Kids Hike up Timber Creek

 We had some friends visiting from out of town, and Jenny and I wanted to spend time with them in the great outdoors. That meant it was time for a hike in the woods! Desert Girl took that as an opportunity to get all glamoured up. This girl makes me smile!

It was seven kids and three moms, and we started off with all the kids on the bridge.

They got to lead. Our destination? Timber Creek in Great Basin National Park. The trail starts by crossing lots of bridges, has lots of shade, and you can go until you get tired and then just head back (downhill).

The riparian area gave way to sagebrush.

Then we reached some rose bushes with ripe rose hips. We stopped to munch them and soon after some elderberries. The kids thought it was pretty fun to eat their way along the trail.

Desert Girl had brought a magnifying glass and used it to take a closer look at the caterpillars crawling around inside the tent.

Desert Boy brought his pocket knife and had fun whittling until he cut himself. He pulled a bandaid out from his survival kit and patched himself up. It's nice when they get somewhat self-sufficient like that!

 The trail got a little steeper as we climbed up to meet Timber Creek.

It is so nice to have kids hiking with kids, as they entertain themselves and whining is kept to a minimum.

We stopped for a snack break. That's an essential part of any kid hike.

Then the kids started playing with an aspen tree. I'm not quite sure what they were trying to do, but they were all working together. Teamwork!

We hiked a bit farther and then told them to go make forts in the meadow. They did that for a bit, and then it was time for hide'n seek. The tall grass made for some very good hiding spots.

And good photo opportunities!


After at least a half hour (I didn't keep track, it was so nice to just relax and not worry about time!) of free play, we hiked back.


The kids wanted to get wet in the stream, so we told them to go for it.

Some of them took that pretty seriously and got very wet!

Nothing like a dip into a cold mountain stream with friends!

Evening Fun in the Junkyard

 We've visited the junkyard equipment yard a few evenings in the past few weeks. It's a good place to take our rather hyper puppy and explore. The kids love building forts. They have one in the old cattle truck. And another in the back of a pickup bed.


Sometimes I wander around taking photos in the gorgeous light. This is a Say's phoebe.

And the many colors and patterns caught my eye for this tractor wheel.

To the east we saw the mountains that to some look like an owl, and to others a bat silhouette.

Sunflowers are my weak spot, I love these flowers! Some backlighting made this one glow.

The cogs on this wheel caught my attention. It's tied down so can't turn anymore.

My husband often perches up high to keep an eye on the kids. Desert Girl climbs no matter what she's wearing.

 This old car looks like it wouldn't mind going for another ramble.

When friends get to come along, it's even more fun. 

 Any guesses what this is? It's hard from the closeup...

...it's an old hay wagon, with cogs to move the hay off the back to feed the heifers in winter. And now you know!

The Twisted Forest, Dixie National Forest, Utah

While I was looking through tourist information on our trip to Cedar Breaks, I found a reference to the Twisted Forest, a grove of bristlecone pines, and some general directions to it in the Dixie National Forest. I was intrigued--I love bristlecones. So we braved a Forest Service road that started near Brian Head with the van. The road was in great shape, and I hooted with excitement as we drove across the slopes at Brian Head ski resort. We wound our way around the mountain, through beautiful aspen groves, past empty campsites, over a big, muddy puddle, and arrived at the Twisted Grove trailhead 3.5 miles after leaving the pavement. A sign, overhung by a bristlecone pine, greeted us.

As soon as left the trailhead, we entered Ashdown Gorge Wilderness. We also had stunning views of what awaited us: old growth bristlecone pine on orange and white substrate. How cool was that!

Some of the bristlecone pines looked very strange, and not that healthy. I'm not sure what's going on with them.

Many showed stripbarking, or only a small strip of bark alive keeping part of the tree alive, while the rest was dead. This is a common strategy for bristlecone pines to live longer. The sign said that at least one tree in this grove was over 2,000 years old.

We did find some younger ones. We'll have to revisit this tree in a few years and see who is taller. (Note what Desert Boy is carrying. He read so much this summer!)

We kept going until we reached the ridge (this brought some tears from Desert Girl, who really didn't want to hike the half-mile trail). I left the kids with water and snacks and walked the ridge to explore some more. I found all kinds of neat trees.

This one was barely hanging on. Brian Head Peak is in the background.

This one was dead but had such an interesting shape.

I must love the neat twists, as I took a lot of photos of them!

The lighting wasn't what I considered ideal, but I tried to work with it.

A storm was moving in from the east and we could hear some distant thunder, so we couldn't stay much longer.

 This sure is a place I'd like to return to. You can find more info about the Twisted Forest here.

On the way back we walked up to the top of the chair lift at Brian Head.

It was crazy seeing the slopes without snow. Hopefully we'll be back this winter!

Enjoying a Cool Getaway - Cedar Breaks National Monument

 

Last week I had planned on going up Mount Rainier to survey some glacier caves, but due to some bureaucracy, the trip was delayed for a year. I had already requested the time off, and decided I might as well enjoy it. On Sunday, the whole family went to Cedar City and then up to Cedar Breaks National Monument. We set up camp in the 10,000-foot high campground and then set off for the Alpine Pond loop trail, a distance of about two miles.

The kids were not happy hikers, but we made them do it anyway. The pond was pleasant, but not exactly thrilling. I enjoyed being at 10,000 feet on a nearly flat trail.

We got some smiles by the end of the hike.

My husband had to head back to the ranch, so we headed to the ranger program at the campground. They have programs Friday and Sunday nights, with astronomy programs Saturday night near the visitor center. This program was about bug kill, and Desert Girl took a close look at the spruce bark beetles responsible for killing so many trees.

It was fun going to a classic ranger campground program.

In addition to the high elevation of the campground, something else I really like about it is that it has hot showers! Woohoo! And it didn't fill up any of the nights we were there. And the wildflowers were amazing.

We were in a monsoonal period, so the skies got very dark and threatening at night. In fact, it rained every night we were there, but we were mostly prepared. We only did get a fire stared once, though.

Desert Girl and I took the half-mile long to the visitor center in the evening to check out the neat clouds and distant lightning. We could see the glow of Cedar City in the distance.

That night I woke up in the middle of the night and knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so I went out and took some night sky photos. The stars looked so close!


The next morning we woke up to beautiful fields of flowers just outside our tent lit by our nearest star.

We walked over to the visitor center and checked out the sun through special solar telescopes.

Then it was time for a hike to the Ramparts Overlook, a little less than two miles each way. Desert Boy packed a book, and whenever he was waiting, he pulled it out.

We started down the trail through the woods, then soon came out along the rim, looking into the magnificent hoodoos.

Soon we arrived at some old bristlecone pines. They were magnificent.

Desert Girl posed for a photo with me. Then we had a reading/snack break.

I had a lot of fun taking photos.

The kids decided they wanted to take photos too, so I took a photo of them before and after their set of photos so we could keep it all straight. They're going to enter a couple of their photos in the fair.

At the Ramparts overlook, we had some outstanding views. We ate lunch, worked on Desert Girl's junior ranger booklet,  and then headed back.

While Desert Girl and I tried to find the marmots we had seen earlier, Desert Boy took the opportunity to read a little more.

Storms were expected that afternoon, and the building clouds made for some even more dramatic views. We finished the hike, all happy to have had a chance for a slow-paced, fun walk.

 When we got back to the campsite, Desert Girl wanted to find a friend to play with. Fortunately, other kids were camping, and she and Desert Boy played a couple hours. It started raining, and I just wasn't feeling like cooking in the rain. So we drove to nearby Brian Head and had pizza. On the way back, we decided to drive up Brian Head Peak.

The van made it to the top of the three-mile gravel road to over 11,000 feet. We checked out the hut bit by the CCC at the top.

On the way down, we stopped so I could check out the view. I heard a squeak and saw a pika! Pikas are small mammals that look somewhat like rabbits. They live high in the mountains, but surprisingly don't hibernate. They collect grass all summer long and make piles of it, called haystacks, in talus fields. In the winter, they find those grass caches and eat them.

We still had one more more day of adventure on our trip, but that needs its own post. It was great spending some quality time with these super kids.