Desert Destination: Crystal Peak

Usually I just do one desert destination a week, but for spring break we had fun going to lots of places, so here's another one.

Crystal Peak is located in the southeastern part of Snake Valley in western Utah, and is different from all the surrounding mountains. Made of Tunnel Springs tuff, the white volcanic rock contrasts with the nearby forest-covered hills and peaks. 

In the afternoon light, Crystal Peak looks like it's glowing. Early Indians clearly knew about it, as they told Mormon settlers of its existence. When the Mormons were looking for other places to live in this area, they called one such search the White Mountain Mission. 

Today Crystal Peak is part of a wilderness study area, requiring a hike to reach its base. During the Spring Break trip, Uncle Andrew set off with a quickly-growing Desert Boy in the backpack. As previous trips have shown, Uncle Andrew often has some memorable adventures. The Crystal Peak trip is another to add to his book.

Although from a distance it appears as if nothing is living on Crystal Peak, upon closer examination it's obvious it supports some life. One curious find are small ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trees. Usually these trees are found at higher elevations and near riparian areas. The pockets in the rock apparently hold enough water to support these trees.

I saw my first native wildflower of the season blooming on Crystal Peak, but just one plant. It's a twinpod, also called bladderpod (Physaria unknown species), in the Mustard family. I was very excited to see something blooming.

One of the most common plants on Crystal Peak is this mat-forming plant from the Rose family, Rock spiraea (Petrophytum caespitosum). It's considered to be an evergreen shrub, even though it usually only grows to be 6-8 inches tall. It produces pretty white flowers that ascend on single stems above the mat. In the photo above we can see last year's flowers that have turned brown.

In addition to plants, we saw spiders, bees, flies, and lizards, but they all moved too fast to capture a photo of them.

Our goal was to climb Crystal Peak, and from a previous trip I knew the best (easiest) approach was from the southeast side. So we walked around the base of the mountain, admiring the interesting shapes of the rock. The mountain formed about 33 million years ago.

It took a long time to walk around to the back side of the mountain, and when we got to this ravine, Uncle Andrew thought this would be a good way to go up the mountain. So he took off like a mountain goat (I had the backpack by this point), with the rest of us following. From the bottom, it looked doable.

We scrambled up rock chutes, getting a close-up look at the Tunnel Springs tuff. The rock is quite crumbly, so what at first might seem like a good handhold could suddenly break off. The tuff has a lot of quartz crystals in it, but they are the size of sand, so it feels a little bit like climbing sand paper. 

Eventually we got to a point where it got really steep. Uncle Andrew and his professor were able to keep going up, but the rest of us decided we had reached our limit (even Desert Boy, who was quite vocal). We started our way down, which was definitely harder than going up. 

Eventually Uncle Andrew and his professor made it to the top, at 7,108 feet, after first getting to two false summits, finding thigh-deep snow on the north side, and getting an excellent workout.

Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoyed the views as we worked our way carefully down the steep slope. Even though we hadn't been able to make it to the top via that route, it was an experience we wouldn't forget.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the less steep sections.

Surrounding Crystal Peak is Kanosh Shale, a rock type with lots of fossils. We didn't spend much time looking at them, but someone who is interested in fossils could easily spend an afternoon here. 

Here is a photo of the south side of Crystal Peak. The temperature for our adventure was perfect. In the summer, it can be quite hot on the mountain, and there is no water available, so you have to bring your own.

If you decide you want to climb Crystal Peak, the easiest way is to go to the southeast side of the peak and climb up the slope covered with trees, shown in the above photo on the left side of the photo. (This is also where there are lots of fossils.) Then cut over to the tuff and follow the ridge up to the top. There's not a trail, so watch your footing and take a map. Here are directions for how to get here. And have fun!

Desert Destination: Crystal Ball Cave

Located in the west desert of Utah is Crystal Ball Cave, so named because the interior is filled with calcite crystals called nailhead spar. It's a little-known wonder well worth a visit.

For part of the Millikin University Spring Break 2009 trip, we headed out to Crystal Ball Cave.

The trip starts at the end of the driveway framed by hundred-year old Lombardy poplars. Jerald and Marlene Bates lead tours through Crystal Ball Cave, so if you want to go you need to call in advance (435-693-3145). The cave is on BLM land, but they have the mining rights so manage the cave.

After meeting Jerald, you follow him to the parking area for the cave and immediately realize he has a good sense of humor. He's lived out at Gandy for his entire life, and it was an uncle that found the cave in 1956. The uncle dragged young Jerald with him to help explore it. Jerald wasn't too enthusiastic due to previous unproductive trips, but this hole in the ground turned out to be different from the rest.

To reach the entrance of the cave requires a short hike. Jerald realizes when the group needs a break and points out plants and other things of interest.

At the cave entrance, he gives more background and tells everyone not to touch cave formations. Then it's time to go in. Jerald unlocks the door, and everyone walks into the dark cave.

A bunch of stalactites are near the entrance. There are no lights in the cave, so everyone needs to bring one.

I thought this weathered formation looked very interesting.

Patches of cave popcorn decorate some cave ceilings and walls.

Most of the cave formations are calcite, but some gypsum is also found in the cave.

Jerald was good at explaining the different types of formations in the cave, as well as the history of it.

This tall stalagmite was taller than everyone on the tour.

The trail goes next to this primitive ladder, leading up to an upper chamber. Jerald said he wouldn't go up it today.

The tour route is on the cave floor, next to more formations. Everywhere you look there's something interesting to see.

Although Crystal Ball Cave is only about 45 miles from Lehman Cave, it looks totally different. After the cave was dissolved away by carbonic acid, the cave filled several times with water supersaturated with calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate precipitated out in a crystalline form, called nailhead spar. These crystals cover most of the surfaces in Crystal Ball Cave (hence the name of the cave). Walking into the cave is sort of like walking into a huge geode.

 
Over time, many of the crystals have been covered with sand and dirt, so they're not shiny, but they are large.

Ceilings, walls, and floors all have the nailhead spar coating. 

Sometimes it's more translucent and glows when you put a flashlight next to it.

Further into the cave are interesting formations called cave cones or raft cones. They are the remains of calcite rafts, thin layers of calcite on top of the water. When water dripped onto the calcite rafts, the rafts broke apart and formed into these mounds.

Besides the amazing cave, another appeal of the cave tour is Jerald's quick wit and funny jokes.

He enjoys showing people the cave.

Further into the cave the ceiling drops and requires some stoop-walking. 

Then the cave opens up again and you see what looks like moonmilk decorating the cave ceiling. Moonmilk looks sort of like white cheese that has oozed out of the carbonate rock. It may form due to chemical or bacterial causes. 

Near the exit is a very large rock that has some beautiful crystals exposed. There are a variety of colors.
A close up of the crystals reveals even more beauty.

Besides the geologic wonders, Crystal Ball Cave is a treasure trove of biologic wonders. A paleontological survey of the cave revealed bones from numerous animals. Some are no longer found at this low an elevation (like bighorn sheep), while others are now extinct. These animals lived in the cave vicinity tens of thousands of years ago, when the climate was much different. Roughly 15,000 years ago, the arm of a huge lake, Lake Bonneville, filled the bottom of the valley, and trees extended down near the lake margins. In this landscape, large-headed llamas, camels, small horses, helmeted muskox, American sabercat, and more roamed. 

Crystal Ball Cave is the first location that a new, extinct species of skunk (Brachyprotoma brevimala) has been described.

The cave tour exits from a different place than the entrance, and then it's time to walk back to the vehicles, looking out at the vastly different valley than was there not all that long ago. It would be interesting to come back in 15,000 years and see what it looks like then.

Desert Boy Makes Animal Sounds

I'm traveling, so I don't have time to do my usual Monday Desert Destination post (but I have some great photos from the Spring Break trip that will be posted soon!).

In the meantime, here's a fun video of Desert Boy hamming it up.

A Sign of Spring-Blossoms

I was stunned to see these flower blossoms yesterday. The thin, delicate petals surrounding the yellow pistils. They are so beautiful. But they are also alarming.

Because they're part of something bigger. Much bigger. And although the flowers are beautiful, they have me worried.

Because they're blossoms on our apricot tree, and it's still a long way until we are sure we won't have a hard freeze! Two years ago we didn't get any apricots, and last year we only got a few. I'm ready for a good apricot year, but it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate. There's a big storm in the forecast for the next couple of days. 

A Sign of Spring--Frog Eggs

Yesterday we stopped at a desert spring to look for frog eggs. Every March, Columbia spotted frogs (and northern leopard frogs) lay eggs in waterbodies in our valley. They are very picky about where they lay their eggs--the water has to be the right temperature, depth, and velocity. 

We looked around the edges of this spring. It has just warmed up, the trees are still bare, and we haven't seen many migratory birds, so it seems too early for frogs to be going about mating and laying eggs, but that's what they do.

We looked and we looked. In some places the algae was really thick on top of the water.

Eventually, we found some Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) egg masses. The egg masses can have from 150 to 500 eggs in them. One pair of frogs lays each egg mass, so the egg masses provide a good estimate of how many frogs are in the area--just count the number of egg masses and double it.

The black embryos develop into tadpoles in a few weeks, and then the hundreds of tadpoles swim out into the spring. Mortality is really high for the little tadpoles. They are a tasty snack for fish, birds, and garter snakes. Yet enough survive to keep the frogs thriving at this spring.

Columbia spotted frogs are known for their affinity to water. When they get spooked, they disappear under water. What is amazing about this spring is that it is a long way off from any other spotted frog locations, at least ten miles. So have the frogs here survived since much wetter times (like 15,000 years ago, when there was a huge lake that covered the valley bottom)? Or do the frogs get frisky and hop across the desert from time to time?