2015 Wheel-a-thon

 It was time again for the Wheel-a-thon, a fundraiser for the local schools. Grades K-2 ride eight miles and grades 3-6 ride 16 miles. They stop each mile to get a mark and for water and a snack.

Here are the younger kids getting ready. They were so excited!

I rode with and it was fun stopping at each mile marker to play around. We also talked about rabbitbrush, greasewood, Lake Bonneville, yoga, animal bones, aspens turning color, and more during the breaks. They were a captive audience for about two minutes each time.

While we were riding north, the older kids were riding south before turning around. Here's the first group of them.

And another cluster...

And the tail end, with more volunteer parents bringing up the rear.

For some kids, getting the mark was a big deal.

Jenny was another parent that rode with the younger kids.

The weather really cooperated this year, with very little wind and no precipitation.

Willow sure enjoyed the stops. She wanted to see my camera!

We went at a nice slow pace so the kids kept going. They did really awesome. We started singing around mile 5, and they kept making up songs the rest of the way.

The next few mile marker stops. Thanks to the volunteers!

Jenny getting creative with her photography.

All of the younger kids made all eight miles! What an accomplishment.

The older kids did really well too.

Then it was time for the celebratory lunch.

Yum! This is definitely one of my favorite fundraisers. Fresh air, some exercise, and food at the end.

Backpacking up to The Table--Day 2

 Following our first day of backpacking up to the Table and a night of astrophotography, we all slept in a bit, not waking until it was light outside. We eventually scrambled out of the tent and enjoyed the beautiful light on the bristlecones.

My husband wandered to the east and when he came back said he wished he had had a camera because he saw a bull elk silhouetted against the sunrise. Alas, it ran off so no one else got to see it.
We prepared breakfast and I couldn't help but wander around a little more and take photos. Such gorgeous light!

These tree roots reminded me of a ram.

I was feeling restless, so I climbed a hill and got a wider view of the Table. Our goal that morning was to explore it. It looked big, stretching to the north and east, a big grass-covered plateau.

So after breakfast we set off, deciding to look at  what appeared to be a hut on the northern horizon.

It turned out to be a rock structure taller than the kids. Not sure who built it or why.

A deep canyon intersected the plateau, and I couldn't resist getting closer. Some tall quartzite cliffs lined the northwest side of the canyon.

I could see it connected up with Smith Creek.

Looking north.

There are some neat bristlecones on the far edges of the Table.

As I turned and headed southeast, I found more broad expanses of the Table. Everything was so dry, and we were a little worried about predicted afternoon thunderstorms. One spark could easily start a conflagration.

And then I came across a trail. Can you see it in the photo below? Obviously trails don't get used much up here.

Here's the trail sign. Hope you have a map, because this sign just tells you the names and numbers of the trails, but nothing more (you can download free USGS topo maps here; search for "Mount Moriah" under 'USGS Map Name'--change it from 'Address and Place'). Looks like the colors in Hendry's Creek are changing.

It was 4.5 miles to travel along the perimeter of the Table. Have I said it's big?

We ate lunch and packed up to head back to the vehicle.

Once again, hiking downhill was no problem.

We took a little break before heading uphill.

 While the kids were concerned with the grade, my husband and I were wondering about the tires on the truck. We had gotten a flat on the way up and fixed it with a can of Fix-a-Flat (that stuff is amazing, I'm buying more!). We were wondering if it would hold. Fortunately it did, because we got another flat on the way down. That road is rocky!


In the end, it was definitely a trip worth smiling about.

Backpacking Trip--the Night

I didn't sleep very well in our tent. I was cold, then I was uncomfortable, and finally at 1 am I decided to go outside and take a look at the night skies. To my delight, they had mostly cleared up! So I grabbed my camera and Goby tripod (it's very small and flexible so great for traveling) and wandered around The Table. I knew I wanted to get the tree above; it's one of my favorites.

My husband says these photos are kind of strange, that's not what you seen when you look up at night. I totally agree, a 25- or 30-second exposure captures so much more light. The glow from Ely was really strong, and the Milky Way makes the sky look cloudy. I like how these photos are a bit surreal, but also grounded in reality. I also really like the juxtaposition of really old trees, which kind of boggle our mind, with the really old universe, which actually makes the trees seem young. I find looking at the night skies really helps me put any problems I'm having into perspective--they are so tiny compared to everything that's around me!

I saw numerous shooting stars while I was taking the long exposures, and even captured one in the photo below.

I've had a few people ask how I take these photos. I basically have done a lot of research online. I also got some tips at the Great Basin National Park Astronomy Festival astrophotography workshop.

I shoot with a Canon t3i (a not very advanced camera, quite frankly), a Tokina 11-16 mm lens (great for low light), a 25- or 30-second exposure, f2.8, ISO 3200, manual focus on infinity, mirror locked up, high ISO speed noise reduction on strong, long exposure noise reduction on, photo quality on RAW and jpg, and a 2-second timer to reduce the shake of pressing the camera. I also add a little light painting to the foreground to enhance the subject and so it's not just a silhouette.

For post processing, I adjust the RAW images to how I like, in particular adding more black to the photos. There's a lot more I could be doing, but I am definitely still learning! (If you have any tips, please leave a comment!)

I find that the southern part of the Milky Way (or at 1 am it becomes more of the western part) is the most photogenic, so I end up taking more photos in that direction. At first I was irritated with all the light pollution from Ely, but then I decided it added an interesting color element to the photo and helped show our human relationship with what we are looking at.

Of course I have to change it up a bit from time to time. Here's "Sword Chief" (so-named by Desert Girl) and the northern (eastern) Milky Way, which is definitely not as strong. I spent almost two hours wandering around that night, feeling so lucky to be in such a beautiful spot with the weather cooperating. It was a great surprise after going to bed with cloudy skies.

I'll have these photos and others for sale at the Art Bank in Ely on canvas, slate, and perhaps bamboo, as well as notecards. The Art Bank has an impressive array of art that is always changing, so it's fun to stop in often, and it's open Thursday-Sunday.

Hope you are enjoying the night skies where you are! The moon is growing in size every night, and on September 27 we can look forward to a lunar eclipse.

Backpacking up to The Table -- Day 1

 After our happy experience with our first family backpacking trip in July, my husband and I scheduled another one for September. We decided we would go to one of our favorite spots--The Table in the Mount Moriah Wilderness in the North Snake Range. It was just a two mile hike up to the Table via the Big Canyon trail. Of course, that didn't account for all the elevation change! There's no water available up there, so we had to plan our water carefully.

As we hiked the downhill section, the kids were cooperating.

But then we had the steep uphill part, and that wasn't nearly so much fun. Desert Girl shed her backpack, but still had enough energy to sing (big eye roll from mom on that).

Desert Boy wanted to stop all the time. I won't lie, it wasn't exactly fun cajoling them to keep going and listening to "When are we going to be there?"

Fortunately the scenery was spectacular with the changing colors.

And soon we were in view of old bristlecones. My step grew lighter, my heart happier, and I felt wonderful.

My husband didn't care where on the Table we camped, so I picked a spot where we would have a good view of the mountain.

The ground looks flat from a distance, but finding something not too rocky took a little time. Eventually we succeeded, and then it was exploration time.

But not for too long, because it was getting dark. We set up the camp and got some soup simmering.

As the evening progressed, I saw that the clouds would make for a wonderful sunset. I had wanted to take a bunch of Milky Way photos, but with the clouds they wouldn't turn out well. I decided to make the best of the situation and just enjoy sunset.

Oh my, it was magical. The glow of the light on the trees was gorgeous, and I was practically skipping around. I think my husband thought I was slightly nuts. Or maybe very nuts.

This was one of the primary reasons I wanted to sleep on the Table, to experience the wonderful times of day that I had never been on the Table.

We all really liked this young bristlecone being hugged by the old one.

Soon it was time for bed. As the light grew dimmer, an owl approached from the east, flew over us, circled around, and then stopped on a tree branch. It watched us while we watched it. It was a special wildlife sighting for us. Before long it took off and disappeared. Flies were attracted to our headlamps, and I saw a bat fly overhead. It was dark now, so we went in the tent and settled in to sleep.

Little did we know there would be a surprise in the middle of the night...