Hiking in Snow Canyon State Park, Utah

 After our Padre Canyon hike, we spent the night in Snow Canyon State Park in late October during our fall break. The campground is small and often fills quickly, but we were able to get one of the last spots. The state park doesn't allow climbing on the nearby rocks (Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas does allow scrambling on the rocks at the campground, if this is important to you). So we decided on a hike the next day that would allow us to do lots of scrambling. Since we had brought our bikes, we thought it would be fun to make a combo hike-bike trip. I drove the truck with everyone's bikes uphill to where we wanted to end our hike, then biked down to the parking lot where we would start the hike, which was near the campground.

We started on the Hidden Pinyons trail, which has great parts like walking between these rock features.

There was even an optional jump. The kids realized that this wasn't going to be a normal hike. They were happy.

We soon were on the sandstone. Our basic plan was to take the trails north.

Soon we didn't even see the trail markers. But the park isn't big and we figured we couldn't get lost, so we just scrambled where ever we wanted to.

For the kids, that meant vertical trails!

My brother was a good sport. The clouds made hiking really comfortable.

We saw a few other people wandering around, but we had plenty of space to ourselves.

The cross bedding was amazing.

At this point, the kids didn't look that thrilled with the route I chose.

But we got to see some cool Hemiptera (true bugs) mating or something.

We kept going up...

...the views were stupendous, with contrasting red sandstone, white limestone, and black lava.

And finally we reached the top of a sandstone knoll. The kids thought they should celebrate by sticking out their tongues.

Next we descended and tarted the lava tube part of our adventure.

This is what we had the helmets--and lights--for. We met one family with no helmets and just one phone light for all seven of them. There were flip flops in the group. Hopefully they made it out. Unfortunately there's a lot of trash in the lava tubes and more glow sticks than you can imagine. It was sad. The kids really seemed upset about it. Hopefully some scout troops will go help clean up the lava tubes.

When we finished the hike, it was the biking part. It was all downhill, so super fun. I drove down to pick them up and get my bike.

I highly recommend hiking in Snow Canyon State Park, especially during the fall, winter, and spring. In the summer it can get so hot you have to take some special precautions. Here's their website to learn more.

A Quick Trip to the Magic Grove near Mount Washington

 We had some visiting ecologists who were interested in setting up a limber and bristlecone pine monitoring program in Great Basin National Park. Since I do a lot of the high elevation botany/ecology, I went with them on a recon trip to one of the potential sites, up in the Mt. Washington area. I love going up the west side of the park, it is always so remote and beautiful. I took all these photos with my phone.

Jules joined us and brought along the telemetry gear to try and hear the collared bighorn ewe. We didn't hear it from down in Spring Valley, but we did hear it later in the day.

The traditional first stop up the road is the Wheeler Mine, where water comes out of the old mine and we can still see some of the mining structures. I'm not quite sure what this structure was used for.

Then we drove up the tight switchbacks up to near the top of Mt. Washington. We hiked the last 150 meters into the clouds.

Then we went down the other side to the northeast to check out a grove of bristlecones that has been dubbed the Magic Grove. The name isn't on any map, but it's stuck locally.

The moving clouds lent a very different air (double pun intended!) to the grove.

Wildflowers were scarce, but we could see there remains, like this Silene acaulis. In the summer it has brilliant pink flowers.

I found this four-trunked tree interesting.

Recognize this tree? It's on the Great Basin National Park quarter. It's a very cool looking tree from every angle.

The clouds were moving so fast. Thunderstorms were predicted for later in the day, so we knew we couldn't stay too long.

One of the cool things about bristlecones (and there are a lot of cool things!) is that often times the tree roots are above ground. These roots are so old that the ground has eroded out from around them, leaving the roots in air. This is an example where the biology can be used to help date the geology.

The bristlecones had some cones on them, so the life cycle continues. Those bottlebrush needles can live for 40 years!

On the way back down, the clouds lifted enough that we could see the marvelous patch of aspen on the other side of the canyon. A wildfire in 2000 burned part of Lincoln Canyon, making some great bighorn sheep habitat and regenerating a lot of aspen.

 It was a quick trip up and down the mountain, but lots of fun with good conversation about forest ecology and field work. The clouds made everything look so different. The Mt. Washington road requires high clearance  and four wheel drive and is one of the toughest roads around. The super tight switchbacks require three-point turns for longer vehicles.

Hiking the New Serviceberry Trail, Great Basin National Park

The weather forecast was perfect--warm and clear, and Jenny and I hadn't been on the Serviceberry Trail up Snake Creek in Great Basin National Park. We decided it was time! We were joined by some friends to make a big group hike after school one day. It was a warm day, in the 80s.

The trail was just finished last year, although the designer is quick to point out that it's not totally finished, some of the trail needs work to make it more level (a lot of it is sloped and off camber, which can make difficult footing for some, but the trail itself is easy to follow). It's either 3.2 or 3.6 miles long, depending on which sign you believe.

Little Willow was so ready to go hiking!

Hiking with a bunch of kids is lots of fun, as they entertain each other. And it's nice to get some adult talk in, too.

Desert Boy also brought along a book. My little bookworm.

We also brought some walkie-talkies and the kids took turns using them (or fought about if it was their turn).

The kids wanted frequent breaks, and we taught them to stop in the shade. At one stop, Desert Girl pulled out her notebook and started sketching. It totally took me by surprise!

Finally we finished going up the sunny, steep switchbacks and made it to the other side of the ridge. There we found an awesome granite boulder for the kids to climb.

This part of the trail was full of surprises, like this beautiful aspen stand.

Desert Girl took lots of photos. Like over 150! I still haven't downloaded those.

We saw some flowers still blooming, like these lupine.

I really enjoyed the aspen grove and the granite boulders.

The aspens were turning colors and were so beautiful. It was getting late, as we started the hike after school and the sun was now going down behind the mountains.

Some of the kids were getting a little tired (especially Desert Boy), but they kept hiking; they didn't have much other choice.

Desert Girl kept taking photos.

Here's Jenny coming up the trail.

Then we popped back over the ridge and saw some gorgeous aspen colors up towards Pyramid Peak. The buckwheat was another flower still blooming strong.

The trail went further to the west than I expected, allowing for some really nice views of riparian aspen and sagebrush-covered hills. There's mountain mahogany in the foreground and white fir in the background.

More fall colors

I got distracted taking photos and some of the group got ahead of me. Can you see them in the photo below?

Little Lily was getting tired. Jess got extra exercise carrying her almost the whole way.

The last part of the trail went through the riparian area next to Snake Creek.

It was time for a run once we spotted the vehicles!

At the finish, the kids were rewarded with popcorn.

It was a really fun hike, with friends through a variety of habitats. We had been told it was an easy, rolling trail, but I would classify it as moderate. There's more elevation gain than I expected (650+ feet), with some steep switchbacks on one side. It took us about three hours to hike the 3+ miles with kids and lots of stops. Thanks to everyone who came with!