A Little Fishing

 We decided one evening to go out for a little fishing trip to a nearby pond. The kids were so excited, they love to fish.

 We're not very good at fishing because we don't go often, but the fish were rising like crazy, so it didn't take long to catch our first trout.

 Desert Boy was rocking the flip flops. He thought it was pretty cool that we let him go to the other side of the pond all by himself.

 I thought it was cool that we had such beautiful light!

 Some birds kept us entertained, like the Brewer's Blackbird (above), as well as killdeer and common nighthawks.

In the end we caught two trout (we decided we needed different bait), which we ate the next evening. Yum. We'll be back!

What's your favorite fish to catch and eat?

Hiking Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park in Early Summer

 Yesterday my husband and I hit the trail for a training hike. We're celebrating our tenth anniversary this year, and we decided we should do something big for it. We decided to take that "big" literally and are going to climb Mt. Rainier in September (it was either that or the beaches of Mexico, something we may reconsider as we get further along in training!).

Our first training hike was Crystal Peak. For our second training hike, we decided on an early summer summit of Wheeler Peak so we could simulate more of the snowy conditions of Rainier. We're fortunate to have Wheeler Peak, at 13,063 ft, so close to us. We started off with ideal weather conditions for the 8-mile round trip, with a 3,000 foot elevation gain.

I kept stopping to take photos of flowers. I figured that should be part of the acclimatization plan! As we ascended, I kept track of the birds: mountain chickadees, common ravens, ruby-crowned kinglets, dark-eyed juncos. Then a flock of birds went by, and I got excited. Could it be? Why, yes, red crossbills! Crossbills are easy to identify if you can see their bills, because the bills overlap, the better to get seeds out of pinecones. They live in much of the West year round, and one really cool thing about them is that they breed year round, not just in the summer like most birds.

As we approached tree line, we saw more snow patches, but overall there was a lot less snow for June 1 than I was anticipating. We are a bit below normal for snow pack this year.

We got an early enough start that we could walk right over the top of the snow on the way up. My husband is carrying his grandmother's ice axe. She got married on top of Mount Rainier, to her husband who was a guide.

Although we were quite warm in softshell pants and a lightweight wool shirt, we did find patches of ice that had frozen during the night from the previous day's snow melt. I particularly liked this patch, with a flower stuck in the middle.

The flower below is Ross' avens (Geum rossii), a member of the rose family. Other flowers starting to bloom at and above treeline included cushion phlox (Phlox pulvinata) and Snow cinquefoil (Potentilla nivea) and more. I was surprised by how many flowers were blooming.

Another surprise was this golden-mantled ground squirrel that popped out of the rocks. He was quite cooperative letting me take photos!

We took a little break on the shoulder, a traditional stopping place with wind breaks scattered along the relatively flat spot.

Then it was time to summon energy for the final push to the top.

I was really hoping to see rosy-finches, as they like to eat insects in the snow, but alas, I didn't see any. However, I did see quite a few insects in the snow. I guess they get blown there and stuck.

Ladybug

Moth

Hemiptera (true bug)

Beetle

I saw lots of spiders on the rocks and one in the snow.

We reached the summit in just under three hours. I know people who have made it much faster and much slower. A seventy-two year old gentleman who shared the top with us had hiked slightly faster than us--nice job. We were just glad to make it! We were rewarded with spectacular views. 

To the northwest, with the Schell Creek Range in the distance.

To the West, across Spring Valley and the pivot irrigation to the chainings in the pinyon/juniper on the lower slopes of the Schell Creeks, and then to the Egan Range, and hazy Currant Range.

To the north, with Stella, Teresa, and Brown Lakes in the middle, Bald and Buck mountains behind the Scenic Drive, and the North Snake Range in the distance.

Here I am checking the view to the south. It was amazingly calm at the top, and we didn't even need to put on extra layers.

We checked the summit log out of the mailbox. The part I found most interesting was that someone had climbed the peak November 8, 2013. The next entry wasn't until January, and after that until April. Those folks had to work hard for their summit, as the Scenic Drive was closed and they had to start their hike much lower (about 8,000 ft).

The benchmark at the top:

I couldn't go to the top without a look down at the Wheeler Cirque Rock Glacier. So I went to the edge of the ridge and found a good spot.

Jeff Davis Peak was also looking impressive.

It took less than two hours to hike down, although we were moving at a fairly good clip (and I didn't take hardly any photos). 

Looking south from Wheeler Peak at the North Fork of Baker cirque, Baker Peak, Pyramid Peak, Mt. Washington, and the rest of the South Snake Range

Here are photos and a description of a trip up the peak in August, when it has many different flowers.

And for more history and information about climbing Wheeler Peak, check out my book, Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area.

Thanks!

Around the Yard

 School is out, which means it's summer time! (Desert Girl keeps asking if it's spring or summer, and I've decided to tell her it's summer.) Desert Boy got a new bike for his birthday with gears and hand brakes, and he's been learning what it can do. Desert Girl got a $6 thrift store bike with new inner tubes and princess decals, but lately she's been asking to go back to her smaller bike, so we may take a step back. (Wearing her fancy dress, in the photo above, doesn't stop her from bike riding. She's a princess who likes to do everything!)

We've been really busy in the garden. I've almost got everything planted. The hardest part for me is getting the irrigation system in and working correctly. Fortunately the first plots in the garden are well on their way, and we've been harvesting lettuce, kale, spinach, and cilantro for weeks.

The kids love to pick peas.

We got some broccoli, but it started bolting, so it wasn't as nice as I was hoping.

The kids are fascinated with the garden and also all the insects of the garden. Desert Girl continually has new insect pets. She leaves them all over the house, so I have to watch out for strange containers. By the way, Desert Girl now has shorter hair because she keeps cutting it. Besides new insect pets, I also find little tufts of blonde hair here and there throughout the house.

We're pretty sure Luna is a rooster now, since he cock-a-doodle-doos in the morning. We had a recent scare when some dogs scared the chickens and they all scattered. We slowly rounded them up, but couldn't find Luna. The four hens were not happy in the coop all by themselves. When we found Luna the next morning, cock-a-doodle-dooing in the garage, they immediately perked up. Luna is missing a few tail feathers, but otherwise seems okay.

We've really enjoyed having chickens so far. Hopefully we will make it to the egg-laying stage!

And that's the news from this neck of the woods desert. Lots of playing in water, using power tools to work on forts, play dates, and lazy afternoons watching the kids play. We're savoring early summer and the good weather. We hope you are too!

Taking Kids Caving

 A few weekends ago we joined two other families for a kids' caving trip. We had five adults and six kids, ages 2 to 8. All of the adults have been in multiple caves before, so we knew what to expect, even though it was a new cave for over half the group. We had helmets and lights for everyone, plus kneepads for most.

As we went into the cave, we kept an eye out for wildlife. We spotted these fox tracks on some flowstone. We saw a lot of fox scat too.

As we got back to the more delicate parts of the cave, we reminded the kids to be very careful what they touched, as one misstep could damage a formation that had taken many thousands of years to form. The kids were great about caving softly. They also loved it when we told them they could lead the way through the mazy section.

Caving with kids is so much fun because they have such a sense of wonderment. It makes us adults slow down and smell the roses cave.

Kids also make caving look really easy, as they don't have to crawl and stoop walk as much as adults.

We spent longer in the cave than we were expecting because we were having so much fun checking it all out. We didn't even get to see the whole thing, so we will have to go back again.

Here's our group of happy kids after the cave trip (plus one dog who patiently waited for us at the top).

If you'd like to learn more about how to cave safely and softly, here's a link to the National Speleological Society techniques page.

Post-fire Regrowth

We joined some friends for an outing up Lexington Canyon, where the Black Fire burned last year. The weather wasn't exactly promising when we started out, but we decided to go anyway. I'm glad we did, because the contrast of the newly sprouting plants with the charred trees and white snow was stunning.

Desert Girl was happy to hike because her friend Rose was along.

The diversity of species was interesting. American vetch (Vicia americana) dominated much of the ground cover where we were, but we also saw lots of other plants, like lupine, this yellow violet (below), Packera multilobata, Indian paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa), Descurainia sp., heartleaf twistflower (Streptanthus cordatus), phlox,  and much more.

The American vetch was like a carpet in places, with its purple blooms livening up the forest floor.

I find burned areas fascinating. You can see how the fire progressed and ponder why one area burned and another different. The resulting patterns of burned areas have a strange appeal.

Despite the high intensity of the fire in this area, many of the plants are regrowing, including these chokecherries.

A gate is supposed to go in here now, but for now a sign warns people to be careful of falling snags and other hazards. A flood that came after the fire washed out this road.

Even in areas that had both burned and flooded, plants grew.

Gradually the clouds floated away, allowing the sun to warm the charbroiled land.

Desert Girl was fascinated with all the flowers.

Hopefully more people will get to experience the rejuvenation of the land after a forest fire. It is truly amazing.