Johnson Canyon in Snow Canyon State Park

 I had an appointment in St. George recently, and along with doing a few errands (grocery shopping, bike tune-up, etc.), I wanted to make time for a little hike. I headed to Snow Canyon State Park and to the Johnson Canyon trail, which was described as being about two miles long and beautiful. It's also closed from March 15 to October 15, so that gave me a little extra impetus to get it done.

I drove past the parking area and to the fee booth at the south end of the park before I realized I had missed the parking area. (You can hike this trail for free, but it's nice to support the state park, too.) So I turned around and parked, then walked across the road to lots of orange sand. It wasn't long, though, until I saw the black lava contrasting with the landscape.

It was a warm day, so I thought I'd see lots of wildflowers. I just saw two though:

The drainages looked fascinating, with a twenty foot plunge over a lava lip to reach the sand below. A gauging station/weather station was off to the right above the drop.

 I ambled on and before I knew it there was a huge arch over on the side. This is Johnson Arch, with a span of 200+ feet. This is one of the main reasons to go on this hike.

Another big reason is that this is the only surface water in Snow Canyon (and that's why it's closed in the summer, to allow the wildlife to have free access to the water). There's not a lot of water, but even the small drainage leaves evidence of flash floods.

I saw a couple lizards.

I also noticed a swarm of small insects in the air. The water apparently supports some insect hatches.

The riparian ice was very pleasant. It ended in a bunch of rocks in the stream bed, but I could hike up to a big sandy area below some cliffs.

On my way back I enjoyed the arch again.

Then I found my own little arch, high up on the cliffs and only visible for a short while because it's so small. It made me happy to make this little discovery.

I also saw some signatures on the cliff wall that I had missed on the way in. Snow Canyon was named for Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, prominent Utah leaders. I'm not sure who F. Snow refers to or the other signatures.

As I was walking, ravens kept flying about and making quite a bit of noise. Then I noticed that there was a lighter colored bird that the raven was harassing. I thought at first it was a prairie falcon, but looking closer at the photo, I'm not so sure. (Any help?)

I had to take at least one photo of the creosote, a characteristic plant of the Mojave Desert. They weren't blooming yet, but they still looked and smelled beautiful.

I had most of the hike in to myself, but on the way back out I passed numerous groups and the parking lot was full. This is clearly a popular hike! If you'd like to try it, there are more details here.

March 1, 2016 Baker Creek Snow Survey

 Last week, five of us set out to measure snow at the Baker Creek snow course sites. Three sites, from 8,200 to 9,500 feet elevation, have been measured since 1942 at the end of February and end of March to determine how much snow and water content is on the mountain. This long-term data set is one of the longest for the area. Some of the snow course sites have been replaced with Snotel sites, automated sites. A few years ago, a Snotel site was installed near the Wheeler Peak campground. The Wheeler Peak snotel shows hourly weather data, including temperature and precipitation. That site is a few miles away and at a different elevation than the Baker Creek sites, so the snow courses are continued.

We started at seven in the morning checking our gear and doing a safety briefing. Then we headed up the mountain and started skiing on just a few inches of snow on the upper Baker Creek road. We reached the first snow survey site, a bit above the Baker Lake trailhead, before nine in the morning. At each site, the snow depth is measured with a special snow tube. The snow tube is then weighed to determine the snow water content equivalent. This is repeated four more times and the average value used.

It's about a thousand foot elevation gain and a mile and a half to the second site. We found some places along the trail where the snow had melted.

Fortunately the snow looked plenty deep at the second site.

We were happy to find the snow almost three feet deep and with a water content double that of last year.

I used the calculator function on my phone to help do the calculations. We have to have density within five percent for all five measurements or we have to redo them. The whole program has been worked out to be quite field friendly.

I can't remember what got us all smiling at this moment, but overall it was a great day, with very nice weather. Plus it's hard to beat being outside!

We ate lunch a bit further on and then continued up to the third site.

The untracked snow ahead of us.

We crossed a small spring to reach the third site.

I'm going to have to go back in summer to see how this tree looks in comparison to the sign! The third snow course site is about half way to Baker Lake.

The snow was over three and a half feet deep here, with good water content. It turned out to be an almost average amount, which is a nice change from last year's much drier results.

Brooke is holding one part of the measuring tape. The measurements are taken at prescribed locations along a transect.

After we finished, it was time to head back down the trail. This can be a lot of fun, but also a bit scary, with trees, rocks, and steep sections to navigate. We all wore skins on our skis for both uphill and downhill to have a little more control.

I thought this aspen trunk was so interesting looking.

We all made it down safely, in about two hours from the top site. Despite a few falls, everyone was in good shape.

We sent the data we had collected to the Nevada NRCS office, and they used it to make the March 1 Water Supply Outlook. You can find it and more information on the NRCS website.

Death Valley's 2016 SuperBloom

 Last weekend, while jogging with my husband, an idea came to me: Why not go to Death Valley today? I had been seeing multiple posts about the fantastic wildflowers, products of October flooding. One friend who works in Death Valley said it's the best she's seen since she's been there, which is about fifteen years. I didn't have anything too pressing at work, it was only about six hours away, and I had the energy and desire. So I asked my husband if he would mind if I went. He said fine, and thanks to friends Nomi and Jenny, the kids were taken care of after school.

I had packed quickly and meant to leave early afternoon Sunday, but was having so much fun with friends on a bike ride that I didn't leave until 4:30 p.m. That worked out fine, I saw a beautiful moonrise near Ely, listed to a great audiobook, Duplicity, and before I knew it was in Beatty, Nevada. I decided to go a little further so I could get to the flowers even faster the next morning.

That turned out to be a great decision. The upper elevations didn't have many flowers, but were beautiful (see photo above). But as I descended along the Beatty cut-off road, there was a cacophony of flowers.

Because I had a very loose itinerary, I just stopped where ever I wanted, climbed various hills, and snapped lots of photos. I bent low and smelled the flowers--delicious! Although the yellow Desert Gold (Gereae canescens) flowers dominated, there were many others, at least 12 species along this road.

I wasn't the only one stopping. It seemed when one vehicle pulled over, others would stop too. It reminded me of the "bear jams" we used to see in Yellowstone. I was now experiencing "flower jams." Fortunately, the shoulders of Death Valley roads are graded so it's very easy to pull all the way off the road. The mountains in the background are hazy because it was extremely windy, blowing the sand from the dunes near Stovepipe Wells down the valley.

I stopped at Furnace Creek for a while, including a $16.95 hamburger at the cafe that was totally worth it, one of the best I've ever eaten. Then I headed further south, where the report was that the flowers were excellent. When I got to Badwater, the lowest spot in Northern America at -292 feet elevation, I didn't expect to see any flowers. But on the edge of the road, overlooking the salt flat, flowers bloomed, creating an amazing juxtaposition.

I took some time to look at some of them in more detail, like this Gravel Ghost (Atrichoseris platyphylla), which seems to float in air above the gravel due to the camouflaged nature of its stem.

And these purple flowers made beautiful patterns.

The Desert Gold made fields of gold.

Some of these fields extended over entire alluvial fans. Which, when you think about it, is so remarkable. There is practically no soil on these alluvial fans. These flowers are growing out of the gravel. And in just a few weeks (or less, depending on weather conditions), the alluvial fans will be back to their normal grey and brown colors.

I tried to find a different way to get a photo. After all, how many fields of flowers did I need to take? (I did take over a thousand photos on this two-day trip!) The afternoon light was just stunning.

I kept heading south, in a race against the setting sun. The dark colored mountains contrasted with the yellow flowers. I started thinking of them as "hairy hillsides."

The road kept going and going. By now, most people had turned around, as the flash floods had closed the highway ahead. But I decided to go ahead and take the load less traveled. (Relatively speaking. There are some really less traveled roads in the Death Valley area!)

I arrived at Ashford Mill Site, where I tried to get some shots of the rising moon (not so successful) and of the moonlit ruins and flowers under Orion and Canis Major (a little better).


This looked like a great place to be in the morning, and when two SUVs full of photographers joined me the next morning, I knew I was right. A few clouds provided a very nice sunrise.

The full moon was setting as the first light hit the tops of Telescope Peak and the other mountains. It was dreamy.

And then there was a little reality check. A Stealth bomber flew overhead with an accompanying jet. They made a few laps up and down the valley.

Fortunately I found I could easily be distracted by the flowers. Here are a few (sorry, I don't know the names of them all! I wish I did):

pretty white flower in the Sunflower family

 Desert Five Spot (Erimalche rotundifolia)

Cute little composite

Cryptantha (Borage Family)

The afternoon and morning light are definitely the best for photography. After my second morning photographing flowers, I went for a bike ride, hike in a canyon, and a swim at Furnace Creek ($5 to get a pool pass for the day!). Then it was time to head home. The trip was quick, but totally refreshed me. Seeing the beautiful flowers growing in such a desolate place revealed more of the beauties of our planet and made me feel so alive.

If you'd like to know more, the DesertUSA has a Death Valley Wildflower Report has more info on what's blooming now.