Desert Destination: Ibex Crags

Located in the West Desert of Utah, about an hour west of Delta, is Ibex and the Ibex crags. This area at one time was home to Jack Watson, a storekeeper who supplied sheepherders in the early part of the twentieth century and even ran a hotel for a time. Nowadays, no one lives there.

People do go and visit, though. The most common visitors are rock climbers, because the cliffs at Ibex provide some good climbing challenges.

We figured our visit would mainly be to enjoy the scenery. But I was secretly hoping I might get to climb a little too.

We set up our tent on the hard pan (aka playa) that is near the base of the cliffs. The hard pan provides a nearly perfectly level sleeping platform, albeit a little hard.

We also watched a guy practice golf. We had never thought of golfing on a hard pan, but I guess you wouldn't lose many balls.

We got out our chairs, and Desert Boy thought he was hot stuff sitting in a bumblebee chair. But he wasn't too keen on some of the other parts of camping, like going into a tent and so much darkness around him. He tossed and turned all night long.

Nevertheless, when the rays came up the next morning, I wanted to get up and photograph some of that early sunshine hitting the rocks. Ibex cliffs are made of sedimentary rock, Eureka and Watson Ranch Quartzites. That hardened sandstone just seems to glow in the morning light.

When I came back from shooting some photos, Desert Boy and my husband were awake, and after breakfast we went for a walk in the boulder field.

We even found a cool hole in one of the boulders, and Desert Boy was willing to give it a try.

After that, it was time to look for more climbing opportunities. Or more appropriately, bouldering opportunities. There are plenty of climbs at Ibex Crags, many of them described in the book Ibex and Selected Climbs of Utah's West Desert by James Garrett. I knew this wasn't the trip to try any of those climbs. But there were other possibilities...

...like this huge boulder.

I took Henry and Desert Boy over for a little fun.

Desert Boy gave climbing a try.

Then it was my turn.

Desert Boy is getting the idea.

Next time--the big cliffs!

For Desert Boy, some of the boulders were quite tall.

Finally it was time to head down.

We got to see a lizard on the way.

And then it was time for the next activity...coming in the next post!

Went Camping

We went camping over the weekend and are still recovering and unpacking. Hopefully we'll get organized soon. It was great being out under the big night sky, even if Desert Boy was afraid of the dark.

Out in the Boonies

Yippee, I'm leaving the boonies today for a trip to town! Town in this case consists of driving nearly 100 miles without passing a single abode--but it is on a paved highway. The town we're going to has a whopping population of about 5,000. Desert Boy and I are ready to do all the fun things you do in town--walk on sidewalks, wait for traffic lights to change, people watch, and of course wonder how people can manage to live so close together.

Oh yeah, we'll also get in lots of shopping and playing on different playgrounds. The tricky part is taking enough coolers and ice to get the ice cream home still relatively frozen.

Grandpa and the Big Loader

Desert Boy loves big machinery. He likes the movement, the noise, the challenge of climbing up and down it. If he hears a diesel engine, he immediately perks up to see what is going on and what piece of equipment it is. One of his first words was "backhoe."

There's only one thing Desert Boy likes better than watching the big equipment:
Driving it. It's even better when Grandpa lets him help.

Spring is a Time for Love...Sort of

You've probably seen the birds chasing each other around in their pretty breeding colors, heard frogs croaking away in wetlands indicating their love, and maybe have even seen dragonflies in their mating dance. Well, I'm here to inform you today that there is even more going on in the world of spring love. Let's head down to the ranch.

These are a bunch of heifers, female cows who haven't yet given birth. They have orange stickers on their rumps. Orange is good. Orange means that they are ready to mate, and other cows have been jumping up on them and have rubbed the gray coating off that sticker. If a bull was turned in with these heifers, he would go crazy. But that's not going to happen (yet), because not just any bull will do.

A bull must be carefully selected from the bull catalog. They even have names like Enhancer and Magnum. There's a short description next to each bull, telling all about his important characteristics. Some of those are ease of birthing his calves, weight gain of those calves, and overall beauty. Okay, not really the last one, but the other two are true. When you go through this catalog and select a bull, you don't get the entire bull, though, you just get some of his semen.

That semen is frozen in liquid nitrogen and transported with care.

This is a view into frozen good genes.

When the time is right, a little of the frozen semen is extracted and put into a thermos of warm water, otherwise known as the "semen warmer." 

Here's my brother-in-law getting one of the semen sticks ready. Even after the semen is taken out of the semen warmer, it needs to stay warm, and one of the ways to do that is stick it down your shirt. Each vial is cared for, as each costs about $10-$15 (depending on the bull chosen).

Here's the guy who came to help with the AIing (artificial insemination). He has the semen stick in his coveralls and is encouraging a heifer to go down the walkway into the chute.

Then it's time. The gloved arm is going into the anus to feel for the cervix (apparently not a very easy thing to do), so the semen can be inserted in just the right spot.

It doesn't take very long. 

About 80% of the heifers go into heat at the time of AIing, and about 80% of the AIs take. 

The heifers will go out into their own field.

And then in a short while, a "cleanup" bull will be let loose into the field to breed any cows that didn't have success the first time around.

Ah, so love on the ranch may be a little different then some of the other springtime love you're observing. It should result in the same thing: cute little babies, full of energy and zip.