Acclimatizing to Snow and Cold

I'm getting ready for a snowy, high elevation adventure this weekend, so I've been trying to get ready for it by spending more time outside in the snow and cold. Last week I took advantage of the fresh snow and went cross-country skiing four times. Twice I went at lunch up the Upper Lehman Creek trail. I was the first one to break trail. I could see the old trail trough, but it was under about 15 inches of fresh powder, so I got a good workout.

I went up from the trailhead 30 minutes, then turned around and skied down my tracks--it only took 12 minutes and was beautiful.

The next day I convinced my co-worker Brooke to come along. We followed my tracks the following day, which had been enhanced by two folks from Alaska who had continued higher. It was just a little bit warmer, but that was warm enough that the snow stuck to our skis on the way back down, making it a little frustrating. Nevertheless, it was great to be outside.

When I got home I thought I'd see how it would be to ski around the house. The roads were packed down and worked out fine. The kids gave a try.

Desert Girl especially stuck with it. She was stumbling all around, getting her skis twisted and falling often at the beginning, but after an hour she was doing great. We might even try to have the kids enter the Ely Birkebeiner on February 20, a cross-country ski race.

Next up was a before-work ski up the Baker Creek road. You can see my long shadow! There were snowshoe tracks, but I was the first skier.

It was so peaceful skiing in the morning.

Eventually I went past the snowshoe tracks, but I found plenty of animal tracks! The birds were also quite noisy.

Then it was time to head to Eagle Point Ski Resort for a Superbowl Sunday ski. It sure cleared out after lunch and we had the slopes almost to ourselves. It was warm, not windy at all, and the snow was great. We put the kids into ski school and my husband and I enjoyed a rare lunch date.

When we picked up the kids from ski school, they were eager to show us what they had learned. They did great! (They were also entertained on the ski lift by taking selfies.)

Another ski run all to ourselves.

Desert Girl was so tired, but she was a trooper, willing to ski until the lifts closed. We can't wait to go back!

And then this week has been some snowshoeing for work. Hopefully I'm ready for the big adventure. Whatever happens, I imagine it will be worthy of a blog post!

Hope you're enjoying winter!

Biking the Grand Canyon: The Hermit Road

 On our fall break trip, after our Cathedral Wash hike, we drove into the quickly descending darkness to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we stayed with my brother Ed. The next day our big plan was to go bike riding, as I figured the kids would like a change from hiking. The day dawned cloudy and cool (but Desert Girl still insisted on wearing shorts). Ed guided us to the start of the Hermit Road, a road that is open only to shuttle buses, bicyclists, and those who get special permits (like backpackers). You can find more about Grand Canyon's bicycling policies here. And there's a great guide to biking the road that provides lots more info here.

The first part of the road was uphill and entailed some tears. But eventually we got to the first pullout,  where we stopped briefly, then Maricopa Point, where we hiked to an overlook. We could see the Bright Angel trail descending through many switchbacks.

Desert Girl having some fun with her uncle.

We could see the rain clouds moving in. We didn't see any other bicyclists. We saw a few other people, primarily getting on and off the shuttle bus, and also a few walkers.

We stopped at every big pullover and read the interpretive signs. The last 2.5 miles has a greenway, where we could bike on a paved multi-use path. That was great.

The rain came and went, and fortunately towards the end of the ride stayed mostly away. The views were spectacular.

One of our games we played was spotting the Colorado River. It was very muddy looking, which I appreciated since that's why it was given its name. It was also very far away.

We also played a few other games.

The kids seemed to gain energy as they knew we were close to Hermit's Rest, the end of the road and our turnaround. They were especially happy when we said we would have snacks there.

Hermit's Rest was a welcome stop. It has no running water; all the water that is used there is brought in daily by a water truck.

Inside the gift shop we found a beautiful area and hot drinks! They were very nice and let us stay in the warmth to partake of our beverages. Then we walked to the Hermit trailhead and walked a few minutes down the trail. This used to be a very popular trail, in big competition with the Bright Angel Trail. Nowadays it's not used so much, which is part of its appeal.

Our plan now was to take the shuttle bus back 7.1 miles to the beginning of the Hermit Road. I was feeling restless so took off on my bike, with the plan to meet my brother and kids at the transfer station. My bike wasn't shifting correctly, so I was kind of slow (and a bit out of biking shape), so several buses passed me. I was hoping they weren't getting too bored waiting for me. But when I got to the transfer station, they weren't there. I figured maybe they had gone ahead for lunch at the Maswik Lodge, but they weren't there either. I wandered around awhile, and then I saw them biking down the road!

"What happened?" I asked my brother.

"My bike tires were too big and wouldn't fit in the bike carrier," he responded. "So we rode back. The kids were troopers, they hardly complained."

They were all drenched, Desert Boy's shirt was even wet under his coat.

"Why are you so wet?" I asked.

"We got caught in a hailstorm," Desert Boy responded. 

I was proud of all of them. Fourteen miles was Desert Girl's longest bike ride, and part of that was through a hailstorm. Yikes. We went and celebrated with pizza. 

Joshua Tree National Park with Kids

The kids and I recently visited Joshua Tree National Park. We had a whole day to explore, and we started at the Oasis Visitor Center.

The kids picked up Junior Ranger booklets and Desert Boy immediately started working on his.

When we left the visitor center, we were standing around, probably looking a little clueless, when David Larson from the Joshua Tree Natural History Association came outside. He asked the kids if they liked owls and proceeded to tell us about a barn owl that liked to perch in a certain tree. We walked over and found owl pellets underneath. The kids were fascinated. He also showed us a cactus wren and a mockingbird, and the kids were suddenly much more interested in spotting wildlife.

We drove further into the park and I had the kids get out and smell the creosote bushes. They weren't too sure about that, but they realized that we don't have them in the Great Basin desert.

One of the things I didn't realize about Joshua Tree is that the transition zone from the Mojave Desert to the Sonoran (Colorado) Desert is located there. I found it fascinating to watch the plant communities change as we headed south and lower in elevation. We stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden for the quarter-mile hike. The kids didn't want to hike, but they decided they could manage a quarter mile. It was one of the coolest quarter-mile hikes I've ever done, the cacti are amazing.


I couldn't help pretend that I was hugging a teddy bear cholla cactus. I made sure not to touch it, as it has microscopic spines that can be annoying for days.

 

I saw on the park map that the Ocotillo Patch was a little farther down the road, so we continued on. The ocotillo at the Ocotillo Patch pulloff were looking a little sickly, so I stopped next to a nicer looking one for photos.

A closeup look at them is worth it--these are strange plants!

Then we turned around and headed to the Jumbo Rocks campground area. My research on the park said this was a great area for kids to just play around, and as the kids didn't want to hike, I told them we could just go play on the rocks. They were all for it. We were surprised by how big the campground was--and how cool it was. It would be really fun to stay there.

Desert Girl thought she was the Queen of the World (and sang a song to that effect).

From there we headed towards Hidden Valley for lunch. Along the way I pulled over to enjoy these beautiful Joshua trees.

These Joshua trees are a subspecies known for being taller and with fewer branches than those found in Mojave National Preserve. This one sure let us know that it had read the book.

After a picnic lunch at Hidden Valley, it was time to play on the rocks again.

We found some narrow corridors.

And even some boulder caves, which was appropriate because the reason we were here was the NSS Western Regional meeting (a gathering of cavers). The kids decided to crawl through a tight hole. I didn't follow. That monzogranite was rough!

We then leisurely went to the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, where ranger Bret swore the kids in as junior rangers. I was so impressed with him and David Larson at the other visitor center that I wrote a letter to the park superintendent. He responded that he loved getting letters. He said he wanted to know about the things that weren't going so well in the park, too, because it was his responsibility was to make the park the best place it could be. I was also impressed with this response.

The kids posed outside with their completed books and new badges and hats.

 

We did a few other activities, changed our clothes to go to church, and then had time to visit one other part of the park, Indian Cove. Can you say rocks? They were everywhere!! I was stunned. The huge campground was also completely full.

The secret is out, Joshua Tree is a really cool place to visit. Just don't go in summer and be prepared for long drives.

2015 Astronomy Festival - Great Basin National Park

 One of our favorite fall events to attend is the Astronomy Festival at Great Basin National Park. (Here are posts from 2012, 2013, and 2014.)  We started out with the talent show on Thursday night, where an array of performances showcased talent by park employees.

The kids had school the next day, so we couldn't stay to look through the telescopes, but the skies were beautiful, so I'm sure those that did had great views.

On Friday afternoon I signed up for the astrophotography workshop and picked up a couple tips to improve my night sky photography. Derek Demeter was the workshop leader.

I had planned to go to Derek's keynote speech, but an EMT call had me changing my plans. Instead, I went to the Saturday sunrise program at the Baker Archeological Site. To my surprise, there was quite a large crowd.

We heard about how this Fremont Village was laid out with astronomy in mind, with the buildings oriented certain ways to show when it was planting and harvest time. The village was inhabited from about 1220 to 1295.

The Fremont Village was small, probably just a few families, and they grew crops nearby with water from Strawberry Creek (which now flows pretty far away, but if you look closely you can see the swale that used to bring the water).

The light was fantastic as the sun came up.

The curbs show where the buildings were, which were excavated in the 1990s by BYU and BLM.

I took a lot of photos.

Finally I knew I better get going. If you visit this free site, there's a self-guiding booklet available at the trailhead (the trail is about .25 miles roundtrip). It's a very nice booklet that explains a lot.

Later that day we went backpacking to take advantage of the new moon skies (see day 1, night, and day 2 posts if you missed them), so we didn't get to look through the telescopes the third night either. Nevertheless, it was fun participating in a few of the astronomy festival events, and I think it had record attendance. The weather was perfect, and the high elevation and remoteness make for some fantastic night skies.

If you're interested in going, save the dates for next year's astronomy festival: September 29-October 1, 2016.