Spring Wildflowers in Pole Canyon, Great Basin National Park

 On Saturday we decided to go celebrate spring with a big group hike up Pole Canyon in Great Basin National Park. Pole Canyon is one of the lower elevation trails. It can be made into a loop with Timber Creek and the trails between the campgrounds, but our plan was to go up for awhile and return down the same path. We figured with seven kids, this would be the best idea, and we could play it by ear (or foot) to determine how far to go.

Right off I started having fun photographing so many wildflowers! Here are most of the ones that are out, along with a link to a more detailed description on A Plant a Day, a blog I started years ago but rarely update due to time constraints.

Tiny, tiny flowers: slender phlox (Microsteris gracilis).

A nearby companion: Maiden Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora).

A blast of color: desert Indian paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia).

Somewhat camouflaged: Desert Biscuitroot (Lomatium foeniculaceum var. fibriatum)

One of 26 milkvetches in the area: Newberry's Milkvetch (Astragalus newberryi)

Just starting to bloom: lambstongue ragwort (Senecio integerrimus)

Bright spots in the high desert: Roughseed Cryptantha, also called Yellow-eye Cryptantha 

(Cryptantha flavoculata)

A plant also cultivated for gardens: long-leaf flox (Phlox longifolia)

Whew! So many flowers, and we weren't even 100 meters down the trail! We caught up to Jenny and little Isaac, who was doing such a good job walking. As we continued in the pinyon-juniper woodland, I saw some another spring favorite:

Close to the ground: Dwarf Lousewort (Pedicularis centranthera)

We sauntered up the trail, with many stops to look at cool things.

The kids liked this little bee.

A flash of yellow: western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum)

A delicate purple: beautiful rockcress, also called beauty rockcress, Prince's rockcress (Arabis pulchra)

A springtime favorite: Tall Fringed Bluebells (Mertensia ciliata)

Isaac liked riding on his Mama's back.

Desert Girl also wanted a ride, but when she found some challenges, she was very happy, like at this creek crossing.

We found one little patch of snow.

As we ascended, the trail entered aspen-white fir habitat. A few aspens were starting to leaf out, but most were not.

We had many snack breaks, and the kids wanted to keep going.

Sometimes they walked, sometimes they ran.

A water strider on the little stream. Some of the stream was dry, but as we climbed higher we found water.

Jenny also took a bunch of photographs.

Then we emerged from the trees into a meadow, with sagebrush on the hillsides, water birch and willows marking springs, and matted brown grasses from last year.

We decided this would be a good lunch spot. And play area. And running arena. We spent a lot of time here, enjoying the beautiful day.

The willow tree had little furry catkins. They emerge long before the leaves.

Before we left the meadow to return to the trailhead, we tried to get the kids to pose. This is as good as we got!

The way down included more exploration. Isaac loved testing the water temperature.

The older kids thought they were pretty cool, hiking ahead of the adults, and occasionally taking rest stops.

Some of the many ants out. (The eyes are on the red part.)

Desert Girl hiked most of the way, over three miles. She's tough! On the way down I found a few flowers I had missed on the way up.

A yellow violet: Goosefoot Violet (Viola purpurea)

A big happy Asteraceae: Hooker's Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza hookeri)

A perennial favorite: Creeping Barberry, also called Oregon Grape (Mahonia repens)

It was a great day hiking with friends and enjoying nature. I should also mention lots of birds were out: vireos, spotted towhees, mountain chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and more. 

Pole Canyon can be hot in the middle of summer due to its lower elevation (around 7,500 feet), but at this time of year, it is perfect for hiking.

An excellent reference: Glenn Clifton's 2012 Flora of the Snake Range (this is a big file, and includes photos of most of the 1,000 plants in the area)

Learn more about hikes in and around Great Basin National Park, along with natural and cultural history in this book.

Desert Destination: Death Valley--Golden Canyon & Salt Creek

 Our Death Valley adventure continued after Badwater with a jaunt to Golden Canyon. This is one of the easiest canyons to hike, so I thought it would be perfect for the kids. But it turned out I had a rather whiny kid who did not want to hike, no matter what. I tried to distract him by pointing out the pavement--a road used to go up Golden Canyon, but a flash flood in 1976 that dumped over two inches of rain undermined the road and washed most of it out. That distraction lasted all of about 2.3 seconds.

 I noticed some people duck into a side canyon ahead of us, and we took their cue. It was really cool, and Desert Girl and I had so much fun going up the narrow passage. Mr. Whiny? He hung out near the entrance, pouting.

 Next we found a little cave under some boulders, which I checked out to look for snakes--it would be a perfect place for them to escape the heat. When I didn't see any, I let the kids go in. Desert Girl was up for the challenge, but not Desert Boy.

 Finally I found something that really distracted him--a climbing wall. Here the sedimentary layers have been steeply tilted, making for some fun, but crumbly scrambling.

That distraction changed Desert Boy's attitude. He was now ready to have some fun, so we played the shadow game, trying to stay in the shade of the canyon. If we ran out of shade, we would try to get to the next bit of shade in ten seconds or we would melt. It was a good game and got us up to a part of the canyon that was rather straight and wide and didn't look so interesting. We decided this would be a good place to turn around. But first--one more side trip into a side canyon.

 The canyon was narrow enough we could touch both walls at the same time.

 It had some fun climbing obstacles (and the dry waterfall in the photo above wasn't quite as steep as the photo makes it look!).

 Finally we got to a place where it was a little too tough for us to continue. (Plus we had run out of bandaids.) So we took some photos and headed back down, enjoying a game of hide 'n seek along the way. My advice for Golden Canyon? It's one of the most popular hikes in Death Valley because it's so easy to get to and not too difficult. If you want to get away from the crowds, just slip into one of the many side canyons--they are fun and you don't know what you will find!

By the time we finished, it was time for lunch and swimming. I was lucky in that some teenage girls who had been lounging around the pool for a week were ready for a distraction and played with the kids for a long time. They even taught Desert Boy how to dive. It was great, and I appreciated some relaxation time.

 In the late afternoon we went to Salt Creek to look at the pupfish. Spring is mating time, and we saw thousands of pupfish in the creek. The kids thought it was really cool.

 Desert Boy shows with his fingers how big the fish are.

 A blurry, colorful pupfish. It is so amazing that this fish can survive in such a harsh locale. In fact, thinking about the huge lake, Lake Manly, that used to fill Death Valley and that had many fish species in it, kind of blows my mind.

Salt Creek was an excellent late afternoon stop. Then it was back to our campsite for some more relaxing. We went to bed early, as we wanted to get up early the next morning to pack up and see the sand dunes on our way across Death Valley.

Desert Destination: Death Valley Part 1

 If you want to visit the desert, Death Valley certainly fits the bill! It is one of the most beautiful desert locations in the world.

After we had exited Titus Canyon, we drove down into Death Valley proper. Desert Boy was not impressed. I asked him what he expected to see, and he said a barren valley where everything was dead. I told him that was coming.

First, though, we had more important things to do: put up our tent and go swimming. I was worried that the campgrounds might be full as it was spring break for a lot of schools, but we had quite a few sites to choose from.

Furnace Creek Ranch lets campers swim for a fee, and the kids could not wait. It was hot, about 85 degrees (which is not really hot for Death Valley), so after picking up a junior ranger booklet at the visitor center, we headed to the pool and spent much of the afternoon there in the spring-fed pool. Ah, that's a good way to spend an afternoon!

 Next was a picnic dinner of hot dogs roasted over the stove (I was lazy and did not want to build a fire, plus, as I mentioned before, it was hot!).

 We had some free time before the evening ranger program, so we went to the Borax Museum and the displays behind it. They were mildly interesting, and since they were free, worth it.

 They had a cool old engine from the Death Valley Railroad. I thought Desert Boy would get a little more excited, but he was tired of looking at things. So we jumped on our bikes and headed down the bike path to the Borax Twenty Mule Team exhibit.

 The Twenty Mule Teams are one of the iconic symbols of Death Valley, although most people probably couldn't tell you why. If you ever pick up a package of Borax soap, there's a good chance you'll see an illustration of the Twenty Mule Teams on it. Since we've started making our own laundry soap with Borax as an ingredient, Desert Boy recognized them.

 The evening light was beautiful.

Taking our bikes was a great idea, as Desert Boy really likes bike riding. I do too, as we can cover more ground yet still get some exercise.

Next was the evening ranger program about the night skies. The highlight was meeting up with a couple rangers who have been working at Scotty's Castle for the winter. I so much enjoyed seeing them and hearing their stories.

Then it was off to our tent for a good night's rest. We all slept well. I woke up early, so I climbed up a nearby hill and watched the setting moon as the sun's rays spread across the valley.

 The parking lot campground (that can hold about 1,000 RVs) was only partially filled. Our campground, which was mainly tents and smaller RVs, was mostly full. I'm not used to camping in such a crowded campground, but it worked out fine.

 I wanted to make the most of the early morning light, so I rousted the kids and got them into the truck, telling them we would eat breakfast later.

 We went to Zabriskie Point, one of the most photographed places in the park.

 The kids had fun running around.

 We were joined by quite a few other people on the overlook. Can you see our shadows waving?

We ate breakfast and then headed to Badwater. This is the part of Death Valley Desert Boy was imagining.

 It was only mid-morning, but the day was turning out to be hotter than the day before. We passed a group from Backroads bicycling, and I didn't want to be part of their group on this day.

 Coming from the high desert where we still had snow, Desert Boy and Desert Girl were not thrilled with the heat or the fact that they were now 282 feet below sea level. Whew. Maybe they won't ever consider doing the Badwater Ultramarathon, considered the most difficult ultramarathon race. Why so difficult? Well, it's 135 miles for one thing. It starts at Badwater and ends at the Whitney Portal, which is 13,000 feet of cumulative vertical ascent. And the real kicker? It's held in July, when Death Valley air temps may be 120 degrees F, and ground temps even higher. Runners run on the white line painted on the road so they won't burn their feet and get into huge coolers (or even coffins) filled with ice water at rest stops.

A fifteen minute stop convinced them that they had seen enough, and I wasn't about to argue.

More tomorrow...