Hiking Fun

 It's been a really busy week, so I was glad to go take a hike today. And what's better than going hiking? Hiking with friends!

 Unless you're a kid. Then the best part of hiking is stopping for a picnic with friends.

 The kids soon showed that they still had plenty of energy after hiking.

 Mission almost accomplished.

I'm not sure what the mission was, but they had  a few projects that seemed important to them.

 Desert Girl and Isaac tottered down the meadow and started sharing something. It was too cute for words.

 The uneven ground made it seem like they would fall any minute, but both managed to have a pretty good sense of balance.

 Meanwhile, the bigger kids were getting cold in a little snowbank they found.

 After a few warm days, they were ready to play in snow again!

 Jenny adjusting Emma. It was a good workout for the moms!

 We found a side channel of the creek that was just right for the kids to putter in.

 The flowers are really amazing. All this spring moisture has provided us with a bounty of color.

What a great way to spend a morning!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Backyard Biodiversity Challenge #3 - Mammals and More

How are you doing with your birds?

Since I last posted, I've noticed American robins and collared doves (which were around earlier in the winter, I just didn't notice them the days I was looking around the yard). Yellow-headed Blackbirds are back in force, just flying by our house to get to the wetter areas. They are so colorful. It's too bad they're not found in Indiana, as with their black and yellow coloring they are perfect for Purdue.

We've been seeing baby Great Horned Owls in the yard. One morning Desert Boy was waiting for me outside. When I came out the door, he pointed up at the roof, and said, "Look, Mom."

I looked up and saw two baby owls on the roof, one with a mouse in its mouth. So cool.

Yellow-rumped Warblers and Yellow Warblers are hanging out. Due to all the snow up high, I'm hearing a lot of Pine Siskins still. And we found a dead Cedar Waxwing on the grass, not sure what happened. The ants are eating it now.
Anyway, keep recording your birds.

And here's Backyard Biodiversity Challenge #3:


What mammals, amphibians, and fish live in or visit your backyard?

It might be hard to see the mammals, but perhaps you can find sign of them. Rabbit pellets? Raccoons knocking over garbage cans? Gopher holes? Mouse droppings in the garage?

Are you hearing any spring peepers? This is a great time of year to listen for frogs.

Unless you have a pond or stream in your backyard, it might be difficult to get anything from this class of organisms. But hey, once in awhile it's nice to have an easy category!

The Great Dinosaur Adventure

Last Saturday I wanted to get out of the house, and I knew bad weather was coming, so it was now or never. There was a place at the southern end of the mountain range known for having plants not found anywhere else in the area, so that was our destination. I loaded up the kids, told my husband where we were going so if we broke down he'd come find us, and off we went. We didn't see any people the entire day, but we did see some sheep.

 The southern mountains were beautiful, and colorful flowers dotted the benches (slopes coming down from the mountains).

 We stopped near some rocks to go "rock climbing." Desert Boy decided after a quick try that it wasn't quite right for him. Desert Girl tried out her newly acquired bush-whacking skills. She did quite well.
Then we had a picnic lunch. That always makes every trip fun. Afterwards Desert Boy wanted to climb the hill on the other side. I wasn't too enthused, but he really wanted to go, so up we went.

 I did find a couple interesting flowers on the way up, and the views were really nice.

 At the top, Desert Boy found a couple bones. He was delighted.

 We wandered over the flat top and looked down at the wash on the other side. The bottom was bright green with round circles.

 It was so quiet, and it felt so desolate! One of the things I like best about the desert is the sound of it.

 But then little cries irrupted the silence. Desert Girl had found what made all those circles down below--harvester ant mounds. She had been intrigued by one and wandered close enough that the ants started crawling on her. One bit her, and she was none too happy. We hiked back to the truck and continued on our trip.

 The next road we traveled was nearly a tunnel through the sagebrush. These are some of the tallest sagebrush, and densest, that I have ever seen. The kids napped while we bumped along on two-track roads. There are very few signs out there, so it's a really good idea to have a map.

When Desert Boy woke up, he wanted to go home. I told him we weren't quite done with our adventure. He wasn't happy, but when I told him we would look for more bones, he perked up.

 Then we found LOTS more bones, and he was so happy! I wouldn't let him take anything that still had hair or blood on it. I guess I'm a mean mom.

 We went farther and he found even more bones. I found flowers. Desert Girl found more ants (but observed them from a distance). So we were all happy.

 It was getting cloudier and windier, so it was time to head home.

The next day when we woke up, we were in for quite a surprise:

 Back to winter! It was a great day for relaxing. And for Desert Boy and his daddy to work on their project: putting the bones together. Because these weren't just any bones, they were dinosaur bones. And they were both very determined to recreate the dinosaur.

This is what they came up with:

It's a very dangerous dinosaur, even though it's small.

This dinosaur skeleton now holds a place of honor in our house.

It may take us a while to top The Great Dinosaur Adventure.

Lake Mead Trail Run

 I had to go to Lake Mead for a couple days of meetings and decided to stay at the cheapest hotel in the area, the Hacienda. It is part of a casino, which isn't too appealing to me, but it is also in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and there's a trail right next to it. So when I woke up, I headed down to the trail for an early morning trail run. The trail follows an old railroad bed, so it's perfect for not too difficult a run.

 It has nice views of the marina and Lake Mead.

 I also really enjoyed the different vegetation of the Mojave Desert. These creosote bushes are always so lovely!

 This trail includes some train tunnels, making it extra fun. I remembered three from a previous jaunt, but it turned out that there were five (I guess I didn't go far enough before!).

 Signs and benches have been added since my last trip (several years ago), and they are nice additions.
Previously I had seen other people on the trail, but this time I had it to myself. It's a combo bike/hike trail.

The tunnels have been stabilized in a restoration project. I heard bats in the first one and saw birds fly out of a couple of them.

The rock around there is so different from where I live. I really enjoyed all the shades of brown and tan with hints of orange. One of the signs talked about the families that lived nearby during the construction of the Hoover Dam and how miserable it was for them due to a lack of shade.

Pretty flowers--but I don't know what they were!

After the last tunnel I passed through a gate that was marked as Bureau of Reclamation land. The trail went around some buildings and then headed downhill towards the dam. I had reached my turn around time, but I was so curious about what was next that I decided to go just a little farther.

That's when I saw some desert bighorn sheep! They were enjoying the quiet morning until I spooked them, then they crossed the trail in front of me and went up into the rocks on the other side.

I continued a bit farther, hoping to catch a glimpse of the dam. I saw lots of power lines and even part of the new bridge (on the upper right part of the above photo). The trail was descending quickly and I really had to get back to go to work, so I will have to go back another day to take the trail all the way to the dam.

The run back went quickly, although I couldn't resist stopping a couple times to take more photos.

The temperature was in the high 60s/low 70s, so really comfortable.

Finally I reached the spur trail that had led down to the main trail. At the top I went through a different spot into the Hacienda parking lot and found a sign denoting this as a trail and distances (3 1/4 miles to the dam).

I had managed to forget my running shoes, so these are the shoes I did my run in. They worked out well!

Swim, Bike, Run = Triathlon

Last weekend I did the Women of Steel Triathlon in American Fork, Utah. It was the biggest triathlon I've ever competed in, with nearly 800 women participating. So many people was intimidating! The route was 300 m swim in a pool, 12+ mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run. I didn't know what times I should be aiming for, so I decided to set my goals a little differently. My conservative goals were: I wanted to finish the race and finish in the top half of my age group. To push myself, I decided on two more goals: I wanted to finish in the top third of my age group and do the run in under 30 minutes.

 The transition area had many bike racks set up, so I parked my bike, towel, biking shoes, running shoes, etc. all there. Then I had to memorize where it was so I could find it again. Some of the more experienced women brought helium balloons and tied them to the bike rack. I knew I was near the yellow balloon.

 Next it was time to go to the pool. It was a chilly morning, so I kept on a jacket and pants over my swim suit, as I figured I might have to wait awhile to start. And I couldn't resist taking a couple photos with my little point and shoot!

The pool was 50m long. They had it set up so every 12 seconds a swimmer would enter at either end of the pool and then do three laps (three down-and-backs), one each in three different lanes to swim 300 m. We self-seeded, or got into groups based on what we thought we would swim. I had timed myself a few weeks before on a 200 m swim (because that's what I thought it was!). When I found out it was longer, I had to adjust and thought I could swim 300 m in about 5 minutes. I've learned from previous triathlons that it's better not to swim all out, but swim at a nice steady pace so I don't cramp up afterwards. I was concerned that 5 minutes wasn't so fast (after all, I used to swim long distance in high school and competed competitively in summer swim team from age 6-18), but kept telling myself that 5 minutes really wasn't that long in the whole scope of the triathlon.

Then, when I got to the pool and saw that the self-seeding was every minute from 4 to 10 minutes, I realized I was doing better than I thought!

 Even in the 5 minute group, these were all the women ahead of me--just on my side of the pool! I watched the swimmers ahead of me to see how it all worked, as I had never done this pool start before. I saw that passing wasn't so easy, but could be done.

 

 Just before I got in, I gave my husband my extra clothes. That's me in the purple (eggplant) jacket and the crazy hair.

The swim went well. The water was pleasantly warm, and I swam strong but not too hard. Soon I realized there was a problem--a lady had gone who shouldn't be in the group, and she was backing up swimmers. I decided to pass, and that took a little time and a near head-on collision, but I managed to get around four swimmers. I also had one person pass me at the same time. Talk about a little confusing! After the passing there was a big gap in front of me and no one right behind me, and I was feeling a little tired because I wasn't really able to train for the swim, so I flipped over on my back and did some backstroke. It's always been my best stroke and I can do it with little exertion, so it worked out great.

 After the swim I ran to the transition area, found my bike, and donned a shirt (I swam in my tri shorts, which are bike shorts with a little less padding so it dries out faster), bike shoes, helmet, and sunglasses. I was a little slow in the transition (it's not easy putting on socks when you're breathing hard!), but got out and was feeling good.

I had only had the road bike a couple weeks and had used the clip-in shoes three times before the race, so I was a little nervous. But the bike felt great, and I was cruising along with little effort. In fact, I probably cruised a little too much and didn't race enough, as I went from 14th in my age group after the swim to 71st after the bike. But I didn't know that at the time, as with the staggered start it's hard to really feel like you're competing. The good part was I didn't crash.

That meant I got back into transition and then changed into running shoes and started running. It's never fun to run after biking, so I had practiced that transition a little. After about a mile my legs stopped feeling like jello.

And then finally it was the finish line! I made up some time on the run, finishing 49th out of 153 in my age group. And my run time was 26:57, so I met all my goals. I was very happy about that. But I realized my competitive side was coming out--I wanted to do better. Surely I could make faster transitions and ride faster on my bike!

I will get to find out next weekend, when I try another triathlon. This one has a big group start in a pond (which requires a wetsuit). It has a longer swim but the same length bike and run. It's a lot smaller (only about 300 competitors). That might partly be because there are two other triathlons in Utah next weekend, plus two 100-mile bike ride events, a half marathon, and several shorter running and biking races. And two mud runs. If you want to compete, there are plenty of places to do it!

Thanks to Grandma Sylvia and Grandpa David who came and helped watch the kids. Afterwards we went to a playground so the kids and dogs could play. The weather couldn't have been better. Now if it would just stop snowing so I could train for next weekend!

Spring Hiking with Kids

This is a long post--just warning you in advance! Yesterday I decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment hike, so we packed some "picnic snacks" and headed to a nearby trail. Desert Boy carried a little backpack of his favorite snacks and juice and "activities"--just in case he felt crafty out on the trail. (I figure if he's willing to carry it, he can take it--within reason.)

When we got to the trailhead, Desert Boy was ready to get going--in his two right foot shoes. He didn't seem to mind at all.

 We had fun looking at all sorts of things. Desert Boy really thought we should climb up to a cave and eat some food in a shelter. He was a bit concerned about the storm clouds. I told him we were going to keep going down the trail to the first stream crossing. That was about a mile up the trail and I figured a good distance for a beginning of summer warm-up hike.

The trail had a gentle incline, but I could feel it with Emma on my back. We looked for interesting things to talk about so that Desert Boy would keep hiking. Then we saw something very interesting:

A big gopher snake in the middle of the trail! It quickly slithered off.

The trail had some obstacles, like this fallen aspen tree. Desert Boy decided he'd rather go under it than over it. Going under required some belly crawling. But there were bigger obstacles ahead.

We reached the (first) stream crossing. Usually the stream is just a trickle, but with snow melt the stepping stones were submerged. So I crossed on the little log. Then Desert Boy gave it a try.

He started out well, keeping his balance. But the log was really narrow, and it wasn't flat.

Still, he hung on.

But then he started slipping.

And down into the stream he went. Then he tried again. How did it go?

Here's the answer.

We didn't need to go any farther, so it was picnic time! Desert Girl was glad to get down.

Desert Boy curled up in his sweatshirt and played rolypoly. We had seen some in the garden the other day, and he thought it was great fun to roll around like a rolypoly. He also enjoyed eating lots of snacks.

After our snacks I lifted the kids back across the creek and then it was time to head back to the van. Since it was down hill, I figured Desert Girl could walk--and she did, more than half way.

Desert Boy was now dressed in his sweatshirt and a rain coat wrapped around his waist. He liked leading the way. We had a little talk about how he had to stay close, where he could see me, because there were mountain lions around. He didn't like that because he thinks that since he is four years old he can do anything he wants, but after a little more talk about mountain lions, he agreed.

We reached the fallen aspen, and this time he decided to go over. Desert Girl thought it was a fun place.

Desert Boy was happily eating candy, so he was willing to pose for a photo.

Then it was time to walk again.

Desert Girl thought the flowers were nifty, and some just at the right height for closer inspection.

This walking outside is fun!

Desert Girl isn't exactly a great walker yet, so she bobbled and weaved and fell a few times. Even when she fell, she was all smiles.

A pollinator finding some food. Some time in May was Pollinator Week, but I missed it this year.

Desert Boy went behind a tree, so Desert Girl had to follow, even though the branches were low. After thrashing for awhile, Desert Boy had to go in and help her out.

Back on the trail, Desert Boy let out one of his ear-piercing train whistles. If any mountain lions were around, they knew we were there! I told Desert Boy if he ever gets lost, he needs to stay put and pretend he's a train. We should find him in no time.

Desert Girl found some colorful Indian paintbrush and investigated.

Then she found another flower. Still pictures don't quite capture all her excitement, so here's a little video-be sure to have your sound turned up to hear her talking (babbling):

Desert Boy had a little camera and he started imitating me taking photos of flowers. Desert Girl was there to help, of course.

Then Desert Boy found some old toys in his pocket and was absolutely delighted. That was almost all he talked about for the rest of the hike!

 

We crossed a bigger creek to get back to the parking area. The water is just starting to get a little brown. It should be getting a lot darker in the next few weeks as the snow continues to melt! The high mountains are still very white.

And that was the end of our hike. Desert Girl slept on the drive back, but Desert Boy kept talking and after a bath to warm up, we went to the playground to "help" the other kids pulling out weeds. Needless to say, he slept very well last night.