Happy Winter Solstice! And a Hike in the Burbank Hills

 Last Sunday morning we decided to take a hike. We couldn't go too far or too long because we had to get back in time for church, but we knew we wanted to get out and celebrate nature.

The weather was cooperating, cool, but not cold or warm. And the recent dusting of snow on the higher mountains made them look so big.


Before long our truck looked tiny. You can see snow-covered Wheeler Peak and Jeff Davis Peak in the background.


We went up a small canyon we had never been in before. We all agreed (well at least the kids and I did) that we should take ropes next time!


Holes pocked the rock faces, and we walked the base of the cliffs looking for caves.

Of course we had to take some snack breaks.

And check out some holes.

I also had fun trying out a new lens, a 100mm macro. In the shade, frost clung to the leaf margins.

The backlit rock spirea was gorgeous.

We weren't content to stay in our little canyon, so we found a way to scramble to the top (the dog had the hardest time). We then had a nice view of Garrison, Utah.

Going a little higher, we reached this view.

Time was running short, so we had to find a way down. We cliffed out one way so had to backtrack and find another way.

It was a fabulous hike, even if the kids got a little crabby at the end. My husband and I really like checking out places that don't have trails and test our scrambling abilities. It's even better when they're just a short drive away!

p.s. The winter light was fantastic for photography. Shadows will be at their longest today, winter solstice. Happy shortest day of the year!

2014 Get-Out-And-Camp Challenge Recap

 Did you take Desert Survivor's Get-Out-And-Camp Challenge? To refresh your memory, the challenge was to set a goal of a number of nights camping out in 2014 and then try to meet them. If you did take the challenge, how did you do?

Our goal was 12 nights of camping.

How did we do?

I'll tell you in a moment, but first some of the camping highlights.

Over spring break we camped at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southwest Utah. We had a dusting of snow surprise us, but that also provided some excellent opportunities to slide down the dunes.

It was nice to have warmer camping as we entered summer. We didn't have to go far to have fun. We had a super time camping in the yard with visiting cousins.


Desert Girl said her favorite camping trip was with cousins up Snake Creek. She loved spending time with her cousin Lola, below, who she doesn't see often.


One of the things I liked best about camping this year was taking photos of the marvelous night sky. The Milky Way leaped out on long exposures.


Another great part of camping was getting out to places as a family that we otherwise wouldn't have visited. One such place was the Schell Creek Range, an amazing place that most people would never associate with Nevada.


Next year we might even try for a backpacking trip. I imagine Desert Girl will still be dressed stylishly.

 Probably the most dramatic camping spot my husband and I visited all year was on Ingraham Flats on Mount Rainier, where we slept on a glacier.

The view was even better from above, where we could see the huge crevasses opening up below the tents.

Some of our camping had fun amenities, like a fussball table. For kids, those extras can make all the difference!


So how did we do for the challenge?
Desert Boy and Desert Girl camped out 11 nights, I camped out 16 nights, and my husband camped out 4 nights. So we didn't all quite meet our goal of 12, but we sure had a good time getting closer to nature.

We're planning in 2015 to do the Get-Out-And-Camp Challenge again. Maybe you'll join us?

Getting Ready for Christmas

 We've been counting down on our Advent calendar and lighting candles on our Advent wreath (Desert Boy especially likes it this year because we let him light the candles). We've also had a visit to Santa, where Desert Boy told him he wanted "something good to happen to him."

What did Desert Girl want?

 She didn't say.

While we were in town we checked out Ely's huge Christmas tree, along with a visit to the Art Bank to see the ever-changing array of art for sale and on display.

Last weekend it was time for us to get our own Christmas tree. We got a $4 BLM permit and went up the mountain in search of the perfect tree. Except we were looking in an area without many white firs, the kind of tree we wanted this year. That just meant a little extra hiking on a very nice day.

We eventually found the tree. It was a little big. We didn't let that stop us.

We had to cut down the tree twice so that we could actually fit it into the back of the truck.

The kids did a great job decorating it. (Can you spot any of our solar system ornaments?) Most of the ornaments are on the lower part of the tree, but we managed to get a few higher up.

Last night we enjoyed a Christmas banquet with delicious food and outstanding music. And the amazing sunset is a prelude to a winter storm expected to arrive later today and bring snow. So it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Solar System Ornaments

 I've been thinking about the solar system lately, so when a friend posted a photo of Solar System Christmas ornaments on her Facebook page, I was intrigued. That would be so cool to have the planets on our Christmas tree! The only problem was that the blown glass ornaments cost $375. Ouch.

But how hard could it be to make our own? Christmas ornaments are usually in the same shape as planets, so all we would have to do is apply some paint. We found an assortment of ornaments, and although they aren't quite the right size, Jupiter is the largest and Mercury the smallest. (Sorry, Pluto, you got left out this time.)

 We found washable poster paint worked really well. Simple paper plates and paper towels helped with keeping things tidy.

We found an illustration of the planets and used that as our guide for how to paint them. having the hangar at the top of the ornament was a great help in keeping a little cleaner.

We let the planets dry on paper plates and applied some rings to Saturn (a stretch bracelet and hair band.)

Then we were all set: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Now we'll get to enjoy the planets both inside and outside our house! We may even try to line up the planets in order on the Christmas tree.

What's your favorite Christmas ornament?

Antelope Springs Cave and More

 It's been a number of years since I've been to Antelope Springs Cave, and I hadn't seen the whole cave the first time. The circumstances turned out right to go again, largely to a caver friend coming for a visit. We gathered three adults and two kids and got the permit and key to the gated cave and headed out on a sunny day (back in October--I'm a little behind on posting!).

 There's a small shelter cave just below the real cave entrance that provides very nice views.

Then we reached the main entrance, with a bat-friendly gate. The entrance drop is about twenty feet. The boys decided they wanted to be lowered into the cave rather than rappelling in.

The adults all rappelled into the chamber, which opened up.

We soon faced choices. Down a little hole in the floor, or down a slope that turned into a climb? We had a map from the BLM, but it was at a small scale so hard to decipher. I knew one passage I particularly wanted to visit, so we headed that way. A lot of Antelope Springs Cave consists of a tube with domes and floors that suddenly drop off.

We found some wonderful colors in the rock and formation.

We also found a lot of tight spots. We had to try some. Here's Desert Boy going through one. A couple adults went through this little hole too. The cave is warm, but when you're belly crawling, it feels even warmer.

There's not a lot of graffiti in the cave, but some. We explained cave conservation to the boys and how it is really bad form (not to mention illegal) to spray paint or write on the walls. We also explained how the arrows usually show the way out of the cave. However, sometimes the people don't know the way out, like shown below.

We spent a fun few hours looking around. This is a challenging cave, with lots of climbing, steep dropp offs, and slippery slopes. At one point I even made a webbing harness and we belayed the boys with another piece of webbing. Eventually we decided it was time to go, particularly when we got to a very slippery spot with a long, steep slope. I wanted to have the boys tied in for that, but we didn't have enough extra webbing or rope with us. So we played it safe and headed back. There are a lot of potentially dangerous places in this cave where it would be easy to break a leg, so we went slow. And as you can see from the photos, we all had helmets, multiple lights, gloves, knee pads, and some even had elbow pads.

To get the boys out we used a traveling haul system. This is a haul system that moves with the patient, and although it's not as quick as a haul from the top, it could be useful in some situations. Plus it's good to practice those rescue skills regularly! For the first boy, we had the boy push up the upper ascender (a Pantin). He could only move it up about a foot at a time, so we had a lot of resets. For Desert Boy, we put a webbing leash on the Pantin that could be pulled from the top, and that worked really well. The only extra gear used besides the regular Frog system were two pulleys and a piece of webbing.

Although Desert Boy enjoyed his free ride up, we'll be doing some vertical training soon to get him ready for the climbing contests at the 2016 NSS Convention in Ely, Nevada.

The light of day is always a welcome sight after a satisfying cave trip.

After we refueled, we went to the public land near U-Dig Fossils and spent some time looking for trilobites. We didn't find many, but we did see a few, including very small ones.

Breaking rocks was a lot of fun.

Another stop on the way back was Hermit's Cave in Marjum Canyon.

We found some supplies there for the Apocalypse. The mice had found them too, unfortunately.

We also noticed some climbing bolts in the area--something we may have to return and try out.

One of our group got a flat tire, so we had to go slow. That let us get some spectacular views of Notch Peak, the highest limestone cliff in North America.

During the whole day I think we saw only one or two other vehicles. These are remote places!