NSS Western Regional at Lava Beds National Monument

Last September I had a chance to visit Lava Beds National Monument, and I loved it so much I wanted to take the kids back. We had the opportunity to do so in early October for the NSS Western Regional, a gathering of cavers. 

Google maps said it's about a 10-hour drive. We went to Fallon the first day, then proceeded via an alternate route the second day. I wanted to see Pyramid Lake, so we did. The lake is surrounded by Shoshone tribal land. We headed up the western side, as Google maps had shown a route that way. I was surprised by the number of anglers along the way. Then we reached the end of the pavement, and a big sign said the road was closed ahead. Uh oh. We were in the van, so I wasn't willing to chance it, so we backtracked. We took a brief stop to touch the lake and admire the cool tufa structures. Then we headed up the east side of the lake. (I guess I was pretty hard-headed about not taking the road more traveled.)

This area is very quiet most of the time. We reached Gerlach about lunch time, and I loved their welcome sign so much that I stopped to take a photo of it. After all, how often are you in the Center of the known Universe?

We ate lunch and found out that about 120 people live in the town year round, but they see about 80,000 visitors around Labor Day week, when the annual Burning Man Festival is held on the nearby Black Rock Desert.

We took more empty roads, crossed into California (without a sign, so it was several miles before we realized it), and passed through some scenic towns. Eventually we arrived at Lava Beds National Monument in time to get our caving pass (to ensure that White-nose Syndrome isn't spread), set up our tent, and register for the regional.

Our first cave was Mushpot Cave, the only lava tube that has lights and a paved trail in it. There are also nice interpretive signs explaining how lava tubes are formed and features in them.


This is the most-visited cave in the park, but we had it all to ourselves. It shows some great lava features. Can you imagine when the lava was flowing through here?


We crossed the road and went into Indian Wells Cave, which used to be a watering hole. We didn't find any water on our visit. But the entrance was gorgeous, and we had fun popping out a different entrance. The kids loved the chance to lead and explore.


We met up with friends and had a lovely evening. The next day we joined a group going to Catacombs Cave. A four-hour trip to do the loop. It involved some route-finding and a lot of crawling, but we made it! Here's one of the kids in the tight connection section.


And a cool root. Most of these lava tubes aren't very far below the surface, so roots aren't too much of a surprise. This one was cool because it had a spider web on it with some condensation.


We ate lunch in the parking lot and then headed to some more caves along the Cave Loop. I wanted to check out some caves that are usually closed due to bats. Here is Ovis Cave.


We ended up coming out a different entrance, wandered across the road, and went into Sunshine Cave.


Then we walked back down the road and checked out Paradise Alley, which runs parallel and slightly higher than Ovis Cave. There's a lookout at one point, with a strong breeze blowing up.


This may have been one of the cave entrances, they sort of blend together after awhile! It is such a fun place to explore, with cave entrances all over. The CCC improved trails in many of the lava tubes in the 1930s, making them relatively easy to walk in.


Some from our group went to the Western Regional business meeting. The kids climbed trees for a bit and then were ready to explore again. I wanted to show them the amazing Skull Cave, one of the few caves left with ice in it. About twelve have lost their ice in recent years.

The entrance is immense.


And then the passage seems even bigger. Can you even see the kids?

We went down steep staircases to get to the lower level.

And then we reached the gate. On the other side we could see the ice.

Although the ice in most of the lava tubes is shrinking, one resource manager told me that the ice in Skull Cave is actually increasing, and they don't know why. 

Next we headed further north, seeing so much more lava! We stopped at pretty much every scenic overlook to see what was there. Below we could see Schonchin Butte in the distance, and the Devil's Homestead Flow right in front of us. We also learned about the Modoc War, which started in 1872, when troops from Fort Klamath tried to force the Modoc from their tribal lands back to the reservation in Oregon. The Modoc hid in the lava. In April 1873 peace talks began, but they did not go well. The Modoc retaliated for the slaughter of 30 members of their tribe and killed two peace commissioners. For the next six months, 1,000 troops and volunteers sought to capture fewer than 60 Modoc warriors and their families. The Modoc were then sent to Oklahoma.

It was rather sad to contemplate that story, with the Modoc being forced off their lands. We found some peace at the West Wildlife Overlook, looking into Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Thousands of birds dotted the water.

It was getting late in the day and the light was gorgeous.

As we came back to Schonchin Butte, we could see the fire tower in silhouette.

That night we had the big banquet, a delicious dinner put on by the Motherlode Grotto. Afterwards we intended to stay for some of the entertainment, but the cold temperatures and busy day had us heading to the tent.

I woke early and went for a lovely walk along the Bunchgrass Trail.

The sun came up and painted everything golden with the sun still in the sky.

Our plan for that day started with a Photography Trip with Dave Bunnell into Valentine Cave. When we arrived, a couple tripods were already set up near the entrance.

The kids offered to be models. But they quickly decided they'd rather be cave exploring!

So as we went through the cave, they posed, but not for long.

It was fun working with other photographers seeing how to place lights. Cave photography is all about the lighting.


But sometimes the best shot is happy kids in a cave!



We found a white springtail, which made me happy.


And then on to a few more photos.


The kids found that it was really fun to make shadow puppets on the lava tube walls.


Love all this walking passage!


They eventually got tired of the cave and we headed out. They weren't too interested in doing other caves, but they thought it would be fun to climb to the fire lookout, less than a mile each way.

The views were great, and we even got to see Mt. Shasta. It's so strange seeing a big volcano rising up covered in snow and ice. (It's barely visible in the photo below.)

We still had a little time before our 2 p.m. departure time, so we went over to Merrill Cave. It used to be an ice cave, and in fact there are photos of people ice skating on the ice. But it's all gone now.

The trail through the cave was very nice. 

The kids had completed their junior ranger booklets, so we went to the visitor center. Ranger Jillian swore them in.

We couldn't resist driving the 1.5-mile long cave loop one more time. And I might not have resisted a quick stop at Blue Grotto Cave. Which just happens to be a fairly long cave. And it was extra memorable when our lights started going out. 

It was a long drive, but Lava Beds was worth it. I would happily return, there is still so much more to see!

Fairview Peak Earthquake Faults, Nevada

 Many times I've crossed Nevada on Highway 50 and east of Fallon seen the sign for "Earthquake Faults Six Miles" and an arrow pointing south. (Find it here on Google maps.) I've always been on a deadline and passed right by. But recently, we had a little extra time to spare, and I decided it was the day to go explore these earthquake faults.

Nevada has a long history of earthquakes. There are so many faults in the state (I'm speaking of the geologic variety here). The whole Basin and Range geologic province depends on faults for its interesting topography.

On December 16, 1954, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocked the Great Basin. It's epicenter was near Fairview Peak, east of Fallon. Two other large earthquakes had already occurred earlier in the year, and another one followed a few minutes later a bit to the north. The result was more than a 20-foot rise in mountains in some places! Very few people live in this area, otherwise it would surely have made big news. The earthquake was felt as far west as Sacramento, with plaster falling in the capitol building in Carson City, Nevada. Pictures rattled and chimneys cracked in Fallon, Eureka, and Austin, Nevada. Waterlines broke in Lovelock and Gabbs. But overall, there was not much damage for the size of these earthquakes.

We were in the van, which has very low clearance, but the sign said that we should make it. So we puttered off, enjoying our audiobook (We Are Legion: We Are Bob--fun listen, we recommend it). We followed the signs up a spur road, and it eventually got so steep we couldn't go any further. We were almost to the parking lot, and no one else was in the area, so we got out and hiked up to the displacement. It was really obvious, even 60+ years later!

There was a little trail going up, so we followed it. (You can see how close we got the van to the parking area--almost!)

Don't fall off! Oh my, it must have been something to have been in the area. You can see a great photo of a new cliff next to a cabin on the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology blog. It also mentions some of the stories about the earthquakes.

The Online Nevada Encyclopedia website mentions that the earthquakes opened up large cracks in roadways, allowed huge boulders to tumble onto roads, and substantially affected farmers' irrigation wells. It also mentions that although the 1906 San Francisco earthquake had just three feet of displacement, these earthquakes caused up to 20 feet of displacement, and the fault scarps were 54 miles long.

Another good account of a road trip is on this virtual trip. A fun story is on the Looking for Detachment blog.

If you're into the geology behind it all, check out this 1996 article in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

It doesn't take too long to walk along the earthquake scarp, so before long we were headed back to the van. I loved the golden rabbitbrush.

I had to stop again to take a photo of it and Fairview Peak. You can see the moon ready to set behind the peak, along with some communications towers on the top of it. About midway down there's a jagged scar showing more of the earthquake scarp.

We had gained some elevation so had a really nice view looking down towards the Chalk Mountains.

This detour was well worth the time. Just thinking about the immensity of these earthquakes--and that more will be happening within our lifetimes, and probably in more populated areas--makes you want to be prepared. Or be lucky enough to be outside in the boonies when the next big one hits!

p.s. If you'd like to spend more time in this area, check out The Great Highway 50 Rock Tour from Fallon to the Fairview Peak Earthquake Faults, with a number of stops along the way. We might have to go look for Nevada wonderstone on our next trip.

Take It to the Lake 2017

I've participated in Take It to the Lake races at Cave Lake near Ely, Nevada for four of the five last years. They have a 10k and half-marathon, along with a kids' race that our kids have also done four of the five last years. The race is the third weekend of September, and about the beginning of August I decided that I should sign up. I looked at the routes and saw that the 10k was all downhill. That seemed too easy. I needed a little more challenge. So I signed up for the half-marathon. I had done two before. Surely I could do another.

Then I looked a little closer at the information. It was a half marathon with 1800 foot elevation gain and drop. Oh my! So basically we had to climb and descend a small mountain.

Did I mention that when I signed up, I was only running 2 miles at a time? So I just had to figure out how to run 13.1 miles. In about five weeks. I looked online for some training plans, and of course no one had a training plan for dummies to go from 2 miles to 13 miles in five weeks. So I adapted a couple plans and figured that I would build up gradually (sorta). Weekend 1 would be 4 miles, 2 would be 6 miles, 3 would be 8 miles, and 4 would be 10 miles. A few runs interspersed during the week, and hopefully that would be good enough.

For my 10-mile run, I decided to run up to Baker Lake in Great Basin National Park. I started early in the morning and made it 5.8 miles up to the lake in about an hour and 45 minutes. I was happy with that. I did a lot of fast walking interspersed with some jogging.

The lake was beautiful. It was a still morning, and to my surprise, no one was camping up there, so I had it all to myself.

The colors were just starting to change. This is an avalanche chute I take a photo of every winter when we do the snow survey. It's certainly a lot greener now!

Some of the herbaceous vegetation was turning, and the background of this little waterfall made me slow down and take a photo. I figured that I would be able to run ten-minute miles downhill, but it turned out to be more like 15-minute miles. Will all the hopping over rocks and a spectacular somersault tumble, I was kind of slow.

But that run gave me confidence for the next weekend. I got up at 4:30 a.m., drove to Ely, and got on the shuttle bus that took us to the starting line. It was starting to get light by the time we got off. It was super cold, in the 20s. I was glad I had my big puffy coat.

Here's a view of the starting area. We had to cross a few cattle guards during the race!

I usually make a couple goals when I do races. The first is to finish. The second was to finish in less than 2:45. I was thinking it would take me 15-minute miles to do the first half, the uphill part, so that would be 1:45. Then 10-minute miles for the downhill, or about an hour.

I debated until the very end of what to wear and finally went with my lightest layer, shorts and a t-shirt, even though it was below freezing. I wore gloves as a concession to the cold. And it was frigid! It took me miles to warm up.


The views were spectacular. And thanks to the race photographer for getting these photos!

I made it to the top of the pass in less than 1:45 (I can't remember the time exactly). I had had problems getting my running app to work correctly, but I finally figured it out. It told me my splits as I went downhill. Most were under ten minutes, but I was remembering when I ran in college and was significantly under ten minutes. Now I was barely under. And my legs hurt, I had just gone up a small mountain! Soon my knees would be hurting even more. There were some fun State Farm motivational signs up that were a great distraction. I kept telling myself it was okay not to be the fastest, just to finish was good. But I really should try to keep running. The miles ticked by. And then I was at the last hill and to the finish line. I made it in 2:29, my slowest half-marathon yet, but by golly, I had made it!

Folks were wandering around, eating, looking at the prize table, and talking.

There were cool winners' trophies. I ended up fifth for women, so I didn't get one. Congrats to the winners who did!

The plan had been for my husband to bring the kids to the kids' race, but he found out the day before that he had to work. Grandparents to the rescue! They brought the kids, got them registered, and they were all ready to go for the starting stretch. I joined in as a post-race stretch. It felt so good!

Desert Girl and Desert Boy at the starting line. This was a one-mile run, and they knew the route. Good thing, I was not up to anymore running! I asked Desert Boy what his strategy was, and he said "Endurance." He's been to a few races, so he knows a little about pacing.

Then it was time to take off! The kids are towards the rear.

I figured they would move up a little, but I was totally surprised to see Desert Boy round the corner first on the way back. I guess his strategy paid off!

And he was wearing terrible shoes for running. Maybe I should just let him be a barefoot runner, it would probably be better for his feet!

And then Desert Girl came along in fourth place. Wowzers!

Maybe those striped tights helped give her some extra powers. Or maybe she just wanted to keep up with big brother!

Afterwards we got a photo of us by beautiful Cave Lake.

And then Desert Boy decided to really take it to the lake! He jumped in a few times (mainly to be photographed). It was cold. I probably should have to, my knees hurt for a week. Fortunately my friend Jenny was able to massage out the muscle pains.

 Here's hoping we can participate again in the race next year! We feel so blessed to have such a well-organized race so close to us. Thanks again, wonderful grandparents, for helping out so the kids could participate. And thank you, Ely Outdoor Enthusiasts!