So Snowy! Part 2

 

As snow continued to fall, we invited others to learn how to cross-country ski. Here is Desert Girl encouraging a friend.

The snow didn't keep Desert Girl from riding her bike to go to chores. Finn likes the snow a lot.

On one particularly heavy snow, I asked Desert Boy to go with me skiing from the house. It's rare we have enough snow to cover the rocks.

Picnic tables provided a good example of just how much snow fell.

In fact, we got so much snow it made part of a tree topple over the settling pond. Desert Boy and a friend couldn't resist climbing on it.

The Frisco Charcoal Ovens were even adorned with snow.

With snow coming every few days, it was time to get more people out cross-country skiing. We decided to take on the Scenic Drive. 

Conditions were ideal.

As in previous storms, everything was coated white.

Getting a group photo is harder than you think when you only have 10 seconds to get into place!

Even the Great Basin Visitor Center sign in Baker got a load of snow!

Occasionally I do air quality measurements, which includes measuring the snow that fell int he last week. In this case, the bucket was not only full, it was overflowing!

Snow on picnic tables is getting higher!

More snow means more time to go out skiing. The garbage cans in Grey Cliffs are nearly covered with snow.

Skiing through the trees is extra fun.

Then came the idea: why not try a full moon cross-country ski? A few hardy souls decided to give it a try.

With long exposure, it was remarkably bright outside. We didn't even need to use headlamps.

It was great fun.

As snow persisted, I tried skiing other places. Here's the Snake Creek park entrance. Untracked and over a foot deep.

Then I decided to try the Timber Creek-Pole Canyon loop, something that had always seemed too difficult. But with all the time I had spent on skis this winter, it seemed the time was right. I put skins on my skis and went up to the Baker Creek trailhead, where the elevation 8000 feet was nearly buried.

Baker Creek was not totally iced over.

There were some tracks on the trail.

But once I got further up Timber Creek, I made first tracks.

View from the saddle between Timber and Pole Canyon. I'm looking at Doso Doyabi and Wheeler Peak. Going down the other side was an adventure in route finding, as the trail is not marked for winter use. I eventually weaved my way down to the valley.

Then I went back into the aspen-white fir forest.

It was a lovely day for a ski.

At the Pole Canyon Bridge, the creek was completely frozen over--and nearly at the level of the bridge.

I decided it would be good to get the whole family cross-country skiing. We left one vehicle at Grey Cliffs and went up to the Baker Creek trailhead. Then we headed down the campground trail. It was deep and slick in spots.

The kids grumbled (they seem to do that a lot as teenagers), but conditions were great.

Cross-country skiing can be so peaceful.

Well, we still have more snow in the forecast. It's been warming up and feeling like spring in the valley, but up on the mountain it still feels like winter. I think we'll have this snow around for a while!

So Snowy! Part 1

 

It's been an amazingly snowy winter in the Great Basin. I thought I'd take a look at my snow photos for the winter and showcase some of this frigid wonder. Here's a photo of the west side of Wheeler Peak taken in November 2022. It already sports a nice cape of white.

At times the kids think they are too old for sledding. But once they're doing it, they love it!

In December, the Upper Lehman Campground in Great Basin National Park had enough snow that someone built a snowman!

On January 1st, we got a big snowstorm, coating the trees and electrical wires. 

Everything was white, including this old cart.

Desert Boy, Finn and I went for a walk. The sky and ground matched.

We had no idea that this was just the beginning of much, much more snow. 

I couldn't resist a couple artistic photos.

The abundant snow made the netting over the chicken pen collapse. The chickens still came out where they could keep their feet dry.

We went up to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center and found even more snow, although the handicapped walk has heaters in it so it was free of snow.

If you looked through the telescopes, you could see more snow!

I couldn't resist skiing up the Scenic Drive, where I saw white carpeting everything.

The pinyon pines looked very different than in summer!

Untracked snow!

We could even go sledding at a lower elevation site. 

This two-track road has been transformed.

I took Desert Boy skiing another day up the Scenic Drive. It might not be his favorite activity, but he's good at it. And the views are always amazing.

The Winter Raptor Route up Spring Valley involved very snowy roads.

From far in the north we could look at the distance Wheeler Peak under a cloudy sky.

In January of every year is the Ely Birkebiener cross-country ski race. The trail was nicely groomed.

I did the long (4.2 mile) race and Desert Girl did the short (1.5 mile) race. I was happy to finish faster than last year. 

Desert Girl finished first overall for her race!

She won a cool award.

We had wonderful snow for the race--but much more was to come!

To be continued

Birdwatching - the Hobby You Can Do Anywhere

Sandhill Cranes practicing a mating dance--or just trying to look cool? Although with something hanging out of your beak, you might not look as cool as you think.

We kept a Backyard Birdlist for 2022 and saw or heard 40 different species in our yard. The two previous years we had gotten to 45 species-Covid helped with that, as we were home more. I still feel pretty good about the 2022 total. 

For 2023, we're up to 16 species so far. The species I'm most excited about so far is the Bald Eagle that was flying overhead. 

I didn't take as many photos of birds in 2022 as some years, but I certainly have some. 

The elusive white turkey. Wait! It turns out there were three spotted in the area this past year. One in the Lehman Creek drainage (this one), one in the Snake Creek drainage, and one near Rudolph Canyon that was later seen carried away by a raptor. The white is good for camoflauge in the winter, but not so good the rest of the year!

I love having chickens--or my mini dinosaurs, as I sometimes call them. They have fun personalities and definitely know when I'm around and talk to me. Here are three of the seven we currently have. The overhead netting on their run is currently down due to snow collapse, so they are more vulnerable to Cooper's and Sharp Shinned Hawks invading. Once it stops snowing long enough, I'll put it back up!

Some burrowing owls! These are just the coolest birds.

A surprise Golden Eagle when we were backpacking up North Schell Peak near Ely, Nevada.

A California quail seen in Ely during a Christmas Bird Count. There was a large flock of them, and I'm wondering if one of the nearby residents is raising a free-ranging herd, as I've never seen that many. They are adorable!

My companions for part of the day on the Snake Valley Christmas Bird Count. You're never too early to start birding! Wait, you can't see birds because you're facing your mom? You can still hear them. LOL

Prairie falcon on a power pole. 

This hawk looks so demure. Just wait until it gets hungry!

Mature Golden eagle. They sure are big birds!

And now the best for last: the Great Horned Owls that nest in our backyard.

Mama owl after a snowstorm, incubating her eggs and ignoring all the snow on her. Based on photos, it looks like she started nesting between February 15th and 23rd, 2022.

Before too long, fuzzy owlets peeked up from the nest in the crotch of the tree. To our great surprise, there were three owlets!

It was a tight fit for all of them in the tree, but they managed it. It appeared to us that the parent owls successfully fledged all three owlets. Way to go!

I'm hearing the mama and papa owls hoot outside the window every evening. I'm wondering if they will pick the same nest again this year? I hope so, as I sure enjoy watching them. 

I plan to continue birdwatching into the foreseeable future. Everywhere I go, there are birds (even in caves we find bird bones, sometimes of species that are now extinct). 

One last story about birds--when I was in Hungary in May, I heard a distinctive cuckoo. What?? Where's the cuckoo clock? Nowhere, it was a real cuckoo bird I was hearing. I was so amazed. I was familiar with cuckoo clocks, but never had given thought to the bird that influenced it. Now anytime I hear the sound of a cuckoo, I think of camping out in Hungary and the bird that surprised me so much!