Meeting Artist-in-Residence Virginia Catherall

 Textile artist Virginia Catherall was selected as the artist-in-residence at Great Basin National Park in 2016. She specializes in knitting wearable artwork that is inspired by the terrain around her. It sounded like such a neat concept, and I wanted to learn more. Fortunately, we were able to attend one of her workshops, where she gave a program about her art and taught newbies how to knit. The kids and I all gave the knitting a try, but none of us made it too far. Virginia made it look so easy, but it's definitely something that takes a little practice.

Desert Girl went on to make some string art. She had first learned this when Virginia went to the schools and did special programs for them.

 As part of the program, Virginia showed some of the artwork she had made during her three-week residency in the park. She had been in the park for a bit over two weeks, but had already made so much! She had visited the Strawberry Fire, and the blackened tree trunks made an impression on her. She made a cowl to represent them.

She had an interaction with red-winged blackbirds that inspired this shawl.

The blooming rabbitbrush inspired these rabbitbrush mitts.

She also showed quite a bit more. You can see some of Virginia's creations on Ravelry, where you can purchase her patterns. Virginia also has a blog, where she explains some of her inspiration and creations, and an e-book of a compilation of her patterns from when she was artist-in-residence on the Black Rock Desert in 2015.

Meanwhile, Desert Boy picked out a different color yarn and knitting needles and started again. And he kept going and going. And he was smiling. He had learned how to knit!

It was so nice to see the tears turn to a smile and some perseverance where I had given up. Maybe I'll give knitting another try too--or at least encourage Desert Boy to continue!

Return to Kanarraville Falls

The kids had a dentist appointment in Cedar City, which meant that I had to take the day off work and they got out of school for the day. With beautiful weather and 0% chance of rain, I thought it might be a good time to go back to Kanarraville Falls, a lovely slot canyon hike south of Cedar City. I asked the kids, and after thinking about it a little, they agreed. Last year we did this hike and all had cold feet, so this year we had neoprene socks. I also packed some extra layers in case they got cold.

Then we set off down the trail. We quickly got hot and were looking forward to the cold water in the creek.

In fact, the kids couldn't resist going down the water slide.

We continued on, finding more small waterfalls and having fun climbing over obstacles.

It didn't take too long until the creek turned and we entered the high canyon walls.

We reached the first waterfall. Some other people were climbing up the ladder next to it. Desert Boy said, "Can we go into the cave?"

"What cave?" I asked.

"The one behind the waterfall."

I shrugged. I didn't know there was one. "Sure."

The kids scampered behind the water.

Sure enough, there was a little alcove. And they were so proud  of themselves for finding it.

We climbed up and continued to another little waterfall. Guess where Desert Boy wanted to go!

A bit further on are more waterfalls that seem like they would be super fun with full sun. I convinced Desert Boy to slide down one.

Can you see his blur?

It was fun, but it was also cold, and we weren't finding much sun in the canyon now. So out came the jackets, balaclavas, and gloves. The kids started finding the drier passages through the creek.

We took a group shot before the second ladder, which has deteriorated a lot. We decided this was a good place to turn around, especially since the kids were so cold.

I did get in a few more photos.

At the top of the first ladder I saw the crazy amount of bolts everywhere. It was seriously out of control. Right above the drop I saw a yellow rope. I went and took a closer look and saw that it was the cheap rope you buy at the store that might hold 200 pounds. Except someone had girth-hitched it to each of the hangars. Girth hitching is one of the ways to reduce your strength the fastest, by \about half! Plus there were knots in the lower part of the rope as hand holds and the rope was seriously frayed. It very well could have broken with just 50 pounds on it. I didn't have a knife, but I pulled it up so at least anyone who put it down would see just how awful condition it was in. The old webbing that was being used as a handhold on the ladder side wasn't in much better shape.

I felt good about the ladder though, it seemed solid.

We warmed up as we hiked downstream and got into more sun. We started running into a few more people, as it was after school. I've seen photos from people who go on weekends, and it's a constant stream of people through the canyon, so I highly recommend trying to go at a non-peak time.

We got back to the first water slide and guess who had to give it a go! It was fun enough I went several times.

Desert Girl says she would write about this photo: "We went to a hike near Cedar City. We found a water slide. A rock water slide. It was very fun. But a bit cold."

Here's a link with directions on how to get to this hike. Make sure to check the forecast before you go to avoid flash floods, and have fun!

2016 Wheel-a-thon

Every year the local schools do a fundraiser called the Wheel-a-thon. Kindergarten, first, and second graders ride eight miles, and grades three through six ride 16 miles. They get pledges for riding each mile. They also stop each mile to get a mark on their hands and to get snacks and drinks. I didn't think I was going to be able to attend due to a work conflict, but the day before that was solved, so I went. The day started out with riding the bus to the road that had been shut down for the event and meeting the new superintendent.

Then it was off under very cloudy skies. The weather forecast was not favorable, and I made sure to have a raincoat packed!

The kids were always eager to go after each rest stop.

Volunteers sit at the mile markers to hand out snacks and water and do the hand marking. Many of them come year after year.

The teacher had different kids lead each mile, but over all, the kids found a place where they were happy riding and mostly rode there, talking with friends and enjoying not being in the classroom for the day.

This volunteer has been helping for over 20 years and donated all her t-shirts from the event last year. I think someone is going to make it into a quilt.

Ready to go again! Fortunately the wind held off until the last mile and a half going south. Then it was at our backs for the entire ride back.

Then we met the younger kids coming the other direction. It was like a big reunion, especially with siblings in both schools. I finished riding with the big kids and caught up with the younger kids.

The younger kids are on much smaller bikes, some still with training wheels. I think this event helps the kids ride their bikes better faster, as they want to keep up with their friends.

Adults supervise and have fun riding too. We also got to be bike mechanics, as some of the kids are growing faster and needed to have their seats raised to ride more efficiently. And then there were flat tires, chains falling off, squeaky chains, and more. We kept everyone riding.

Desert Girl is delighted that there's another girl in first grade and they rode together the whole time.

I never noticed that there is a slight hill on this road until I looked at this photo! The school bus brought up the rear. We're almost done!

Just one more mile to go! These kids are good sports, ready to keep pedaling. And they sure had a lot of revolutions to make these little bikes go!

Those training wheels provide lots of friction over the course of eight miles, so these kids get an extra workout.

At the end we took a group photo of participants and some of the volunteers.

Then it was time to go to the gym for lunch. Yum! The Parent and Teacher Association provided the main course, and then families brought in side dishes.

And desserts. There was no shortage of food!

We were grateful to have the weather cooperate and such a great day outside. I think the kids learn a lot about life during this event, like perseverance and patience. Plus they get a good dose of exercise!

You can find more on my friend Jenny's blog.

A Quick Trip to the Magic Grove near Mount Washington

 We had some visiting ecologists who were interested in setting up a limber and bristlecone pine monitoring program in Great Basin National Park. Since I do a lot of the high elevation botany/ecology, I went with them on a recon trip to one of the potential sites, up in the Mt. Washington area. I love going up the west side of the park, it is always so remote and beautiful. I took all these photos with my phone.

Jules joined us and brought along the telemetry gear to try and hear the collared bighorn ewe. We didn't hear it from down in Spring Valley, but we did hear it later in the day.

The traditional first stop up the road is the Wheeler Mine, where water comes out of the old mine and we can still see some of the mining structures. I'm not quite sure what this structure was used for.

Then we drove up the tight switchbacks up to near the top of Mt. Washington. We hiked the last 150 meters into the clouds.

Then we went down the other side to the northeast to check out a grove of bristlecones that has been dubbed the Magic Grove. The name isn't on any map, but it's stuck locally.

The moving clouds lent a very different air (double pun intended!) to the grove.

Wildflowers were scarce, but we could see there remains, like this Silene acaulis. In the summer it has brilliant pink flowers.

I found this four-trunked tree interesting.

Recognize this tree? It's on the Great Basin National Park quarter. It's a very cool looking tree from every angle.

The clouds were moving so fast. Thunderstorms were predicted for later in the day, so we knew we couldn't stay too long.

One of the cool things about bristlecones (and there are a lot of cool things!) is that often times the tree roots are above ground. These roots are so old that the ground has eroded out from around them, leaving the roots in air. This is an example where the biology can be used to help date the geology.

The bristlecones had some cones on them, so the life cycle continues. Those bottlebrush needles can live for 40 years!

On the way back down, the clouds lifted enough that we could see the marvelous patch of aspen on the other side of the canyon. A wildfire in 2000 burned part of Lincoln Canyon, making some great bighorn sheep habitat and regenerating a lot of aspen.

 It was a quick trip up and down the mountain, but lots of fun with good conversation about forest ecology and field work. The clouds made everything look so different. The Mt. Washington road requires high clearance  and four wheel drive and is one of the toughest roads around. The super tight switchbacks require three-point turns for longer vehicles.