Upper Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive

The Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive opened to Mather Overlook the beginning of May, and I couldn't wait to go up there. I woke up early one morning and headed up the mountain to enjoy the sunrise.

There were beautiful clouds in the sky, and the sun was just peeking out.

Since the road was closed, I figured it would be a great place for a brisk walk. This sign didn't make it through the winter.

The birds were singing, mountain chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, Townsend's solitaires, hermit thrushes, and Cassin's finches (below).

I had to walk half a mile before I found enough snow to cover the road, right at the 9,500 mark.

Someone had ridden bikes through the snow and on up the road. That gave me an idea about returning.

I turned around there and headed back down, enjoying the solitude and the views.

I checked out the RAWS Mather Station. It often has some of the highest wind speeds in a couple counties.

On the way down, I had to stop and get a photo of the "Heart of the Mountain."

It was so much fun that we went back up a few days later with friends and bikes.

The kids really enjoyed playing in the snow. I think the adults liked it too!

It's great to be outside!

The road has now opened up to trailheads, so soon we'll be out exploring the trails.

Checking out the Baker Creek Marmots

Hello, yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaventris)! I was hoping this species, so I piled some kids in the van and we headed up the Baker Creek road. Even though it was an overcast afternoon, we easily found a marmot in the middle of the road.

He lifted his head to sniff, but then went back to digging his hole in the road.

We kept going closer in the vehicle, and eventually he decided he should depart. He waddled over a few feet to the side of the road. They can weigh up to 11 pounds, and this one has certainly been eating well. The most amazing thing (to me) is that marmots hibernate for eight months of the year. He's only been out a month or two and has already found enough greens, insects, and eggs to eat to pork him up.

They burrow in colonies, with a dominant male for the group. They live in the western U.S. and Canada.

Although some marmots whistle to warn each other of predators, I've never heard them whistle in Great Basin National Park.

They can live up to fifteen years, although the ones that dig holes in the road usually get hit by cars.

Marmots spend about 80% of their life in their burrow. Look at the dirt on this one's nose!

I did manage to photograph more than marmots. Here's a snow buttercup, one of the first flowers to appear after the snow melts.

I enticed the kids for a short walk. Just to the second bridge! Then the boys turned back.

But Desert Girl was ready for more, so we went on to the fifth bridge.

It started raining and even hailing. We enjoyed it.

It's so nice to be exploring further up the mountain! The snow is rapidly melting now.

2017 Astronomy Programs at Great Basin National Park

 Last night Desert Girl and I went up to the Astronomy program at Great Basin National Park. For the months of April and May, they are held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday nights. They will be held three nights a week after Memorial Day weekend (I believe--check with the park at 775-234-7331 to be entirely sure) through Labor Day weekend.

One of the things we learned at the program was what a.m. and p.m. mean. I guess I hadn't really thought about it much. Ante meridian is Latin for before midday and post meridian is after midday. We also learned about Pope Gregory wiping out a week in October back about 852 and then the institution of the leap day so that wouldn't have to happen again. Except leap day isn't celebrated every 100 years, so it didn't happen in February 1900. But it did happen in February 2000 because every thousand years they need to put it back in. And sometimes there's a leap second, like in June 2015. Or something like that. But don't worry, the atomic clock is accurate to 1 second in 30 million years, based on the cesium atom. I think that's right. I wasn't exactly taking notes, but it was interesting.

Then it was time to line up at the telescopes and look at the night skies. There was a good turnout, as it was a clear night, and somewhat warm (above freezing, anyway). Probably about 40 people were there. It was cold enough that Desert Girl and I had on winter coats and winter boots and had two blankets and were still a bit chilled, but we were better prepared than most.

Desert Girl was a good sport while I took some photos of telescopes. One person had his own positioned near the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, which was lit up in red to preserve our night vision.  The blue line is the glow-in-the dark paint along the curb.

We could find the Big Dipper easily, with the handle arcing to the bright star Arcturus, which Ranger Steve was pointing out. Through the telescope our first object was even easier to find--the moon. With a crescent, it made for some really great shadows.

Then we lined up again to take a look at Jupiter and four moons. I was also able to see these through our binoculars (binoculars, lawn chairs, and blankets are great things to bring to an astronomy program, as well as red flashlights).

Then it was on to the M3 globular cluster. It looked like a big fuzzy spot, even though it's made up of 500,000 stars. Why fuzzy? Well, it's over 30,000 light years away! There's nothing like looking up into the heavens to help put life into perspective.

Desert Girl had seen enough at this point, so we left, but other folks stayed on, looking at more amazing things. We hope to go to more astronomy programs this year, the kids really enjoy them, and it's always great to spend more time looking up at the stars and learning more about them.

Wet Cave with Unusual Water Features

Remember how I said the cave was wetter than usual (for the Lehman Caves Lint and Restoration camp in mid-February, 2017)? It made for some fun photo opportunities! Check out these bubbles.

We're not exactly sure why the water is dripping off the end of a bubble instead of off the end of the formation itself. Perhaps a thin layer of calcite is providing a little extra structure. Or maybe the degassing of the CO2 makes the bubbles form and the conglomeration of bubbles makes one main bubble that's stronger. When we spotted this bubble the second day, it had changed from a single bubble to this:

Not only are there bubbles, there are also spouters (yes, that's the very technical term-ha!), when the water spouts out the side of a speleothem.

These spouters were crazy. And some would change the angle of spouting depending on water pressure (I think). We'd see it spraying out to the side and the next hour it would be almost straight down.


The pools in the cave were filling.


Slowly the rimstone dams will grow. It wasn't that long ago that some of this floor was covered with sand and dirt. It's been restored due to numerous lint and restoration camps.

And I'll leave you with just a few more photos of the hydrological oddities in Lehman Caves during mid-February, 2017:

I love all the mysteries that caves still contain!