Desert Boy's Birthday Bash

 Desert Boy recently turned seven, and we decided to live it up with a trip to town with friends to go swimming. Before we left, Aunt Tana came over and gave Desert Boy his first lassoing lesson. He's got a little ways to go, but he thinks it's pretty cool.

Then we loaded up and headed to Delta, with the first stop at the playground. The kids immediately migrated towards the water. Wait--the swimming comes later! They didn't get that memo, they were ready to play in water!

We were able to lure them out with some pizza. Before long they were back on the playground equipment. I didn't have to plan any activities for this birthday, the kids took care of entertaining themselves!

I did want to head over to the Great Basin Museum, as my kids love it. It's only a short walk from the playground.

The model train fascinated some of them.

I think Isaac enjoyed the dress up box more!

Everyone was fascinated with the old foot x-ray machine from the shoe store. They didn't quite understand how they could keep seeing the x-ray of a foot even when someone put in their hand. Ha.

I was impressed with the trilobite display. Millard County is a world-class trilobite location, and trilobites that are found in souvenir stores around the country come from here.

Then we went into the rock room, and the volunteer turned off the overhead lights. Then she switched on other lights, and suddenly the grey-looking rocks suddenly looked much different!

Some of the kids weren't that excited to go to a museum. But once they got in it, they didn't stop finding things that caught their attention.

 Old typewriters and telephones were a novelty to them.

Then it was on to the main attraction: the swimming pool! The West Millard swimming pool is huge, with a kiddie area, main pool, and diving area.

Even the youngest member of our group got in on the action!

A couple of the intrepid went off the high dive.

We brought some floaties, which the kids loved.

Afterwards it was time for more snacks on the patio. What a fun day!

I think everyone slept well that night. Happy birthday, Desert Boy. Thanks for a good excuse to go have some fun with friends!

Our Chicks--a Sad Tale

 We moved our chicks out of the house and into the chicken coop (an old shower house next to the garage) when they started pooping all over the house. They took to it well. So did I. I don't like poop.

We also finished the chicken tractor. My husband adapted an old swing set.

The chicks liked the chicken tractor okay, but they really loved free ranging. The first night wasn't so great, though, with us running after them, trying to catch them to put them away.

We read up about how to put chicks away and the next night turned on their light early, had treats ready, and had a big red rake to herd them. We went out, and they were all in the coop already. We thought they were brilliant. Well, almost. There's a reason there's a term 'bird brain.'

The following day we put them in the chicken tractor for awhile, but it was so hard to catch them. We hoped they would be hard for predators to catch too. We left them for awhile free ranging, and they did just fine. They stayed close to the coop, went under things when they felt threatened, and headed into the coop if they spotted a hawk.

I felt good about them free ranging, having their freedom, being tough and strong birds. But I also figured we might lose one or two, so we made plans for my husband to get three more from town today while he was doing errands.

Then calamity struck. It was not a good chicken day. This morning my brother shared news that all ten of their chicks had disappeared. I felt so sad for them.

This afternoon when I got home I saw our three chicks were doing fine and smiled to myself. Seeing them peck the ground, eating all those ants made me happy. (I sure enjoy it when the simple things of life make me happy!)

We went inside for a bit, and not half an hour later I went out to check on the chicks. I went over to the coop and found just one. Not a good sign. Then our dog brought one up to the front steps, dead, in plain sight of the kids and me and our friends. The other one was still missing, and I figured its chances were slim to none. While the kids hunted for it, I called my husband to tell him to pick up some extras, but he told me that the two places that had chickens had stopped selling them. They could order 25 for us. We're not ready for 25.

Our chicken adventure hasn't turned out quite like I was hoping. We only have one left, and it's the one we think is a rooster.

We're not sure what we're going to do at this point. Hopefully those of you reading this who have chickens have much happier stories! And if you don't have chickens, we hope you have better luck than us if you ever get them.

Backyard Bird Bonanza

As expected, springtime has been an excellent time for some backyard bird watching. We really got lucky last Saturday when the wind held still and we had lots of outdoor chores. We added mallards (flying by our yard), barn swallows (I love seeing them eat insects in the air and watching their acrobatics), a grackle (Desert Boy and I couldn't agree on which species), a bullock's oriole (pictured above--a wonderfully colorful bird that I had Desert Boy figure out), a house sparrow (not very exciting, but the first time this year we saw one in the yard), Brewer's blackbird (their relative red-winged blackbirds are near, but still not seen or heard in the yard), broad-tailed hummingbird (so fun to hear fly over), western kingbird (a true sign of summer), and yellow-rumped warbler (a favorite). We're up to 29, with a goal of 50 for the Desert Survivor Backyard Bird Challenge.

Both Desert Boy and Desert Girl are getting better at identifying the common birds, and some just by sound. I'm hoping we can go to some bird events this summer to fuel their fun.

What are you seeing in your backyard?

Climbing Crystal Peak in Millard County, Utah --with Kids!

 We concluded our Volcano Weekend (Sunstone Knoll, Pahvant Butte) with a trip to Crystal Peak. In the late afternoon when the sun is out, the mountain sparkles, looking so impressive rising from western Millard County, south of Highway 6 & 50.

 The peak is remote, but since it was Easter weekend, we were expecting to share it with others. To our surprise, no one was parked at the camping areas near the road that goes by the peak.

Our goal was to climb the peak. Many years ago, my husband and I climbed it via the north face (photo above), and it was a terrifying climb. I tried another time in 2009. We knew the best way was to circle around to the south side and approach up the southwest side. Because Desert Girl had done so much hiking the previous day and my husband wants to get in shape for our Mt. Rainier trip in September, she got a free ride in the backpack.

Crystal Peak is made of Tunnel Springs Tuff, a volcanic rock that has a high quartz content in it. The rock is very white, and our eyes adjusted to the stark scenery. But then we saws burst of color.

Are you ready for it?

The Indian paintbrush was spectacular!

Our dog Henry was with us for the hike, and he followed my husband and Desert Girl on the rock, while Desert Boy and I followed the wash.

Suddenly, as I was walking along, I heard a rattle. I stopped immediately and found a rattlesnake a few feet away. I backed up, got my camera out, and took some photos. Desert Boy, who had a great opportunity to hang out with a friend herpetologist a week or so ago to go find rattlesnakes, sternly told me not to get any closer to it, not even for a photo. Smart boy.

We found our way around it and then started seeing more fossils in the Kanosh shale, a highly fossiliferous layer that is also present at nearby Fossil Mountain. I believe the fossil below is a cephalopod.

Soon we reached the ridge where the Tunnel Springs tuff met the Kanosh shale. This meant it was time for the serious climbing. But first I had to admire some of the openings in the tuff, called tafoni. Sometime when we have time to just play around, we could have a lot of fun photo opportunities!

The views were just lovely, with nary a sign of civilization. Crystal Peak is quite remote! (Oh, did I mention that already!?) We did see two vehicles the whole time we were out there, so it was actually a high traffic day.

Unfortunately our climb wasn't all peaceful and serene. Desert Girl wasn't feeling her best and complained loudly. It didn't help that the way we thought was the easiest wasn't and we had to do some backtracking down sections when it got too steep for us. This is not an easy mountain to climb.

We eventually reached a section that was too steep for Desert Girl, so she stayed with Dad and took a much-needed nap while Desert Boy and I scampered to the top. Desert Boy was so pleased that he had made it! Behind him, about 40 miles away, we could see the snow-covered peaks of the southern Snake Range, including Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park.


To the northwest we saw various knolls and roads across the Ferguson Desert. It wasn't so long ago (at least geologically speaking) that this was all covered with the waters of the massive Lake Bonneville.

On the way back down we found an easier way to the summit and also an easier way down to the Kanosh shale hillside. Some cairns mark the way, but they aren't always easy to spot. This Google Earth image shows the way we recommend to go up (and how we came down). It was about 1.25 miles one-way.

 We probably won't be making a yearly pilgrimage to Crystal Peak, but we'll be back!

For even more information about Crystal Peak and the surrounding area, check out my book Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area!

Climbing Pahvant Butte, the Volcano South of Delta, Utah--with Kids!

 Continuing on our Volcano-themed Weekend, after we finished with Sunstone Knoll and Clear Lake, we headed toward the big volcano. That's when I realized I didn't have much of a plan for what would happen next. I had read that the volcano was hikeable, but I didn't know where to start. So we headed down the marked road and eventually saw a track up the Lake Bonneville shoreline. We headed towards that track, but when we got to it, it was too steep for the truck. However, there was another track that entered the canyon.

What an adventure! The track twisted and turned up the narrow ravine, and the cinders were like driving in deep sand. I knew if I stopped, we'd be stuck, so I kept my foot on the gas and we kept going. Fortunately no one was coming the other direction. Then we popped up into the middle of the volcanic crater. (The white line in the image below is the driving line, the red line is the hiking route.)

The inside of the crater surprised me. I was expecting to see lots of black lava, but instead we saw lots of orangish rock. This orangish rock is a tuff, a combination of basaltic lava the size of sand and gravel.

One of the things that is so cool about this volcano is that it started erupting underwater about 15,500 years ago, when the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville covered the area. As the volcano erupted, it grew taller, eventually emerging from the lake. The parts of the volcano that were under the lake still have the black lava, and the lake interactions made a cool formation on the northwest side called the Lace Curtains (which we didn't have time to see this trip). For more about the geology, check out this Utah Geological Survey page.

We got our gear and started our hiking trip. Our basic plan was to walk around the top of the volcano. It didn't look too bad from the bottom, but as we started up the steep slope to the south summit, I started having doubts of how far we could go.

We could see the pillars up on the south summit, remnants of a 1923 windmill project. Some say that it was a scam, as it was never finished and the project was rather odd, with no power lines in the area. Others say it was an early renewable energy project, which put Millard County ahead of the times. Overall, there doesn't seem to be much documentation about it. The old structures make for a rather odd  but intriguing sight.

They also make for a well-visited site. We found 8 OHVs on the top of the south summit. They had taken a road up the east side.

After a long snack break, we continued towards the main summit, following an easy ridge. We took a little detour to find a geocache.

Indian paintbrush,  phlox, and more were blooming, adding some extra color to the hike. I was delighted to see the hummingbird moth near the cryptantha.

As we got higher, we faced some interesting obstacles, where the volcano rim had weathered away, leaving steep cliffs. We had to do some backtracking to find a way, but we eventually did. Here and there you can find a bit of a social trail, but overall this volcano is pretty wild and untracked.

We kept seeing different groups of OHVs arrive at the south summit (lots of people were camped in the area for the holiday weekend), but no one else was hiking. The kids were doing an excellent job. It probably helped that I told them that the reward for not whining was going to the Delta swimming pool later that afternoon.

Soon we saw the triangular metal structure at the summit get larger and larger. We were almost there! The summit is at 5,751 feet.

A rock wren greeted us. We took a long time trying to find a geocache without success.

The views were outstanding, looking out at the Sevier Desert. I was a bit surprised when I saw there was no road directly to Delta. I think the old lakebed will bog down vehicles, and it looks like the Sevier River still flows through that area. We had a good view of Clear Lake to the southwest and the Pahvant Range and Tushar Mountains to the east.

Desert Girl hiked the whole way by herself. (She knew she had to, which is a big motivator.)

After rehydrating and eating and enjoying the view, we started heading around the rim. I was a little more nervous about this part, because I wasn't sure if we'd reach some difficult obstacles. We had one part that was a little steeper than I like, but the kids are good rock climbers and managed fine. We found that it was a lot easier to descend, especially when we reached a section with cinders that made going down feel like running down a sand dune.

I estimate we hiked about 2.5 miles, taking about three hours. It was really cool to be on the top of a volcano, and now every time we go to Delta, we will have a special appreciation of that volcano to the south. And the kids got to go swimming, which was the best part of the trip for them.

Pahvant Butte from Highway 6 & 50 west of Delta.