Wilson Hot Springs and the Boyd Pony Express Station, West Desert, Utah

On the way from Fish Springs NWR to Callao, at the north end of the Fish Springs Range, there's an old bus upside down on the side of the road. Next to it is a dirt road. We took it about a quarter-mile, until it ended. I had heard there were hot springs out here, but I had also heard that lots of people get stuck getting out to them. Fortunately the temperature was below freezing and I could hear the gunshots of hunters, so I didn't feel too isolated.

We parked and checked out the nearby hot spring. The kids were not too interested, so they went back in the truck while I hiked around it and to another old, abandoned bus. I wonder what the stories are about the buses being there! The land is actually the southern edge of Dugway Proving Ground.

Near the bus was the hot spring the refuge biologist had mentioned, with some tubs. The circular tub was only about half full and the water wasn't particularly warm. Nearby was a bathtub with a rusted edge that was full of water but didn't look too inviting.

I could tell by the color of the hot spring itself that it was really hot. In fact, it's about 142 degrees Fahrenheit. You definitely want to be careful around it.

Here's a link to a brief Utah Geological Survey page of water quality for the spring. 

The link shows a map, and then when you click on a spring, you get a listing like the one below:

Id	2081
Mapno__cou	TO-109
County	TOOELE
Region_loc	Fish Springs
Source__we	Wilson Health Spr.
Location__	(C-10-14)33c
Quad__usgs	C
Township	10
Range	14
Section	33
Qtr_sectio	c
Idname__us	395423113254900
Type	Spring
Temp__°c	60.5
Class__hig	SPRING HIGH
Depth_of_w
Flow
Rate_units
Longitude_	113.4303
Latitude__	39.9064
Utm_eastin	292251
Utm_northi	4419986
Depth_to_w
Status
Date	12-Jul-67
Reference	USGS/NWIS; 2000
Ph	7.4
Conductivi	31200
Sodium__mg	7090.0
Potassium_	18.0
Calcium__m	740.0
Magnesium_	224.0
Aluminum__
Iron__mg_l
Silica__mg	33.0
Boron__mg_	2.600
Lithium__m
Bicarbonat	180.0
Sulfur__mg	1600.0
Chlorine__	12000.0
Fluorine__	4.00
Arsenic__m
Total_diss	22900
Total_diss	21700
Cations_an	100

I couldn't find much else about Wilson Health Springs. Apparently Northern Arizona University did a study back in the 1990s and found many different microbes living in the hot springs, but it doesn't look like they followed up on the initial studies. Their preliminary report (link above) shows the layout of the several hot springs and warns that access to some of them is treacherous, with a thin crust.

I was glad that the ground was frozen, as it made it easier to stay up high. I could see that if the ground was warmer and wetter, it would be very difficult to move around.

Frost on the salt grass.

Looking back towards the truck was very scenic. If you like isolated hot springs, this is a neat place to visit.

I could imagine a bus full of hot spring afficionados on their way...

Before the buses traversed the area, this was the route of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway in the United States. What a route they chose! And the reason they chose part of it was because it was previously part of the Pony Express Trail, used to deliver mail by horseback from St. Louis to Sacramento in 1849-50. We stopped to visit the Boyd Pony Express Station, which has some nice interpretive panels. Not much of the station is left, but the view of the Deep Creek Mountains is still gorgeous.

We headed south, but I had to stop for a couple more photos. This is the Weiss Highway. Watch out for traffic. (This highway had a bit of notoriety back in the 1990s.)

And this has to be one of the most complete but remote signs out in the West Desert. It actually makes things seem so close. What it doesn't mention is that the nearest gas is over an hour away. And that if you see more than two vehicles in that hour, it will be considered a lot of traffic.

Ready for a visit? Wilson Health Springs are something I don't cover in my book,  Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area (affiliate link). However, I do have chapters on Fish Springs, Callao, the Confusion Range, and many other places of the West Desert. So if you'd like to learn even more about this fascinating area, check it out!

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Bird Count 2015

 Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge needed some help with their Christmas Bird Count. I had helped a couple years ago and relished a chance to return to this very remote outpost (they have to drive an hour to get their mail; we had to drive two hours on dirt roads to get there). To sweeten the deal, we were offered lodging in their bunkhouse the night before and/or after the count.

The bunkhouse is fantastic.

Inside is a big living room with a huge TV, Dish, and, most important to Desert Boy, wifi.

The bunkhouse has four bedrooms, and as we were the first to arrive, I let the kids choose which room they wanted to stay in. Then they got to choose their beds, and they didn't hesitate to take the top bunk beds.

The kitchen area is great, with plenty of dishes and pots, which we used to make some soup.

Later other folks arrived and we had a lot of fun meeting them. Tiffany, the refuge biologist, came over to make sure we were situated. We slept well, and the next morning we got our assignments for the Christmas Bird Count. We were looking forward to seeing what bird species we would spot.

As we drove around the refuge, we found lots of American coots on a couple of the canals, but they were too far away to photograph. We flushed some northern pintails, and they quickly flew away, looking for other open water. Later we had a wonderful view of a loggerhead shrike.

We got out at the end of the road near Avocet pond and walked a bit, hoping to find some other birds. The boys were busy discussing Minecraft and Desert Girl had fun making strange footprints.

Many of the ponds were frozen over, with interesting patterns out on the ice.

Later we found a coot and a pied-billed grebe next to each other. It was nice of them to provide such a good comparison!

One highlight was seeing about 80 tundra swans out on the ice. Here's a view of them in front of the majestic Fish Springs Range.

We found two bald eagles in the trees by the historic Thomas Ranch. One was content to stay put and let us take photos.

After doing the mid-winter waterfowl count in the afternoon, Tiffany showed us a spot with a large number of black-crowned night herons. They are such cool birds!

They were hanging out near a springhead, where the water was too warm to freeze.

I had planned on going home that afternoon, but it was getting late and I was tired, so we decided to spend another night. Our new friend Shirley graciously offered to watch the kids so I could drive around and take some photos in the beautiful late-afternoon light. I found an American tree sparrow, which I hadn't seen earlier. It cooperated for photos.

Earlier we had noticed the tracks on the ice and were fascinated with them. The ones on the clear ice are raised.

The almost-full moon rose early and I figured it would be a good time to practice for the Full Moon Photography Challenge.

We enjoyed our second night at Fish Springs. I could easily spend a week there, the light is always changing and it is such a scenic place. We did some sightseeing on the way home, which I'll share on a future post.

Full Moon Photography Challenge

Don't you love seeing those fantastic photos of the rising full moon over the horizon that seems magical? Yes, me too. Now I just wish I could take one! So what better way to learn than to practice, practice, practice.


Hence, the Full Moon Photography Challenge was born.

Your objective: take a photo of the full moon every month.
Post it on this special Facebook page (if you want).
Check out other photos, and improve!

What you get:

• Better photography skills (the Facebook page will have links on how to photograph the moon)
• Better feel for the lunar cycle (a lot of full moons are on Sundays this year!)
• A great reason to schedule trips during the full moon so that you can get some awesome photos!

F.A.Q.

What if it's cloudy during the full moon?

Sometimes clouds can accentuate the full moon. Or you might just have to get creative! Although the challenge is for the full moon, if you can't take a full moon photo because of weather, try photographing the moon at a different part of its cycle. Sometimes you can photograph the moon the night before or after the full moon and it still looks full.

Can I use my phone camera?

Yes, we will have guidelines on how to get the best possible photo from your phone camera. 

Does this cost anything?

Nope, it's free!

Where's the best place to take photos of the full moon?

Check out the Facebook page for ideas, plus a list of upcoming full moons. The first one is coming soon, January 5, 2015, so hurry over to get started!

2015 New Year's Challenges

The Past Resolutions
For the past two years, I've posted my New Year's resolutions. I did pretty well on my 2014 ones:

1. Play more music--yes, although Desert Boy has made more progress than me! 

2. Exercise regularly--yes, I'm in better shape this winter than last winter and exercise pretty much every day

3. Organize my house--somewhat; it's a work in progress, but we keep decluttering and organizing

4. Eat healthier--yes. Just reading food labels makes a huge difference in awareness.

5. Give more--yes, I was able to give more time to my husband and we really enjoyed our date nights!

I even managed some of the bonus items, like raising chickens (although it took a lot of perseverance and we're now on chickens #10, #11, and #12), reading the Bible in a year (on week 50!), writing more, self-publishing a children's book (see sidebar for details), taking some trips, getting some structural fire training, and recertifying as an EMT. Woohoo!

So what's for 2015? I like challenges, it keeps my competitive spirit happy. So I'm going to call my resolutions my challenges. Plus, some of these I developed throughout last year.

1. Desert Survivor's Get-Out-and-Camp Challenge. Our goal is 12 nights. Last year we made 11!

2. Desert Survivor's Backyard-Bird Challenge. We will count all the different bird species we see in our backyard. Last year's number to beat: 34.

3. Desert Survivor's Try-a-New-Recipe-Every-Week Challenge. I don't think this one will be too hard, but I'll report on the great successes and the flops.

4. Desert Survivor's Photograph-the-Full-Moon-Every-Month Challenge. This is a new challenge I'm developing that I'm super excited about. Stay tuned for details!

And since challenges are more fun with friends, you all are invited to join in!

2014 Christmas Bird Count and Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge Wrapup

I helped with the local Christmas Bird Count, and it turned out to be a beautiful day, albeit very windy in the afternoon.  I was pleasantly surprised to find some birds that haven't been seen for this count in over ten years, like the Evening Grosbeak, above. All the warm weather we've been having in early and mid December probably had a few bird species hanging around longer than usual.

The winter landscape was gorgeous.

And the warm weather meant that the lakes and streams weren't frozen over, so we saw lots of water birds. I counted over a thousand mallards.

I had a spotting scope so I could check each one. I found a couple mergansers and a couple green-winged teals hanging out with the mallards. Some mallards were floating out in the middle of the lake, but most were eating along the shoreline.

Another bird I had to test my counting skills with were the European starlings. There were hundreds, sometimes in huge flocks. Even though they are non-native so they aren't a bird I particularly like, I still marvel how they fly together and can change direction so quickly.

Christmas Bird Counts are still continuing in various locations until January 5. They are a lot of fun and a great way to learn about an area. I might do two more.

Since we're talking about birds, let's segue into Backyard Birds. Did you take my Backyard Bird Challenge? The challenge was to keep track of what birds you saw in your backyard throughout the year.

We did really well starting the challenge, but slowed down in May as my schedule got busier. I realized that we didn't spend as much time in the backyard as I had thought! We did keep a list, though, and here's the front page:

Desert Boy wrote some of our findings, which was a great way to get him involved. Plus his spelling puts a smile on my face (e.g., trky volcher).

But I needed a neat and tidy list, so I typed one up and put in boxes so we could check what months we were seeing what birds. It was a great idea, but by the end of summer we couldn't keep up.

So will we do the Backyard Bird Challenge in 2015? You betcha. And now we have a goal to beat: we saw 34 different bird species in our backyard in 2014. I'm sure we can do better in 2015. And hopefully with the kids getting older and being able to take more responsibility, we'll count for more of the year!