. The rock is very white, and our eyes adjusted to the stark scenery. But then we saws burst of color.

Are you ready for it?

The Indian paintbrush was spectacular!

Our dog Henry was with us for the hike, and he followed my husband and Desert Girl on the rock, while Desert Boy and I followed the wash.

Suddenly, as I was walking along, I heard a rattle. I stopped immediately and found a rattlesnake a few feet away. I backed up, got my camera out, and took some photos. Desert Boy, who had a great opportunity to hang out with a friend herpetologist a week or so ago to go find rattlesnakes, sternly told me not to get any closer to it, not even for a photo. Smart boy.

We found our way around it and then started seeing more fossils in the Kanosh shale, a highly fossiliferous layer that is also present at nearby Fossil Mountain. I believe the fossil below is a cephalopod.

Soon we reached the ridge where the Tunnel Springs tuff met the Kanosh shale. This meant it was time for the serious climbing. But first I had to admire some of the openings in the tuff, called tafoni. Sometime when we have time to just play around, we could have a lot of fun photo opportunities!

The views were just lovely, with nary a sign of civilization. Crystal Peak is quite remote! (Oh, did I mention that already!?) We did see two vehicles the whole time we were out there, so it was actually a high traffic day.

Unfortunately our climb wasn't all peaceful and serene. Desert Girl wasn't feeling her best and complained loudly. It didn't help that the way we thought was the easiest wasn't and we had to do some backtracking down sections when it got too steep for us. This is not an easy mountain to climb.

We eventually reached a section that was too steep for Desert Girl, so she stayed with Dad and took a much-needed nap while Desert Boy and I scampered to the top. Desert Boy was so pleased that he had made it! Behind him, about 40 miles away, we could see the snow-covered peaks of the southern Snake Range, including Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park.


To the northwest we saw various knolls and roads across the Ferguson Desert. It wasn't so long ago (at least geologically speaking) that this was all covered with the waters of the massive Lake Bonneville.

On the way back down we found an easier way to the summit and also an easier way down to the Kanosh shale hillside. Some cairns mark the way, but they aren't always easy to spot. This Google Earth image shows the way we recommend to go up (and how we came down). It was about 1.25 miles one-way.

 We probably won't be making a yearly pilgrimage to Crystal Peak, but we'll be back!

For even more information about Crystal Peak and the surrounding area, check out my book Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area!

Climbing Pahvant Butte, the Volcano South of Delta, Utah--with Kids!

 Continuing on our Volcano-themed Weekend, after we finished with Sunstone Knoll and Clear Lake, we headed toward the big volcano. That's when I realized I didn't have much of a plan for what would happen next. I had read that the volcano was hikeable, but I didn't know where to start. So we headed down the marked road and eventually saw a track up the Lake Bonneville shoreline. We headed towards that track, but when we got to it, it was too steep for the truck. However, there was another track that entered the canyon.

What an adventure! The track twisted and turned up the narrow ravine, and the cinders were like driving in deep sand. I knew if I stopped, we'd be stuck, so I kept my foot on the gas and we kept going. Fortunately no one was coming the other direction. Then we popped up into the middle of the volcanic crater. (The white line in the image below is the driving line, the red line is the hiking route.)

The inside of the crater surprised me. I was expecting to see lots of black lava, but instead we saw lots of orangish rock. This orangish rock is a tuff, a combination of basaltic lava the size of sand and gravel.

One of the things that is so cool about this volcano is that it started erupting underwater about 15,500 years ago, when the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville covered the area. As the volcano erupted, it grew taller, eventually emerging from the lake. The parts of the volcano that were under the lake still have the black lava, and the lake interactions made a cool formation on the northwest side called the Lace Curtains (which we didn't have time to see this trip). For more about the geology, check out this Utah Geological Survey page.

We got our gear and started our hiking trip. Our basic plan was to walk around the top of the volcano. It didn't look too bad from the bottom, but as we started up the steep slope to the south summit, I started having doubts of how far we could go.

We could see the pillars up on the south summit, remnants of a 1923 windmill project. Some say that it was a scam, as it was never finished and the project was rather odd, with no power lines in the area. Others say it was an early renewable energy project, which put Millard County ahead of the times. Overall, there doesn't seem to be much documentation about it. The old structures make for a rather odd  but intriguing sight.

They also make for a well-visited site. We found 8 OHVs on the top of the south summit. They had taken a road up the east side.

After a long snack break, we continued towards the main summit, following an easy ridge. We took a little detour to find a geocache.

Indian paintbrush,  phlox, and more were blooming, adding some extra color to the hike. I was delighted to see the hummingbird moth near the cryptantha.

As we got higher, we faced some interesting obstacles, where the volcano rim had weathered away, leaving steep cliffs. We had to do some backtracking to find a way, but we eventually did. Here and there you can find a bit of a social trail, but overall this volcano is pretty wild and untracked.

We kept seeing different groups of OHVs arrive at the south summit (lots of people were camped in the area for the holiday weekend), but no one else was hiking. The kids were doing an excellent job. It probably helped that I told them that the reward for not whining was going to the Delta swimming pool later that afternoon.

Soon we saw the triangular metal structure at the summit get larger and larger. We were almost there! The summit is at 5,751 feet.

A rock wren greeted us. We took a long time trying to find a geocache without success.

The views were outstanding, looking out at the Sevier Desert. I was a bit surprised when I saw there was no road directly to Delta. I think the old lakebed will bog down vehicles, and it looks like the Sevier River still flows through that area. We had a good view of Clear Lake to the southwest and the Pahvant Range and Tushar Mountains to the east.

Desert Girl hiked the whole way by herself. (She knew she had to, which is a big motivator.)

After rehydrating and eating and enjoying the view, we started heading around the rim. I was a little more nervous about this part, because I wasn't sure if we'd reach some difficult obstacles. We had one part that was a little steeper than I like, but the kids are good rock climbers and managed fine. We found that it was a lot easier to descend, especially when we reached a section with cinders that made going down feel like running down a sand dune.

I estimate we hiked about 2.5 miles, taking about three hours. It was really cool to be on the top of a volcano, and now every time we go to Delta, we will have a special appreciation of that volcano to the south. And the kids got to go swimming, which was the best part of the trip for them.

Pahvant Butte from Highway 6 & 50 west of Delta.

South Fork Indian Canyon Pictographs

 So on our awesome trip to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, it was getting a little loud one afternoon with ATV traffic, so we decided to go on a little adventure. Plus I'm not very good at sitting still for long. And I had done a little research beforehand, and found out that there were some nearby pictographs, and that sounded cool.

I loaded up the kids, and we drove about 10 miles on the highway, then turned off on a 4WD road that was very sandy. The park ranger at the dunes had circled the spot on the map where most people get stuck and told me to just 'gun it' through that area, so that's what we did. It's right before the Sand Springs area (which is super cool and will be the subject of the next post). We were basically driving on the northeast side of the sand dunes, and it was very remote compared to the other side.

Eventually we got to the sign pictured above, and the lone tracks that had preceded continued on straight, while we made the turn onto a road that hadn't been traveled for awhile. The ranger had warned that the road was a "Utah striper," meaning that the shrubs were close enough they scratched your vehicle. Fortunately our 4WD truck isn't too pretty and already has lots of scratches, so it was okay. At the end of a fun 2-mile long road with lots of twists and turns and banked curves, we reached this sign:

 It said the hike was 1.5 miles round trip. Perfect, my kids can do that. But then I read the next line: elevation change: 1700 feet. What? 1700 feet is like a mountain. I knew the kids could go down, but I wasn't so sure about up, especially Desert Girl. But we were there, and we couldn't just leave without giving it a try, so we packed lots of snacks and water and I packed the Beco carrier for Desert Girl, just in case I would have to carry her. Then I tried not to think too far ahead and just live in the moment.

The hike started out with just a gentle downhill. I had kept looking for the canyon as we drove, as I'm used to living in the Basin and Range, where you drive to a mountain range to enter a canyon. Out in southern Utah, you start out on the mesa and the canyons drop away from the land.

Before long the trail got steeper. It even had switchbacks, which the kids love.

I saw several flowers and had to photograph them. This purple one is probably an Arabis in the Mustard Family.

As we continued, we walked over more and more Navajo sandstone.

The kids couldn't resist doing some extra climbing.

Then we got to the part of the trail that my husband would have hated: on the side of a cliff with a long fall and nothing but a flimsy fence to keep you from pitching over.

 It didn't seem too bad to us.

We found some cool places along the trail.

And if Desert Boy does it, Desert Girl has to also.

A game of hide-n-seek developed.

 And then, suddenly, we were there. We weren't at the bottom of the box canyon, we were part way up the canyon wall, next to maple trees, and then suddenly an alcove appeared with a fence and boardwalk and sign.

The kids spent less than a minute looking at the pictographs and then promptly found some nice sand to play in.

I took my time taking photographs (so at least they'll see what they ignored some day!).

There was a sign saying that there had been some recent vandalism, and I had read earlier that there had been some older vandalism, so I wasn't entirely sure of what I was looking at. This pictograph looked authentic, though, like one the Basketmaker people would have painted 2,000 years ago (wow, that's old!).

As I looked closer, the newer vandalism, done in pencil, became very obvious, and the way it was done, I was guessing ignorant teenage boys who think adding body parts to figures is funny. Stupid.

Then it was time to head back up. It sure didn't seem like we had come down 1700 feet. In fact, we had only hiked half an hour from the trailhead to the pictographs. On the way up we took rest breaks whenever the kids wanted, and they found some different holes to climb in.

 Bubblegum was a special treat for the trip, and we got a lot of mileage out of it!

Desert Girl also started singing, and once she starts, she doesn't stop!

It took us 40 minutes to hike back up at a relaxed place, and it turned out the elevation change for the hike was only 170 feet. Somehow an extra 0 got added to the sign.

The hike was lots of fun, and the pictographs were a great bonus. The last people to sign into the trail log had been there two days previous, so we had it all to ourselves. It was really peaceful and a perfect afternoon outing in the spring.

A Sunday Ramble in the Burbank Hills

 A recent Sunday took us to a random road in the Burbank Hills, a set of hills that "only" gains about 2,700 feet elevation, topping out about 7,700 feet. Out here, that means the moniker of hills rather than mountains. (As a comparison, the tallest peak east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. is Harney Peak in South Dakota, at 7.242 feet.)

We drove until the road (a barely discernible two track, but one that had been already traveled this year) ended. Then we got out and hiked. The kids weren't super thrilled, but we promised them great views.

 When we reached the top of a ridge, we sure did get great views.

 The Burbank Hills aren't really known for any main attraction. They consist of limestones and dolomites, so the rain that falls on them seeps in and there aren't any streams or even any springs. In recent years, a number of roads have been designated as ATV trails (map here). With 98 miles of trails, it's a considerable network, but due to the remoteness and lack of a charismatic attraction, it is seldom visited.

It's nice to have places like that, where the plants and animals can be the dominant creatures. I was quite excited to see this early bloomer:

 Spiny phlox, Phlox hoodii

Then Desert Boy and I started finding some hints that these flowers hadn't been around all that long (at least geologically speaking).

 We found some fossils.

 The fossils were small, but good reminders that this area used to be part of a shallow sea.

 Desert Girl started enjoying the hike more and more. That's fairly common--we may have crabby kids at the beginning of a hike, but once something catches their attention, they forget about their previous attitude.

Then we reached something that made both kids very happy.

 A patch of snow!

 Our dog Henry really liked it too.

 Eating some snow made the kids so happy that even when Desert Boy fell and sprawled across some sagebrush, he smiled.

 The hillside had a number of stumps, and we found some burn signs on some of them. At one point a forest fire must have burned this section of Burbank Hills, but today, unless you know what to look for, you wouldn't know it.

We took a different way back to the truck and I was happy to find a mini-cave. No one wanted to pose for a photo except me. I guess it was time to go! There are still so many other places to explore in this one little mountain range. Hopefully we'll get back before too long.