Peaceful Protest in Baker, Nevada

 A friend told me about a protest march in Baker, NV, for Black Lives Matter and said that it was going to be small. My husband and I talked about it a little, and I did some research, as I don't have much experience with protest marches. I also have found that my knowledge of Black Lives Matter and racism and white privilege in general have greatly expanded in recent weeks. Even though we live in a remote community, often isolated from the rest of the world, we still care.

So the kids and I headed out Saturday morning with a couple signs, our Covid masks, and the dogs. We found that word had spread about the protest march, and instead of the handful of people I was expecting, there were about 30.

The organizer gave a quick talk, saying he hadn't really organized something like this before, so it was fluid. We decided to start off by walking around the streets of Baker.

I ran ahead to take a photo.

Then we headed out to the pavement and continued. We moved aside when vehicles came by and waved at them, sometimes sang, sometimes shouted, and talked with each other. The protestors included ranch employees, national park employees, service industry employees, students, retirees, and more.


A colorful tutu lent some levity to the march!
 

 I was impressed that 100% of the participants wore face masks. We are considerate of each other and want each other to be safe!


I had heard the phrase Black Lives Matter, but it took a little research to understand it better. Yes, all lives matter, but that phrase shows that whoever is saying it really doesn't understand the issue. If you say your grandma is sick, the respondent doesn't say that all grandmas matter. They ask about yours. If you say your ankle is injured, the respondent doesn't say all your body parts matter, they ask about your ankle. When someone says Black Lives Matter, they are referring to the injustices that black people have suffered, and they are many. It's okay to focus attention on them and still love all lives, but right now we need to spend time on this issue.

After the protest, I asked the kids why we were protesting. I wanted to see what their takeaway was. Desert Girl said we were protesting "because not all people are being treated equally, and we all deserve to be treated equally because we're all the same species."
 

We stopped for a photo op with Great Basin National Park behind us.


Then we went over to the courtyard and sat down and discussed why people were participating. It was enlightening. I feel like everyone is on some kind of continuum, with some having more knowledge of racism than others. Hearing other people's thoughts helped us move along that continuum to better understanding. And with better understanding, we can better help those that need help.

We heard about other people's journeys learning how people of color are not treated the same as white people, even though many of us thought they were. We learned that even though we are remote, and one hadn't even seen a black person until she was ten years old, people want to make a difference. We were encouraged to be active voters. We were challenged to not only be an ally to people of color, but an accomplice, actively helping them.

We all know each other, as we're a close-knit community, and it was great to hear and see the camaraderie.

We then walked through town, with some tourists joining us for a short while.

We ended back at Baker Hall, where we kneeled in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time that the officer kneeled on George Floyd's neck, killing him.  It's a long time.

A few people continued with a walk on to the Border Inn. Many others, who didn't know about the protest, said they would gladly join a protest if there was another one. 

I wasn't sure how the whole protest would go, but I came away from it feeling the love of the community, and the desire to make the world a better place. We have a long way to go to make the world better, but if each of us takes a little time to do that, we will all be better off.

This NPR article helps us dig deeper into what we can do: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/07/870251488/beyond-protests-5-more-ways-to-channel-anger-into-action-to-fight-racism

(Sort of) Trail Running the Serviceberry Trail, Great Basin National Park

We needed to get out of the house and get some exercise. I decided we would go to one of my favorite trails, the Serviceberry Trail, about 3.5 miles long up Snake Creek in Great Basin National Park. Because I didn't want the kids to take forever, I declared it would be a trail run. Or at least a fast walk. They wanted to get it over with, so agreed. (They aren't excited to go hiking lately, so we use a mix of techniques to get them going).

Desert Boy passed me right away on the trail and took off. 

Meanwhile Desert Girl had her earphones in and was listening to a podcast and didn't care about speed at all.

I was able to keep Desert Boy in sight as we chugged uphill.

I love these cool granite rocks along the trail.


At the big rocks he took a break and I passed him. I enjoyed that. It could be the last time. :)

 The trail gives a good vantage point of the top of the Snake Creek Drainage. Glaciers carved out three cirques. Johnson Lake is a beautiful lake in the north cirque. The other cirques do not have lakes. Dead Lake is a very small lake located much lower, out on the moraine. Pyramid Peak is an easy reference point from all directions.

 When I reached the divide, I turned back until I reached Desert Boy. Then I followed him. He was much faster than me on the downhill.

We stopped for a bit to climb around on these boulders. You can see that the aspen are just starting to leaf out.

I went ahead for a bit and then Desert Boy caught up again.

I went back for Desert Girl, and she just wanted some alone time.

So I took photos of flowers, like this Pale Agoseris or Mountain Dandelion.

On the steep downhill I got her to take the lead again. I still stopped to photograph flowers, like this lupine.

 One of the things I like about this trail is that it goes through so many habitats. Riparian, sagebrush, aspen stands, mixed conifer, and Utah serviceberry.

Not much of the Utah serviceberry was blooming, maybe because it's been so dry this year.

There are also patches of mountain mahogany along the trail, and I found some that was blooming.

Almost to the end of the loop trail!

And success! We all finished and even had smiles. We didn't see anyone else on the trail. In fact, no one else was in the parking lot either. Great Basin sure has some great places to do social distancing.

To celebrate, we went up to the Great Basin Cafe, which had just opened. I enjoyed spicy red lentil soup with a side salad.

Desert Boy approved of the chicken strips and specially-made French fires (they are amazing!).

Desert Girl loved the chili and couldn't believe I let her get a root beer float (which she couldn't finish!). 

It's always good to get outside, and so fun to see the trails in different seasons. I hope you're able to get out and enjoy some fresh air, too!

Quick Trip to Crystal Peak, Millard County

With distant trips cancelled, it was time to head to nearby attractions. One of my favorite places to go when the weather is mild is Crystal Peak, a whitish mountain made of volcanic tuff. In the afternoon light it glows when approaching from Snake Valley, but on this particular day, we were heading there in the morning, and it didn't look that impressive as we approached it.

 As we got closer we saw a sign indicating that the peak is in part of the Wah Wah Wilderness Study Area. Wah Wah means "good, clean water" according to Utah Place Names. A Wilderness Study Area (WSA) is an area that is wild, uninhabited, retains primeval characteristics, is a roadless area of at least 5,000 acres, and has opportunities for solitude and/or primitive recreation. WSAs are managed as wilderness areas (no motorized vehicles allowed, generally no development allowed) until Congress decides to designate the area as wilderness or not.

Desert Boy had been to the top of Crystal Peak before (see this 2014 trip), but Desert Girl hadn't.  We parked on the northeast side, just off the road in a little campsite. No other vehicles were visible. We hiked slightly towards the peak, but mostly south.

Although it's easiest to stay on the Kanosh Shale that borders the south side of the Tunnel Springs Tuff, we couldn't resist a little scrambling. The strange-looking pockets are called tafoni.

There are thousands of them on the mountain.

 We headed up the Kanosh shale, going around juniper trees until we reached a large rock cairn. Then it was time to head north.

In hindsight, we should have tied up the dogs at this spot, as they would have had shade, and it got a lot steeper after this point.

We needed to follow the ravine and then veer a bit to the right to make the summit. There are many false summits on this mountain, and I've been to more than one!

The kids did a good job hiking fast. 

The dogs made us laugh at times!

Here's the view looking south. You can see the little ridge where the tuff meets the Kanosh shale. In the background are the Wah Wah Mountains.

Looking to the west, we could see the snow-capped peaks of the Snake Range just peeking above the horizon.

We had a little detour, but then we made it! Hurray!

 Looking north from the peak you see the Crystal Peak Road. On the other side is the mountain range that contains Fossil Mountain.

Next it was time to get down. This isn't a good place to go if you're afraid of heights!

Desert Girl is quite interested in geology and found some fossils.

Many of the fossils in the Kanosh Shale are broken as it was a windy beach area as sea creatures accumulated, but there are still interesting things to find.

We made it back to the vehicle and didn't dally, as Desert Girl had something to attend. 

Except I did have to pause to take some photos of pronghorn. They are such cool desert creatures that I will be doing a post all about them soon.

The cloud pattern on Wheeler Peak and adjoining Doso Doyabi Peak was really cool.

And then we saw lambs! They were so cute!

This area is used for winter sheep grazing. In the summer they head to Park City, UT.

For more on the geology of Crystal Peak, and how it formed in a giant explosion 33 million years ago, was covered up, and then eroded away (plus how it will disappear in a million years), see this cool GeoSights post by the Utah Geological Society.