Ice Skating above 10,000 Feet

 My friend Jenny told me that Stella Lake was frozen and that they had gone ice skating on it. What!? Stella Lake is above 10,000 feet in Great Basin National Park. Usually the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive is closed in mid-October, but because of the lack of precipitation, it was still open in mid-November.

So Desert Girl and I headed up there Sunday morning, leaving at 7 a.m. to try to get there when it was coldest. When we arrived, we found that there was open water on part of Stella Lake. Uh, oh.

Fortunately the little cove on the east side was frozen over with about two-inch thick ice. So we put on our skates and gingerly stepped out on the ice.

Desert Girl was absolutely delighted. She fell in love ice skating last winter, and we even bought some skates for her (fortunately they adjust to four different sizes, so they'll last more than one season). She hadn't quite found her rhythm at Fire and Ice last January, but she sure wanted to try again!

She had such a good attitude and was so fun to be with!

The bubbles in the ice were fascinating.

Desert Girl did not want to stop. I had to take a break, but she kept going.

The ice was so beautiful, nice and smooth.

I climbed up the bank to get more of an overview of the lake. You can see the cove where we were. It was at most one foot deep under the ice.

We then went to Teresa Lake and had a great time skating there, but my phone battery crashed in the cold and I couldn't take any photos. Maybe that was a good thing, because it made me want to go back! The weather cooperated, so after school on Wednesday, Desert Girl and I headed back up the mountain.

We hiked to Teresa Lake, arriving about four p.m. Desert Girl chatted on the hike there, she was so thrilled to be skating again, and the hike went very fast.

I was excited when we got to the lake, because the clouds were turning colors and the ice still seemed thick enough. (I was a little worried because it was late in the day and temps had been above freezing.)

Desert Girl kept calling it Teresa Pond because it was so small. A lot of the water evaporates, and the lake shrinks during the summer. This summer it stayed big longer than usual, but it still got small in the fall.

Desert Girl called me over to look at a peanut in the ice. This is what she pointed out.

The ice was mostly smooth, although there were a couple interesting depressions in it. People had thrown rocks on the ice, and they had frozen in just enough that we couldn't move them. So we had some obstacles to avoid.

The clouds kept moving fast, the light kept changing, and I felt like I was in a magical world. Desert Girl improved her skating quite a bit.

 We found some evidence of higher lake levels on the south shore.

More fun patterns.

 Finally we were at the last light. We skated over to the edge, thanking God for such a marvelous place and experience. We had a pleasant twenty-minute dark hike back to the vehicle. The memories will last much, much longer!

I don't know if we'll ever have the opportunity to skate on these lakes again, as usually we have snow. But if the weather works out, we will surely be back, because this is an amazing place to go ice skating.

It Followed Them to School One Day

 So after the county fair in August, we still had one sheep left. It was a little underweight, so we decided to keep it for a couple more weeks. Sheep are very social animals, so we let it into the yard so it could socialize a little more. Then it started following us (and the dog) all over. Including to school one day. It had managed to find a way around a fence and then jumped a cattle guard. I was impressed.

The sheep watched with interest as the school bus came.

I think if our dog had gotten on the bus, the sheep would have too.

The sheep also followed us to the swimming hole. The dog and sheep got along pretty well.

And another day the sheep got out and started following Desert Boy to school.

I even got phone calls one morning, Your sheep is walking down main street.
I headed over there and made sure I had a camera ready!

 Life never gets boring!

Frontier Homestead State Park and Other Kid-Friendly Destinations in Cedar City, Utah

For fall break we headed to Cedar City for two days. Spending the night allowed us to see some new things, like Frontier Homestead State Park. It's right on main street and really obvious, but we had always put it off for another day. Fortunately, that day finally arrived!

The state park has a big museum building with lots of photo stops. The kids were happy to participate.

They got engaged trying to plan what to take in their wagon.

Of course dressing up was fun!

Then we went outside, where there are lots of buildings and equipment. Desert Boy was delighted to find lincoln logs, and Desert Girl and I left him there while we toured the oldest brick house in Cedar City, an old school house, and more. When we returned, Desert Boy had made some elaborate structures.

Desert Girl had her turn to play (we were the only visitors at that time), so Desert Boy and I wandered over to the Native American section and checked out the moundhouse.

We also visited the old iron buildings. Originally the state park was called Iron Mission, as some pioneers were sent to mine the Iron. Hence the name Iron County (my aha moment!). I had never really given much thought as to where blacksmiths obtained their supplies.

We just skimmed the surface of this state park, there is so much more to learn. They have a very active friends group.

So what else is there to do in Cedar City that is kid friendly?

The main reason we were there was to go to the pediatric dentist. The kids are happy here, watching movies. A little later they found out they had their first cavities, which definitely wasn't so happy.

We went to the Garth and Jerri Frehner Natural History Museum on the Southern Utah University campus. The museum is small, but has some interesting items. Desert Girl liked all the shells. Desert Boy liked the animals you see below. Check the exhibits tab on their website to see more photos of what they have, including the famous two-headed calf.

Just down the street is the Southern Utah Museum of Art. We went there for the first time last year and really liked it, so we went back and were intrigued with a new exhibit, about dresses. (Okay, Desert Boy wasn't that interested, but he got to do some coloring, and that kept him very happy.)

A perennial favorite is the Cedar City Aquatic Center. Since we weren't in a hurry, we spent hours there. I may or may not have fallen asleep briefly in one of the comfortable reclining chairs along the edge.

When we left the aquatic center, we took a look at the pond (reservoir) adjacent to it. It's called Lake at the Hills. There are sand volleyball courts, fishing, and a beach. Apparently you can rent kayaks in summer. We'll have to check it out again!

We also enjoyed walking around. We went to the Cedar City Public Library and bought a bag of books for $5. We also enjoyed the wildlife art they had on display, and the kids read for half an hour. Then they climbed on the playground just outside the library. One the way back to the motel, the kids insisted that I take a photo of them posing with this statue in front of City Hall. They are trying to imitate the statue.

Something else we did was take an ethnic gastronomic tour of Cedar City. We ate Thai at Sweet Basil (always delicious!), Guatemalan at El Quetzal (the tamales and tacos were deliciosos, the empanadas not so much), Japanese at Ninja (the kids show what they thought of it below--I liked the sushi), and French at the French Cafe (fantastic tarts, crepes, and quiche). Desert Girl wants to learn some French now.

We still have Indian, Peruvian, Chinese, and possibly more to try. An older food review somewhere complained about the food desert of southern Utah, but I'd have to say that Cedar City has quite a variety.


For a few more ideas of what to do with kids in Cedar City (that don't involve hiking or biking, which the kids wanted to take a break from), check out this list.

NSS Western Regional at Lava Beds National Monument

Last September I had a chance to visit Lava Beds National Monument, and I loved it so much I wanted to take the kids back. We had the opportunity to do so in early October for the NSS Western Regional, a gathering of cavers. 

Google maps said it's about a 10-hour drive. We went to Fallon the first day, then proceeded via an alternate route the second day. I wanted to see Pyramid Lake, so we did. The lake is surrounded by Shoshone tribal land. We headed up the western side, as Google maps had shown a route that way. I was surprised by the number of anglers along the way. Then we reached the end of the pavement, and a big sign said the road was closed ahead. Uh oh. We were in the van, so I wasn't willing to chance it, so we backtracked. We took a brief stop to touch the lake and admire the cool tufa structures. Then we headed up the east side of the lake. (I guess I was pretty hard-headed about not taking the road more traveled.)

This area is very quiet most of the time. We reached Gerlach about lunch time, and I loved their welcome sign so much that I stopped to take a photo of it. After all, how often are you in the Center of the known Universe?

We ate lunch and found out that about 120 people live in the town year round, but they see about 80,000 visitors around Labor Day week, when the annual Burning Man Festival is held on the nearby Black Rock Desert.

We took more empty roads, crossed into California (without a sign, so it was several miles before we realized it), and passed through some scenic towns. Eventually we arrived at Lava Beds National Monument in time to get our caving pass (to ensure that White-nose Syndrome isn't spread), set up our tent, and register for the regional.

Our first cave was Mushpot Cave, the only lava tube that has lights and a paved trail in it. There are also nice interpretive signs explaining how lava tubes are formed and features in them.


This is the most-visited cave in the park, but we had it all to ourselves. It shows some great lava features. Can you imagine when the lava was flowing through here?


We crossed the road and went into Indian Wells Cave, which used to be a watering hole. We didn't find any water on our visit. But the entrance was gorgeous, and we had fun popping out a different entrance. The kids loved the chance to lead and explore.


We met up with friends and had a lovely evening. The next day we joined a group going to Catacombs Cave. A four-hour trip to do the loop. It involved some route-finding and a lot of crawling, but we made it! Here's one of the kids in the tight connection section.


And a cool root. Most of these lava tubes aren't very far below the surface, so roots aren't too much of a surprise. This one was cool because it had a spider web on it with some condensation.


We ate lunch in the parking lot and then headed to some more caves along the Cave Loop. I wanted to check out some caves that are usually closed due to bats. Here is Ovis Cave.


We ended up coming out a different entrance, wandered across the road, and went into Sunshine Cave.


Then we walked back down the road and checked out Paradise Alley, which runs parallel and slightly higher than Ovis Cave. There's a lookout at one point, with a strong breeze blowing up.


This may have been one of the cave entrances, they sort of blend together after awhile! It is such a fun place to explore, with cave entrances all over. The CCC improved trails in many of the lava tubes in the 1930s, making them relatively easy to walk in.


Some from our group went to the Western Regional business meeting. The kids climbed trees for a bit and then were ready to explore again. I wanted to show them the amazing Skull Cave, one of the few caves left with ice in it. About twelve have lost their ice in recent years.

The entrance is immense.


And then the passage seems even bigger. Can you even see the kids?

We went down steep staircases to get to the lower level.

And then we reached the gate. On the other side we could see the ice.

Although the ice in most of the lava tubes is shrinking, one resource manager told me that the ice in Skull Cave is actually increasing, and they don't know why. 

Next we headed further north, seeing so much more lava! We stopped at pretty much every scenic overlook to see what was there. Below we could see Schonchin Butte in the distance, and the Devil's Homestead Flow right in front of us. We also learned about the Modoc War, which started in 1872, when troops from Fort Klamath tried to force the Modoc from their tribal lands back to the reservation in Oregon. The Modoc hid in the lava. In April 1873 peace talks began, but they did not go well. The Modoc retaliated for the slaughter of 30 members of their tribe and killed two peace commissioners. For the next six months, 1,000 troops and volunteers sought to capture fewer than 60 Modoc warriors and their families. The Modoc were then sent to Oklahoma.

It was rather sad to contemplate that story, with the Modoc being forced off their lands. We found some peace at the West Wildlife Overlook, looking into Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Thousands of birds dotted the water.

It was getting late in the day and the light was gorgeous.

As we came back to Schonchin Butte, we could see the fire tower in silhouette.

That night we had the big banquet, a delicious dinner put on by the Motherlode Grotto. Afterwards we intended to stay for some of the entertainment, but the cold temperatures and busy day had us heading to the tent.

I woke early and went for a lovely walk along the Bunchgrass Trail.

The sun came up and painted everything golden with the sun still in the sky.

Our plan for that day started with a Photography Trip with Dave Bunnell into Valentine Cave. When we arrived, a couple tripods were already set up near the entrance.

The kids offered to be models. But they quickly decided they'd rather be cave exploring!

So as we went through the cave, they posed, but not for long.

It was fun working with other photographers seeing how to place lights. Cave photography is all about the lighting.


But sometimes the best shot is happy kids in a cave!



We found a white springtail, which made me happy.


And then on to a few more photos.


The kids found that it was really fun to make shadow puppets on the lava tube walls.


Love all this walking passage!


They eventually got tired of the cave and we headed out. They weren't too interested in doing other caves, but they thought it would be fun to climb to the fire lookout, less than a mile each way.

The views were great, and we even got to see Mt. Shasta. It's so strange seeing a big volcano rising up covered in snow and ice. (It's barely visible in the photo below.)

We still had a little time before our 2 p.m. departure time, so we went over to Merrill Cave. It used to be an ice cave, and in fact there are photos of people ice skating on the ice. But it's all gone now.

The trail through the cave was very nice. 

The kids had completed their junior ranger booklets, so we went to the visitor center. Ranger Jillian swore them in.

We couldn't resist driving the 1.5-mile long cave loop one more time. And I might not have resisted a quick stop at Blue Grotto Cave. Which just happens to be a fairly long cave. And it was extra memorable when our lights started going out. 

It was a long drive, but Lava Beds was worth it. I would happily return, there is still so much more to see!