A Visit to Sand Mountain, Nevada

 Over Desert Boy's fall break we headed west across the very wide state of Nevada to go to Carson City, the state capital, to celebrate the 150th birthday of the state. On the way there we stopped at Sand Mountain, east of Fallon. About four years ago we stopped there and let the kids play in the sand and thought it would be a fun place to return to. I even planned to camp there. But when we got to the turnoff, we could see that things had changed. A sea of RVs was parked at the base of the sand dunes.

 Even though it was Wednesday, hundreds of people in RVs with trailers and off-highway vehicles were spread out. It turns out that Tuesday and Wednesday are free days. Otherwise it's $40 for a week or $90 for the season. The pricing structure was obviously not for the casual nature observer wanting to take a jaunt up to the top of the dunes. It appeared that there weren't any specific time frames for vehicles at the dunes (unlike Coral Pink Sand Dunes, where hikers didn't have to worry about getting run over until 10 in the morning).

I was a bit floored when I saw the Papa Murphy's pizza vendor. I guess we didn't need to bring that top ramen!

The kids really wanted to play in the sand, so we carefully made our way out towards the dunes, where I stood guard while the kids played. When we saw vehicles coming our way, we scurried out of the way. It wasn't exactly relaxing.

Despite all the vehicles on Wednesday, when we drove by again on Sunday morning, there were probably double the amount, plus a constant stream leaving the dunes. Over half had California license plates.

I had quickly decided not to camp at the dunes, as the noise level was quite high, and there clearly wasn't a tent section. We went back down the road and checked out the nearby Pony Express Station, where we saw the dunes with some awesome light.

Desert Girl really loved playing in the sand.

The Pony Express Station was neat, but not a place I'd like to stay at. Driving across the state at 70 mph is long these days, I can't imagine how hard it would have been back in 1860. And the signs by the Pony Express Station said it didn't have a roof and the water tasted terrible. Not exactly a rousing endorsement.

We ended our evening at Sand Mountain with a really pretty sunset. I thought the OHVs would get off the dune, but they just continued roaring up and down the dunes. albeit with their lights on.

If you like OHVs, this is definitely the place for you. If not, it's very pretty from a distance.

Playing in the Leaves

 A few days ago I was watching a group of kids. After playing on various wheeled toys for awhile, I suggested they should make some leaf piles, as the leaves were rapidly falling off the trees in the breeze. They happily agreed. Once they had some piles, it was time to jump in them.

 Then apparently it was time to throw them on Aidan's head.

He seemed to be enjoying it.

I liked how the colorful leaves danced through the air.

Then it was time to get buried in leaves.

We are certainly enjoying this beautiful autumn.

2014 Astronomy Festival at Great Basin National Park

 In September Great Basin National Park held its annual Astronomy Festival. We went up Thursday evening for the talent show. It's always so much fun to see what talent people have lurking.

Desert Boy was enthralled.

Soon it was our turn. I had volunteered to play Home on the Range on the accordion as a sing-along. Fortunately the kids and a friend came up with me and helped lead the crowd. I don't play the accordion very much, so I had to practice quite a long time to make it sound decent. (Hopefully it sounded decent!). Thanks to Clint who snapped this photo of us.

When it was over, we quickly departed the outdoor stage, fortunately to applause and not to boos.

We let the more talented take over, like Bryan on guitar and Isaac on drums.

When it was time for a guitar trio, the kids couldn't resist dancing. It was really cute.

Aileen shared her sweet voice with us. It is the voice of an angel.

Carolyn's violin piece was way too short, I wanted to hear more!

It was a good crowd. Afterwards, we went down to the telescopes so the kids could earn their Junior Astronomer certificates--and most important to them, a Milky Way candy bar.  We hope as they get older we'll be able to stay longer and see even more things through the telescopes.

Great Basin National Park's last astronomy program for the season is tonight, Saturday October 25 at 6 pm. The big advantage of the early start time is that you can go to bed early too!

Collecting Snake Skins

 It had been a little while since I had last been out to the sinkhole, so I decided it was time for a visit. It's late enough in the season that the snakes should be hibernating and it's a good time to look for snake skins that they've molted. I still have not figured out what to do with snake skins, but the kids sure love collecting them. So after piano practice one afternoon I loaded up Desert Boy and a couple of his friends and we were off.

 The August monsoonal rains have left us with an amazing amount of globemallows blooming out on the desert. In some places we see more than in the spring.

The kids scrambled down to the bottom, sometimes sliding. (Sorry, moms, if their pants are a little extra worn!)

Success! Snake skins were all over. The kids wanted the longest one and ones with heads.

It was so easy to find them that they soon each had several.

We couldn't stay too long, but they each had more than they could use.

I found a dead rattlesnake nearby. I'm not sure what killed it, but it looked fairly fresh.

It was a fun trip, and nice to check out a favorite spot. Plus I always enjoy an excuse to be outside and get some fresh air.

What fun local outdoor spot have you visited lately?

Our Epic Zion Adventure--Birch Hollow Canyon

 My brother Ed called me up one Tuesday and told me that he and his girlfriend Christina were flying into Las Vegas on Saturday. Did we want to meet in Death Valley or Zion? I told him Zion would be great, we love going there and we could go canyoneering. He agreed, and then it was time to decide where we could go canyoneering. I decided Birch Hollow Canyon would be a good spot. Just outside the park, it didn't require a permit, was 4-6 hours long according to the beta, had a number of fun rappels, but none too long, and it was dry. That was good considering it was mid-October and chilly. On Thursday I heard from a caving friend, Rodney, that he would be down there with his girlfriend. I welcomed the extra rope expertise. So on Sunday morning we met up at the side of the road to begin our journey.

 I knew that this was a popular canyon and expected to see quite a few people. We saw a guide group start ahead of us with some clients. After we had all our gear ready, we started out about 10 am from the trailhead, having fun skirting the obstacles.

An old ATV ramp was one of the memorable parts of the approach.

We even found a couple caves on the way, and Desert Boy checked one out. He reported back that it had a lot of mud and flies.

Photo courtesy of Ed

After about an hour of hiking, we reached the first rappel, the longest, at about 120 ft. I had bought a new 200 ft canyoneering rope the day before and we also had 100 ft of caving rope. I tied the ropes together, and secured the canyoneering rope with a releasable anchor as only two of our group were comfortable with rappelling. I had my caving friend Rodney go down first, as he has tons of rappelling experience. From the bottom he could bottom belay everyone and make sure they got down safely. I lowered Desert Boy from the top. We decided Desert Girl should go down double with her uncle.

Photo courtesy of Christina

I was a little nervous about getting the anchor right for pulling. I'm used to cave anchoring, where we go down and then back up the same rope. For canyoneering, you rig so that you go down the rope, then pull the rope, and then continue down the canyon. Since this rappel was longer than just one rope, I had to rig it so we could pull the knotted side after I had rappelled down the unknotted side. It all worked out fine.

Then we had a little hike and got to our next rappel. Another group was there, having approached from another route. We ate some lunch while they put their dog into a rope bag for the rappel. Then it was our turn. This rappel was about 80 feet.

Then we had some fun in the canyon, as the walls narrowed and we had to scramble down obstacles.

Photo courtesy of Ed 

It wasn't too long until we got to our next rappel, about 20 feet. It was time for Desert Boy to learn how to rappel. He was very excited. We explained how to rappel and that if he had any trouble he just needed to call out and his bottom belay would stop him. We all got down relatively quickly and were feeling comfortable with rappelling.

Desert Boy found a scorpion at the bottom of the drop.

Photo courtesy of Ed

Desert Girl had a blast chilling between rappels.

Photo courtesy of Ed

The canyon opened up a bit and we enjoyed some fall colors.

Photo courtesy of Ed

A little bit farther was the rappel I remembered most: an 80-foot drop into a fluted canyon. Rodney led the way.

Photo courtesy of Ed

I lowered both kids down this beautiful drop. Desert Boy was pretty sure he could rappel it, and now I am sure he could. But better safe than sorry!

Photo courtesy of Ed

 After I came down, the kids helped Uncle Ed pull the rope.

Another drop waited just around the corner. And then another. And another. Even though I had been to this canyon in 2008, I had forgotten there were so many rappels!

Photo courtesy of Ed

Photo courtesy of Ed

Photo courtesy of Ed

It was clear we wouldn't be back to the second vehicle by 4 pm (a six-hour trip), as it was already past that time and we were still in the rappelling part of the canyon and had a two-hour hike back once we finished. We ate more snacks to keep our energy levels up.

Then we reached the last two rappels, with a view of a chockstone wedged into the canyon above us. It was spectacular. And a place you really wouldn't want to be in a flash flood.

After the last rappel (we had lost count, but there were probably 10-11 total), we had a very short walk out to Orderville Canyon. The last time I did this canyon we exited down canyon and into the Narrows, but we wanted the short version this time, so we headed up canyon. The short version was still long, and we ended up walking out with our headlamps on.

Photo courtesy of Ed

It was certainly an epic adventure. The kids fell asleep on the short ride back to camp, but then woke up and ate heartily. They were great troopers, taking the new experience in stride. We hiked close to 6 miles with at least a 1,000 ft elevation change, and they both did fine.

My tips for a successful canyoneering trip:

1. Watch the weather--it's not worth it to get trapped in a flash flood, too many people have died that way

2. Go with someone who knows how to canyoneer. It's better if you have a couple experienced people in the group. Canyoneering takes specialized techniques, and once you pull your first rope, you are committed. Guiding services are available if you're new to the sport. Here's an article about going with Zion Adventure Company in this same canyon (and they also took longer than 4-6 hours, so that made me feel better!)

3. Have lots of snacks (especially if you have kids with you)

4. Have a surface contact--Rodney's girlfriend knew where we were and would contact authorities if we weren't back by a certain time; we had absolutely no cell service, so don't rely on that

5. Wear appropriate clothing for the canyon--some are very, very wet and cold, easy to get hypothermia

6. Have fun! Even though it took us longer than we anticipated, we still had a super time, and as we progressed down the canyon, we became a stronger team.

I've already been checking out other possible canyons, although I think the next one with the kids will be a shorter one.