Meeting Artist-in-Residence Virginia Catherall

 Textile artist Virginia Catherall was selected as the artist-in-residence at Great Basin National Park in 2016. She specializes in knitting wearable artwork that is inspired by the terrain around her. It sounded like such a neat concept, and I wanted to learn more. Fortunately, we were able to attend one of her workshops, where she gave a program about her art and taught newbies how to knit. The kids and I all gave the knitting a try, but none of us made it too far. Virginia made it look so easy, but it's definitely something that takes a little practice.

Desert Girl went on to make some string art. She had first learned this when Virginia went to the schools and did special programs for them.

 As part of the program, Virginia showed some of the artwork she had made during her three-week residency in the park. She had been in the park for a bit over two weeks, but had already made so much! She had visited the Strawberry Fire, and the blackened tree trunks made an impression on her. She made a cowl to represent them.

She had an interaction with red-winged blackbirds that inspired this shawl.

The blooming rabbitbrush inspired these rabbitbrush mitts.

She also showed quite a bit more. You can see some of Virginia's creations on Ravelry, where you can purchase her patterns. Virginia also has a blog, where she explains some of her inspiration and creations, and an e-book of a compilation of her patterns from when she was artist-in-residence on the Black Rock Desert in 2015.

Meanwhile, Desert Boy picked out a different color yarn and knitting needles and started again. And he kept going and going. And he was smiling. He had learned how to knit!

It was so nice to see the tears turn to a smile and some perseverance where I had given up. Maybe I'll give knitting another try too--or at least encourage Desert Boy to continue!

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.

Trail Run with Colorful (and Welcome) Distractions

 My dear husband took the kids Sunday morning so I could go for a trail run. I wanted to check out the Timber Creek-South Fork Baker loop (about 5.5 miles) and see the fall colors before a winter storm arrives in the next couple of days.  I started off on the relatively flat section of the trail, with fall colors around me.

As I climbed up into Timber Creek, the yellows became more brilliant. Although I was trying to run faster than the last time I had run the trail, I had already decided I was going to take photos with my phone whenever I wanted, no matter if that made my time slower. I couldn't really remember my earlier time anyway, so that took a lot of pressure off.

Some of the leaves were off already at the higher elevations.

To my great surprise, I saw people on the trail! I passed these two--what a fun feeling it is to pass someone on the trail, even if I was basically just walking fast because I'm not fast enough to run up switchbacks. I also saw nine backpackers coming down this trail, and two backpackers later, for a total 13 people!

I really liked the sections of trails where leaves covered the winding path. Plus it was a little flatter here, which is always a nice change on a trail that gains and loses 1,800 feet in 5.5 miles.

The meadow at the top was as glorious as I was imagining. The fast-moving clouds allowed for dramatic vistas, including the backside of Wheeler Peak and Jeff Davis.

I veered off the trail for a bit and found these cool aspen trees. I especially like the symmetry.

Sunlight illuminated the top of Pyramid Peak and the aspen grove on the far side of the meadow.

Looking north, there were more great colors.

I had to try for a selfie, you know, to prove I was there. It was really windy in the meadow.

I headed down along South Fork Baker Creek, seeing the colors turn in the riparian veg, too.

The colors were even better on the South Fork Baker side, with so many leaves blanketing the trail.

Yep, this really is the way!

When I came out to the lower meadow, I saw some backpackers enjoying the view and soaking up the sun.

I said a quick hi and kept running.

Till I stopped to take more photos!

Most of the color is due to the quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) leaves, but willows and skunkbush also provided a nice splash of color.

It was a fun run/walk and I was happy to finish in under two hours. Maybe sometime I'll find where I wrote down my earlier times and see how I did. But even if I didn't, it was a great excuse to get outside and enjoy part of our beautiful world.

First Snow!

 Last week on the first day of fall, we had a storm, the first storm in a long time (the monsoons kind of skipped us this year). I was doing a kid exchange and was up in Great Basin National Park when we saw a truck stopped at the bottom of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive with snow on it. I pointed it out to the kids and asked if they wanted to go check out the snow. Desert Boy wasn't too enthusiastic, but Desert Girl thought it was a great idea. So we headed uphill and drove up to about 9,000 feet and started seeing snow on the trees above us. Fortunately not many other people wanted to drive up into the storm, so we could stop frequently and take lots of photos.

The fall colors were glorious, with many hues of yellows and oranges, and reds.

A little past 9,200 feet we reached our first snow. It was obvious that it had come down with some wind. Desert Girl put on a sweatshirt and went out to experience it.

Then she came after me with a snowball!

We kept going up, and the sun peeked out, showing snow-dusted mountains and limber pine silhouettes. I'm sure my pulse rate was up, I was so excited to be there, seeing this gorgeous scenery right in the moment.

I had thought that the wind might have knocked down many of the leaves, but they held on, now coated with a layer of white that made the fall colors even more vibrant.

The road was wet, but not slick. And I kept stopping to take more photos! The one below was one of my favorites.

At one stop, I caught Desert Girl eating some snow.

The snow balanced precariously on the leaves, some of it falling with each wind gust.

The fast moving clouds revealed some blue sky from time to time.

And I couldn't help but try for some artsy photos.

The scene at the Wheeler Peak summit trailhead was dramatic, with the trees drooping from the snow. No one was hiking the trail.

We could barely even see the mountains from there due to the clouds. It probably wouldn't have been that scenic of a hike, as you would be in the clouds most of the time.

We drove on to the Wheeler Peak campground, which was also coated in snow. We drove through to see if there were any campers.

We stopped at a campsite I've been wanting to camp at and found that the wind had knocked off more of the leaves here. As for campers? We didn't see any.

Heading back down, I still wasn't tired of taking photos. The mix of colors was entrancing.

And then we had some frosted vegetation and late afternoon shadows.

The view from Mather Overlook was a bit muted.

That spur-of-the-moment drive has to be one of the most beautiful drives I've ever taken. It was just magical. And the photos will let me remember it even longer. I sure was glad I had my good camera with me!

Hope you've enjoyed this eye candy. There are still lots of great fall colors and photogenic moments out there!