Around the Yard

 School is out, which means it's summer time! (Desert Girl keeps asking if it's spring or summer, and I've decided to tell her it's summer.) Desert Boy got a new bike for his birthday with gears and hand brakes, and he's been learning what it can do. Desert Girl got a $6 thrift store bike with new inner tubes and princess decals, but lately she's been asking to go back to her smaller bike, so we may take a step back. (Wearing her fancy dress, in the photo above, doesn't stop her from bike riding. She's a princess who likes to do everything!)

We've been really busy in the garden. I've almost got everything planted. The hardest part for me is getting the irrigation system in and working correctly. Fortunately the first plots in the garden are well on their way, and we've been harvesting lettuce, kale, spinach, and cilantro for weeks.

The kids love to pick peas.

We got some broccoli, but it started bolting, so it wasn't as nice as I was hoping.

The kids are fascinated with the garden and also all the insects of the garden. Desert Girl continually has new insect pets. She leaves them all over the house, so I have to watch out for strange containers. By the way, Desert Girl now has shorter hair because she keeps cutting it. Besides new insect pets, I also find little tufts of blonde hair here and there throughout the house.

We're pretty sure Luna is a rooster now, since he cock-a-doodle-doos in the morning. We had a recent scare when some dogs scared the chickens and they all scattered. We slowly rounded them up, but couldn't find Luna. The four hens were not happy in the coop all by themselves. When we found Luna the next morning, cock-a-doodle-dooing in the garage, they immediately perked up. Luna is missing a few tail feathers, but otherwise seems okay.

We've really enjoyed having chickens so far. Hopefully we will make it to the egg-laying stage!

And that's the news from this neck of the woods desert. Lots of playing in water, using power tools to work on forts, play dates, and lazy afternoons watching the kids play. We're savoring early summer and the good weather. We hope you are too!

Taking Kids Caving

 A few weekends ago we joined two other families for a kids' caving trip. We had five adults and six kids, ages 2 to 8. All of the adults have been in multiple caves before, so we knew what to expect, even though it was a new cave for over half the group. We had helmets and lights for everyone, plus kneepads for most.

As we went into the cave, we kept an eye out for wildlife. We spotted these fox tracks on some flowstone. We saw a lot of fox scat too.

As we got back to the more delicate parts of the cave, we reminded the kids to be very careful what they touched, as one misstep could damage a formation that had taken many thousands of years to form. The kids were great about caving softly. They also loved it when we told them they could lead the way through the mazy section.

Caving with kids is so much fun because they have such a sense of wonderment. It makes us adults slow down and smell the roses cave.

Kids also make caving look really easy, as they don't have to crawl and stoop walk as much as adults.

We spent longer in the cave than we were expecting because we were having so much fun checking it all out. We didn't even get to see the whole thing, so we will have to go back again.

Here's our group of happy kids after the cave trip (plus one dog who patiently waited for us at the top).

If you'd like to learn more about how to cave safely and softly, here's a link to the National Speleological Society techniques page.

Preschool Days

 I see the biggest changes in kids the younger they are, so seeing photos from preschool from year to year are often a bit shocking. Those kids sure develop fast! It's so neat watching them find their likes and dislikes and become little people with distinct personalities.

Here are a few photos from recess this spring.

Kind of makes you want to go and play, doesn't it?

Desert Boy's Birthday Bash

 Desert Boy recently turned seven, and we decided to live it up with a trip to town with friends to go swimming. Before we left, Aunt Tana came over and gave Desert Boy his first lassoing lesson. He's got a little ways to go, but he thinks it's pretty cool.

Then we loaded up and headed to Delta, with the first stop at the playground. The kids immediately migrated towards the water. Wait--the swimming comes later! They didn't get that memo, they were ready to play in water!

We were able to lure them out with some pizza. Before long they were back on the playground equipment. I didn't have to plan any activities for this birthday, the kids took care of entertaining themselves!

I did want to head over to the Great Basin Museum, as my kids love it. It's only a short walk from the playground.

The model train fascinated some of them.

I think Isaac enjoyed the dress up box more!

Everyone was fascinated with the old foot x-ray machine from the shoe store. They didn't quite understand how they could keep seeing the x-ray of a foot even when someone put in their hand. Ha.

I was impressed with the trilobite display. Millard County is a world-class trilobite location, and trilobites that are found in souvenir stores around the country come from here.

Then we went into the rock room, and the volunteer turned off the overhead lights. Then she switched on other lights, and suddenly the grey-looking rocks suddenly looked much different!

Some of the kids weren't that excited to go to a museum. But once they got in it, they didn't stop finding things that caught their attention.

 Old typewriters and telephones were a novelty to them.

Then it was on to the main attraction: the swimming pool! The West Millard swimming pool is huge, with a kiddie area, main pool, and diving area.

Even the youngest member of our group got in on the action!

A couple of the intrepid went off the high dive.

We brought some floaties, which the kids loved.

Afterwards it was time for more snacks on the patio. What a fun day!

I think everyone slept well that night. Happy birthday, Desert Boy. Thanks for a good excuse to go have some fun with friends!

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!