Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park, White Pine County

Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park in White Pine County is a pretty cool place to visit.  Located east of Ely, Nevada, the charcoal ovens were built when silver mining was big in the area in the nearby Ward Mining District. They operated from 1876 to 1879.

Nearby pinyon pines and juniper trees were cut and put into the ovens. Then the ovens were heated and the wood turned into charcoal, which has a 96% carbon content. The charcoal was desired by the mines because it burned longer and hotter than wood.

I visited Ward Charcoal Ovens many years ago, but didn't have a return visit for many years, until the fall of 2017, before the Women in the Mountains Bicycle Clinic.


 On this visit, I wanted to check out some of the trails in the park. They have a nice trail network.

Here's a view of the riparian area. A small creek starts from springs in the park and then runs throughout the park.

There are some historic features that aren't preserved as well as the charcoal ovens.

Here's a view of the ovens from a higher vista on the trail.

I stayed in the campground, mainly so I could go take photos of the charcoal ovens at night. It was a fun photoshoot.

I didn't return to Ward Charcoal Ovens until Ely Outdoor Enthusiasts put on a trail run there in May 2019. What a terrific excuse to go back! They offered two- and four-mile runs. The kids signed up for the two-mile run and I did the four-mile run. Both courses were great, and we had a nice break in the rainy weather.  Here's a cool photo, courtesy of Ely Outdoor Enthusiasts, of the kids running:

I snapped a photo of the ovens during the race.

And then after the race, we went over to take a more relaxed look at them. Dogs are allowed on leash.


We went into the first charcoal oven.


It's so big! They could make a lot of charcoal in each oven, which was good, because sometimes it took 30 days of heating to make the charcoal. Then they had to let it cool, and on a calm day open the door. If it was too windy, they risked having the charcoal ignite and all their hard work literally go up in flames.

When the sun is shining, it makes for some spotlights in the ovens.

Another cool part of the ovens is the amazing lichens growing on them. They are now very colorful.

The entrance fee to Ward Charcoal Ovens is only $5 per vehicle. These are some of the best preserved charcoal ovens in the American West. I'm already looking forward to my next visit!

Strawberry Creek Reopened

Strawberry Creek, in Great Basin National Park, closed in August 2016 when a big wildfire burned about 4,500 acres of both park- and BLM-managed land. Since then, the gate at the park boundary has been closed until May 1, 2019, when it was opened to day use. We wanted to see what had changed, so we went for a lovely visit.

At the lower elevations, there are lots of grasses and forbs growing. Unfortunately, many appear to be non-natives (cheatgrass and mustards), but there are a good number of natives in there. Plus, the vegetation has helped stabilize the soil, which means flash floods are less likely (they are still possible, so stay out during storms).

The bridge has been reinstalled. It had been taken out because it was thought that a big flood after the fire would have wiped it out. Big storms over nearby burned areas (Hampton Creek and Lexington watershed) created some massive floods. But Strawberry Creek lucked out. There were small floods, but nothing major.


We went up to the trailhead to start the Strawberry meadow loop, about 2 miles long. The first obstacle is getting across Strawberry Creek, since the foot bridge is gone. It's not too hard, and I have a feeling it will be improved in the near future.


A short ways up the trail is this sign that survived the fire. It has an illustration of the scenery pre-fire. You can see some changes post-fire.

 

The Nevada parsley was in full bloom!

The buttercup really decorated some hillsides.

 

Here's a view from near the top of the meadow looking down canyon.

Then we came to another obstacle: crossing the creek again without a bridge. We added some big rocks to the streambed to make it easier for ourselves and those who follow.

Desert Girl stands near the sign at the junction. To the right, the trail goes up to the Osceola Ditch (used in the late 1800s to carry water from nearby creeks to the mining town of Osceola) and to Willard Creek. To the left is our loop.


As we hiked down, we followed some pink flagging. We also saw some places where water was running in new channels. The 170% snowpack we had this winter is creating some new streams.

here's a view of the main creek, with the tall, dead trees next to it.

Another creek crossing without a bridge! Altogether there are four creek crossings without bridges. Peak stream flow will be about mid-May to the end of June, so be extra careful then.

Then we lost the trail. We knew the general direction and kept hiking that way.

Aha, we found the trail again! Can you tell this is the trail? It looks a lot different now.

Then we reached a part where some flooding had wiped it out again. Fortunately the vegetation is all low enough that it's not hard to cross.

We found another little impromptu stream.

We're getting close back to the trailhead!

And then we were totally surprised by the last bridge being in place.

Can you tell what Desert Girl has in her hand? It's a snowball, as we found a little snow patch. She couldn't wait to throw it.

This landscape has changes so much. The Bonneville cutthroat trout in the stream have really suffered from the fire, but most of the rest of habitat will rebound and actually be healthier.

It's great to have this opportunity to go up into Strawberry Creek and see how this watershed has changed. Some interpretive signs should be installed this summer, sharing even more information about how this area is coming back.

To see more photos of what this area looked like pre-fire, check out this 2013 post.

Bloomington Cave, Utah

Back in March, our friends Andy and Bonnie asked if I could help reconnoiter Bloomington Cave in southern Utah with them for an upcoming cave rescue class. My calendar was clear, as long as I could bring the kids. That was fine with them, so we agreed on a meeting time. But the night before, it snowed! Snow in St. George isn't very common, and it was so beautiful I just had to stop and take a few photos!

We were worried about the road, but fortunately everything was frozen and travel was easy. I stopped again to snap a photo of this cool cave sign.

Bloomington Cave is managed by the BLM. They have a nice website page for the cave. It tells you how to get a permit, how to get to the cave, and maps of the cave.

Near the parking area is a covered kiosk with some really good caving info. One side shows what you should have to go into the cave, like a helmet, lights, kneepads, and depending on where you want to go, rappelling and climbing gear.

Another side shows some of the creatures that call Bloomington Cave their home.

It might surprise some people how many different cave dwellers are in the cave.

 

On the fourth side is a good map of the cave. Both it and the Cave Routes map on the website show different color routes through the cave. This is extremely helpful for navigating the 1.4-mile long tectonic cave, which is a bit mazy.

Properly equipped, we headed down to the south entrance.

We opened the gate with the code we had gotten. The cave gate is quite ingenious, as it can be opened from the inside without any code, so people can get out anytime. But to get in, you need the code, and they change it frequently.

The kids wanted to lead the way, and since the trail was marked with flagging, we let them.

Before long we came to the cave register, and Desert Girl and Bonnie checked it out.

I had been to Bloomington Cave over 15 years ago, and the thing I remembered most was how vertical it was. The majority of the cave is at a 60 degree angle. We went down to the Big Room, using the ropes we had brought with to assist us. We did a combination of rappelling and using the ropes as handlines. (I would recommend coming prepared to rappel, it makes it safer.) We were assessing the cave for where we could do some cave rescue practice in about a month under a special permit. We made our way around a loop and back to the cave register. 

Then we tried another route. (Be sure to check out the Routes page on the BLM website, which has a nice description of the different flagged routes.) We decided to give the green route a try, which is the shortest entrance-to-entrance route. It includes a squeezy part and some crawling. We even found some soda straws and flowstone.

After a break for lunch, we went back in the North Entrance and followed the pink route. It was a lot of fun seeing some of the cave, and their marked routes is a great idea. This is not really a beginner cave, it has some pretty tough sections.

A few weeks later I drove out to Gunlock State Park to help instruct at the Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) class for the National Cave Rescue Commission. I had never been there before, and was quickly impressed with the beauty!

The storm clouds did mean cold weather. Our classroom was in an unheated shed, and we did rope work outside. Plus we camped. That meant the cave was our warm place, and fortunately we spent two full days in it.

We rented this old hay barn to do vertical practice. Although I've taught this class a bunch of times (12 now, I think!), I always learn something new. This time it was Diminishing Loop with a knot pass (in case you didn't have a rope that was double the length of the drop). We discussed a good knot to use to tie two ropes together to make crossing the knot easy and then put it to the test. It worked very smoothly.

And then we had some pickoff demos and time to practice. These are so easy to mess up, so it's critical to practice frequently if you think you might ever need to use one.

I didn't manage to take any more photos at Bloomington Cave for the SPAR practices because I was pretty busy teaching, but the cave worked well. My favorite station was the pass a patient through two rebelays to get them down the 100-foot drop in the Big Room. Then we used a traveling haul to get the patient up through two rebelays. Since the drops weren't totally vertical, just steep angle, it made it a pretty good training area. And it was my first time having the opportunity to use two rebelays for teaching, it adds a little complexity.

One last photo: due to high water, the waterfalls at Gunlock State Park were running and were very pretty! If you're headed to Bloomington Cave, they're worth a detour.