2018 Resurvey of Great Basin National Park GLORIA Peaks

 In mid-July, I was part of the GLORIA crew at Great Basin National Park. GLORIA stands for
Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments and is a worldwide protocol to study climate change on mountain tops. It was developed in Austria and came to the U.S. in 2004. Great Basin National Park became part of the GLORIA network in 2008.

The basic idea is that as climate warms, plants will move uphill to seek cooler places to grow. So if we study what lives on mountaintops, we'll see what's moving up to the highest elevations. Or in some cases, maybe the mountains aren't tall enough, so the plants will disappear. Identifying plants is key, and here master botanist Jan Nachlinger helps get everyone on the same page.

The methodology is repeated every five years, so 2018 was Great Basin's second resurvey. Four peaks are studied: Bald (pictured below), Buck, Wheeler (in the background below), and Pyramid. It takes about a day to survey each peak.

Wheeler Peak involved a 4.1-mile hike gaining 3,000 feet elevation. We passed some plants we had seen on the lower elevation Buck and Bald mountains.

A golden-mantled ground squirrel was hanging out on some rocks while I passed.

One of my favorite alpine plants--moss campion (Silene acaulis). Timing the surveys so that the majority of the plants are in bloom is one challenge. We held this survey in mid-July, which was good, because due to the very dry June, some plants were fading fast.  

It's a long way up Wheeler Peak! On this particular day, we had a lot of wind on this ridge, but as we proceeded higher, the wind diminished. That's not usual, but we welcomed it. There are numerous wind breaks along the way for those who need shelter.

Once we were on the top, it was time to set up the plots on each side of the peak. There are multiple protocols to both identify and quantify plant species present. In addition, data loggers are buried on each side of the peak and record temperature every two hours so that a five-year record can be captured and analyzed.

One of our challenges (besides long hikes and elevation sickness) was afternoon monsoons. Here the clouds are forming and getting lower. Our time on the peak was limited.

I really liked this cushion phlox (Phlox pulvinata). It grows in clumps, and this ring of flowers looks a little like a tiara.

Oh no, the clouds are erupting. We heard thunder and started down off the peak. It was weird seeing the rain come out of clouds below us. Fortunately it passed north of us.

We kept heading down, and the sun came out, lighting up the Parry's primrose (Primula parryi). This is usually a riparian plant, but it seems to like the upper slopes of Wheeler Peak too.

With three peaks done, we only had one left: Pyramid Peak. Pyramid is in the middle of the park, and there's no short way to get up it. We chose to move our camp over to Snake Creek and start early the next morning to hike up past Johnson Lake to get to the peak.

It is such a beautiful hike that the miles flew by. And on the slopes of Pyramid, we saw beautiful alpine gardens. The pink and red flowers in the photo below are Holmgren's buckwheat (Eriogonum holmgrenii), an endemic plant to this range. Fortunately it's not hard to find on Pyramid Peak and Mt. Washington.

 What a great office!

The clouds came in again, and we eventually made a retreat down to Johnson Lake. Fortunately the only part we didn't finish was counting rocks in the 3x3m grids. Seriously, there was no vegetation in any of them. It will be interesting to see if in 10 or 20 years there is some! What do botanists do while regrouping? Look for plants of course! And we saw some tiny Botrychium species that I would never have spotted on my own.

On the way down, a few of us took a look at the restored cook cabin. The restoration work had been done very nicely.

At this new trail junction, we took the trail to Dead Lake, just completed in 2017.

Dead Lake isn't much of a lake, but it had some fun plants. And in the fall, the yellow aspen surrounding the lake make for some great reflections.

And with Pyramid Peak done, the GLORIA season was over. We were happy to have successfully completed the surveys. We found a few new plants in our plots, perhaps because of climate change and perhaps because they didn't flower in the other years. We feel like we have a good baseline now with three surveys completed, and over the next decades will be looking for trends. This is definitely not a project where you get quick answers! If you'd like to learn more about the GLORIA Great Basin project, check out their friendly website. And here you can see the global distribution of the GLORIA network. Maybe someday I can participate in a GLORIA survey on a different mountain range, and maybe even a different country!

Sledding at the Rock Glacier and Swimming in Brown Lake

 My friend Jenny had some visiting nieces, and I had a day I could take off work, so it was time for two moms and eight kids to head out for a hike. We've done most of the hikes in the area, so we wanted a way to get the kids excited. So we decided to go sledding at the rock glacier and swimming in Brown Lake.

That was enough to get them hiking. And then they were happily talking to each other, and the miles passed quickly.

I pointed out some SPLAT verbenone that had been applied to a limber pine. This synthetic pheromone mimics the scent that mountain pine beetles give off when they have invaded the bark of the tree and the bark is full. Basically it tells the incoming beetles to pick a different tree. This tree is being protected because seeds from it are being tested to see if they are resistant to white pine blister rust, a non-native pathogen. If they are resistant, then this tree could help start many more trees that are resistant.

We had some fun poses as we got up to the bristlecones.

I love the beautiful colors and lines of their wood.

Even the roots are amazing. And roots are often exposed because they've been there thousands of years, and the surrounding soil has eroded away.

We didn't stay in the bristlecones long, though. We continued up into Wheeler cirque to see the rock glacier.

I had to pause to admire some beautiful wildflowers. The pink ones are in the saxifrage family, white-daisy ones are Erigeron leiomerus, and the white matted ones are Phlox pulvinata.

And then we were there! On the east side of the rock glacier, we found some nice snow patches. It turned out to be slipperier than we expected. 

Which made it good for sledding! Even Jenny and I gave it a try.

We found garbage bags and backpacks were good items to slide on.

We kept at it for quite awhile.

Eventually, though, we headed back down the trail. You can see Brown Lake from the trail, but there's not a trail to it, so we had to step carefully on the moraine, which has lots of big boulders that like to move.

Eventually we got to the lake. It's obviously brown in color.  It's also not very deep. I walked all over it and found the deepest spot to about 1 meter (3 feet).

Even though it's not deep, it sure has a scenic background!

The water was quite pleasant in temperature, but the rocks in the lake were covered with algae and very slippery. We found it was better to crawl around than risk falling.

Eventually it was time to get out.

The hike back was easy, and we even managed to bring back all the kids!

Jenny was much better about posting this hike on her blog in a timely manner. Oh well, I guess better late than never!

Trail Run up Hendry's Creek, Nevada

The kids went to 4-H camp for a weekend, which meant I had a free Saturday. Wow, what was I going to do? I felt a little delirious with free time! I decided to do something I like to do but they don't: a long trail run. I wanted to take the dog, which meant the trails in Great Basin National Park were out. So I went up to the North Snake Range to Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest to Hendry's Creek. There were lots of geology student tents along the way, but I didn't see anybody.

Not far from the trailhead I passed a huge patch of poison ivy. This is one of the few places in the area where it grows (also in Big Wash/Hidden Canyon and farther north around the Deep Creeks). I don't remember so much being along the trail like this, so I think it's spreading. :(

But then the trail goes into the uplands and all is good. I didn't know how far I was going to go, but I figured the high chance of rain might help turn me around. The trail is about 10 miles long to get to the amazing Table, a high elevation plateau near Mt. Moriah. I figured I wouldn't go that far today, but the thought lingered in my mind.

At mile 1.5 I entered Mount Moriah Wilderness Area. It doesn't really look much different!

There are lots of creek crossings. In early June, at high water, they can be dangerous. But in mid-July, I didn't even have to get wet.

It was cool getting to areas with big ponderosa pines. The dog did well, despite having broken her femur a few months ago and having surgery. We've been going on shorter runs to get her back in shape. And quite frankly, a lot of the uphill section of this "run" was fast walking. This photo was about mile 3.

This humongous ponderosa pine was about mile 4. I had turned on the "Map My Run" app on my phone so got an update every mile.

A cool flower, Scouler's St. John's Wort (Hypericum scoulei), that I don't see often.

At mile 5 I saw bristlecones (Pinus longaeva) ! Wow. These lower-elevation bristlecones don't live as long as the ones up on the high ridges.

Just a bit beyond was a nice campsite in the aspens.

And at this eighth stream crossing, a bit beyond 5 miles up the trail, I decided I would take a break and turn around. It felt so good to take off my shoes and put my feet in the cold water. I saw Bonneville cutthroat trout in the water.

I also enjoyed the fireweed, a pretty flower that grows in disturbed places. I remember it well from when I worked in Glacier Bay in Alaska.

I also enjoyed these Pinedrops, non-vascular plants with no chlorophyll.

Bowing to the millennial craze, I took a selfie showing some of the trail.

How cool, orchids! Streamside orchid-Epipactis gigantea. You don't expect them in the high desert, but they can hide out in riparian areas.

It was a lovely trail run, and even though I wasn't super fast, I had a great time checking out my surroundings and just being out in the wilds. My spirit felt renewed from this jaunt. And how great is it to still have places where you can hike/run and see no one!