Desert Destination: Kolob Canyons

We had a last-minute getaway weekend vacation, and it was nice to get out and enjoy some different scenery. Although most of our time was spent shopping, eating out, and in the hotel pool, we also went to the northwestern part of Zion National Park, called Kolob Canyons. Not far from Interstate 15 is a five-mile scenic drive with several trails leading off from it. The trails were snow-covered and we weren't prepared to go on them (we have hiked some there in the past and it is quite relaxing). Instead we enjoyed the contrast of the bright, white snow on the orange sandstone with the evergreen accents.

We didn't manage to take too many photos. Desert Boy was very interested in hiking in the snow and even places where he could slide down steeper slopes. There weren't many visitors, so he was free to run and use up some of his boundless energy. The melting snow caused extra rocks to roll down some of the road cut areas--the power of erosion was clearly evident.

If you're not hiking, this is a quick detour that shows off some of the spectacular Utah scenery. There's also an advanced canyoneering route in this area; some day I'll have to return to give it a try. For more info about Kolob Canyons, click here.

Mirror Lake Scenic Drive

On the weekend my husband and I visited Midway, Utah and Homestead Crater, we also took a scenic drive to Mirror Lake, located in the Uinta Mountains. To get there, we headed north from Midway and then east along the south edge of Jordanelle Reservoir. This huge reservoir is relatively new, from the 1990s. There have been many water projects in central Utah to transport water from the mountainous areas that receive lots of snow each winter to the Wasatch Front, where the majority of Utah's population lives.

Along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, which starts in Kamas, UT, we stopped at a sign denoting the Duchesne Tunnel. This six-mile long tunnel can carry up to 600 cfs of water, although late in the fall it was running less than 20 cfs.

We could just barely see the tunnel from the end of the little walk.

As we traveled further up the road, we passed beautiful meadows, lots of ATV trails, and many campsites with hunters. By late October most of the leaves had fallen off the trees, but we did see a bit of color in the coniferous forest due to insect kill.

We stopped at the overlook for the Provo River Falls, finding an ice-covered cascade. We were the only vehicle in the parking lot, and it was obvious that on a hot summer afternoon, this place would be packed and a lot of fun.

We wandered down the trail and then back up the river to enjoy the many waterfalls.

Needless to say, it was cold!

As we went further up the road, my husband started getting worried because we hadn't seen any other vehicles in a long time. Now out where we live, we take this for granted. And usually we're on valley bottoms. But this time we were up in the mountains, and we started thinking of had all the tales of people getting stranded in similar situations and trying to dig their way out of snow and walking 36 miles in circles and cutting off their big toes to have something to eat.

We knew that even though it was a beautiful day, there was a big storm coming. And so my husband imagined even worse scenarios.

Fortunately, before too long we got to Mirror Lake, a scenic lake with tall Uinta Mountains in the background. A bit of trivia: the Uintas are one of only three east-west trending mountain ranges in the U.S., and they are the longest of the three.

Here we were again the only vehicle in the parking lot. The campground, with over 75 sites, were closed. Ice was building along the shoreline. The lakeside trail was covered with snow. And a cold breeze kept us from venturing too far. But we figured we had come this far, we had better get out and see a little of it.

I'm trying to keep my hair out of my face in this photo. This would be a fun place to go back to and spend a couple nights camping. There are some great mountains nearby that wouldn't be too hard to climb, along with fishing, hiking, and just generally enjoying the outdoors.

But for now, the Mirror Lake area is coated in deep snow. The storm that arrived not too long after our visit dumped many feet of snow. I'm sure the lakes have nearly frozen over as the cold chill takes hold on the high terrain. But next spring, as the days get longer and the sun warms the mountain air, it will all reawaken. And fortunately we won't be trapped in our vehicle, waiting.

Animals Eating Dead Elk

A few weeks ago, I did a post about an elk that was killed by a mountain lion. A camera was set up to document what came and fed on the elk. Finally the photos came back, and today we're going to look at what feasts on a huge dead bull elk. Before you look at the photos, take a guess. What do you think eats a dead elk?

A mountain lion showed up. This wasn't much of a surprise, because it was a mountain lion that killed the elk. An elk will provide food for almost a week for a single lion. For some reason the photos came out double-exposed, so that's why there are some extra shadows in there. One of the nice things about the wildlife cameras is they will provide a date and time stamp so you know when the creature walked in front of the camera. I enhanced these photos since they were taken at twilight.

Here's the lion again. You can just imagine the power in those legs, and the stealth of the cat as it took down the much bigger animal. 

I went on this trail the other day, and when I got in the area of the elk, I just kept on a'movin', hoping the lion didn't look at me as easy meat. Most likely the lion has moved far off, but you never know.

There's something about not being the top of the food chain that makes me feel a little more alive. Really.

It was cold, as you can see by all the snow, so the elk meat was frozen. I bet it's not as tasty frozen as when it's warm just after the kill. I'm just guessing here, I have to admit I haven't done any taste tests. Nor am I planning to. (You weren't thinking I would, right?)

You have to look closely at this photo to see what's feasting on the elk now. It's night, and a nocturnal animal is in the body cavity. It's black and white with a bushy tail.

Here's a better shot of the spotted skunk, successful in grabbing a piece of the meat. Spotted skunks are rarely seen in this neck of the woods, so it was exciting to get a picture of it.

Now it's daylight. (I cropped the picture if you wondered what happened to the date and time stamp.) What's the blue thing next to the elk carcass? Does it have feathers?

Sure enough, it's a bird, a Steller's Jay to be exact. Okay, I definitely wasn't expecting a Steller's Jay to be posing on the elk carcass.

The camera took more photos after this set taken in late December, so it will be a matter of time to see if any other animals made use of this "free" source of food. And that's all for today. I need to go make some food. Yum.

Desert Boy Goes Sledding

We've had a couple good storms lately bringing some much needed moisture to our desert area. So we packed up the sled and headed up into the mountains to a sledding hill to enjoy the wintery fun. There were about 20 people in all sledding (or spectating). I thought we should get started right away and hauled Desert Boy and a sled up a hill, where we were joined by a cute redhead. We were all ready to have fun...

...and then we met reality--snow in the faces! Neither Kara nor Desert Boy were happy about it. But not to worry, the fun didn't end there. 

The sledding hill was relatively big--that blob part way down one of the sled runs is two people on a sled. Now why is it that sleds are magically attracted to trees? Notice how many of the sled trails lead down to the one lone tree at the bottom?

Yep, Desert Boy found out about it the hard way.

And then again. He had the hardest time keeping his mittens on, and his little paws got cold and he hollered. Desert Boy doesn't exactly have a quiet voice, so everyone knew he wasn't happy. I decided to take him on another run to try to cheer him up.

But whaddya know, we ended up in that same tree. Desert Boy was not amused, so it was time to find a better sledding place for him. That better sledding place turned out to be the road. No snow up in his face, and a gentle ride where he didn't feel like he was at the mercy of gravitational pulls.

The bright side for us was an easy walk uphill.

And then a fun ride downhill. Desert Boy is actually smiling in this photo!

He got to ride with Daddy, too. 

And then Desert Boy got a ride with his little friend. She was having some issues with snow and gravitational pulls, too, and preferred the road to the big sledding hill.

Finally Desert Boy decided he was done and bailed. Maybe next year he'll embrace the fun of sledding. And maybe by then all my bumps and bruises will have healed--that sledding hill sure looks like fun but contains a lot of hidden obstacles!

Desert Destination: Cave Lake's Fire and Ice Show

January 17-18 were the dates of the annual Fire and Ice Show at Cave Lake near Ely, Nevada. The fire consists of a huge fireworks show and an historic black powder cannon being shot off "as often as possible." The ice covers Cave Lake and is the scene of ice fishing and ice sculptures, with a top prize of $1,000.

I think those ice fishing outnumbered those ice sculpting, and people of all ages participated in both. I asked one fisherman how thick the ice was--we've had unusually warm weather the past two weeks--and he said 12 to 14 inches. 

Here's an ice sculpture in progress. We toured about 2 1/2 hours before the quitting time, when the sculptures would be judged. This is a sculpture of a man riding a horse. Not shown in this picture is the same scene but going in the opposite direction. I'm guessing these ice sculptors were fairly experienced, bringing plywood to keep off the wind. But the weather was really pleasant--the ice sculptors just wished there was more snow.

This scene has a bed/recliner, fireplace, a tree, and a couple other things. We'll revisit this scene at the end of the post and see what they've accomplished in 45 minutes.

This is a rendering of the Hoover Dam. A huge group came up from Las Vegas to work on it. They said if they won the top prize, it would pay for their hotel rooms next year. The Fire and Ice Show has been in the Top 100 Events for both 2008 and 2009.

We wondered why paths were shoveled out on the ice, and before long we got our answer--the ATV-towed wagon. We couldn't resist a ride around the lake. 

Some of the ice sculptures were still in the blobby phase. 

Others were pretty much done, like this steam locomotive.

Here's a mouse watching a cat catching a mouse and some catnip in front of it. The sculptors are busy shoveling snow around their creation.

An ice cream sundae. yum.

I think this is the doughboy. Or maybe the monster in Ghostbusters crashing through skyscrapers. I was fascinated by the process of making the ice sculptures. Buckets, shovels, sleds, heaters (to warm up water), ice augers (to get lake water), chairs, ladders, and concrete finishing tools were the most popular tools to make the ice creations.

Here are some cute penguins, part of a bigger sea scene.

The Hoover Dam is getting bigger. The columns were starting to tilt a little, but they just kept patching them up.

The tree is looking a lot more like a tree that we saw in the first scene.

Walking around could be a little slippery.

Next year we'll have to bring a sled--kids loved being pulled around. And people were sledding off the hills all around the lake, playing ice bowling, and generally having a great time. It was a wonderful day to be out and about. Now if I can just convince a bunch of friends and family to join me in ice sculpting next winter, maybe we can try for that prize!

Here's a video from last year's Fire and Ice Show from another blog:

2009: La Niña Returns?

So far the winter has been extremely dry out here, with only a dusting of snow left up on the nearby mountains and nothing on the valley bottom. NOAA weather scientists believe that a weak La Niña may be forming, and in our area, a La Niña means less precipitation. 

La Niña is associated with unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. These ocean temperatures impact temperatures globally for up to two years. During a La Niña, the easterly trade winds are stronger than normal, allowing colder water to upwell along the equator and western coast of South America. These colder water temperatures can be as much as 7 degrees F below normal.

In the U.S., La Niña causes drier than normal conditions in the Southwest, Central Plains, and Southeast; and wetter, cooler conditions in the Pacific Northwest. In our area, we hear news reports about places less than one hundred miles to the north that are receiving wonderful snowfall. But we are just far enough below the invisible line that we aren't benefiting from an excess of precipitation. We've been dry for the last couple of years, so it's not great to be getting a La Niña.

La Niña is part of a natural cycle, alternating with neutral conditions and El Niño, when the ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific are warmer than normal. During El Niño years, climate is often the reverse of La Niña conditions.

So I guess we'll just have to do the best we can for now and hope that this La Niña will be weak and soon end. The intensity of La Niña and El Niño events can vary a great deal. If you'd like to learn more about this weather phenomenon, check out the NOAA website.

Tracking a Bobcat

A coworker told me about a bobcat she saw. It ran across the road in front of her and into a sagebrush and grass meadow. I've only seen a couple bobcats in my life, so I went over to investigate. It didn't take long to find the tracks. Bobcat tracks are like most cat tracks, with four toes that are curved around the paw. The paw itself has two lobes at the top of it (instead of a single lobe like a dog), but because the rear foot of a bobcat often steps on top of the front foot track, the two lobes can be obscured.

By the stride of the tracks, I can see the bobcat was walking. It also appeared to have been dragging its feet even though the snow was no more than three inches deep. Bobcats are generally solitary and nocturnal, and although they might wander more than 25 miles, they frequently stay in the same two-mile radius.

Here's a closeup of the paw print. It's not very large, only about 2 inches long and 2 inches wide. (It's very common for tracks to appear a little larger when the snow melts.) An adult bobcat weighs between 11 and 20 pounds. They are expert tree climbers.

One of the reasons I wanted to follow the bobcat is to see how it moves. It curved around bushes, and I could just imagine it sniffing around, trying to locate small mammals or birds, its favorite food. Before long, in February, bobcats start mating season. The kittens are born two months later and stay with their mom until autumn.

I followed the tracks until they started getting too far away. It's really fun tracking, and I have to admit there's always a little surge of adrenalin as I follow tracks around a tree, wondering if I've somehow caught up to the animal. So far I never have. But maybe someday.