Great Basin National Park

After visiting the Ovens, I went to Great Basin National Park.  The campground, at 9,886 feet, was nice and cool.  I hiked to see Bristlecone Pine Grove and the Rock Glacier.  Also did a lot of reading and relaxing.  Went on a tour of the caves.

The drive up to the campground and trails.  Wheeler Peak in background.

Shady tentsite.

Ancient Bristlecone Pines.

More Pines.

Rock glacier.  I was warned ahead of time that it wasn't overly impressive!

Flies galore!  I saw more flies in one day here than I saw all summer anywhere else.

Lehman Caves

Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park

I stopped by the Ward Charcoal ovens headed east out of Ely.  There were half a dozen of these huge ovens, plus a short nature trail and remains of 2 lime kilns.

It's astounding that the land was cleared of all trees for up to 35 miles away from some mining sites.

Hitch 4: Stonehouse

This week we were doing pinyon-juniper removal on Bureau of Land Management land.  The area was called Stonehouse.  The worksite was very steep.  Temperatures reached the low 90s most days and dipped down into the 50s at night.

Our worksite included all the land to the right of the road where the trucks are parked.

Steep! With loose rocks and dirt!  Yikes!

View from worksite.

Our crew.  From left to right: Nathaniel, Ryan, Michelle the Crew Leader, Eric, and Olivia.

This scorpion was found under someone's tarp when we were breaking down.

This potato bug was also under that tarp . . .

Salt Lake City

This break I went to Salt Lake City to meet up with Lindsey.  We went to the Red Butte Botanical Gardens and the Utah Natural History Museum.  Red Butte was beautiful, lush and green.  Our favorite was the herb garden because of all the different scents.  Lindsey took most of the photos on her camera, so they will be posted later.

At Red Butte Botanical Garden.

Hitch 3: Snake Range Aspen Restoration

Our worksite this hitch was on the west side of the Snake Range mountains in Nevada.  The site was bordered on one side by Great Basin National Park.  Aspen stand restoration was the goal of this project.  Crews last year fell and limbed larger trees.  When we arrived, the most of the site looked like giants had been playing Pick Up Sticks there.  We bucked up the logs and made burn piles.  Later, another crew will execute the burn.  Then we got into felling more trees and stacking more burn piles.  The trees we removed were almost all White Fur, which been encroaching and taking over aspen stands across their range.  In addition to being the project sponsor, the Bureau of Land Management owns and oversees the site.

Immature White Fur cones.  These were at the top of the tree.

This shows an area we already worked on.  Before, there were dozens of white fur growing between the aspens.

View from the worksite.  Note the burn piles in the foreground.

My campsite.  

Wonders of US-50

I've spent a fair amount of time on US-50 through Nevada and Utah.  Some highlights include a large windfarm just east of Ely.  It looms on the horizon for miles, and at night, each windmill is topped with a red light that blinks.  It would be a confounding sight if you only ever saw it at night.

Driving back from Capitol Reef National Park, I wanted some ice cream.  There is very little in terms of human habitation and services along much of this route.  I finally came upon this gas station-Dairy Queen-Pettting Zoo combo in Utah.

Gas station-Dairy Gueen-Petting Zoo Combo.

Complete with a zebra.

The Sevier Lake Bed can be seem from miles

Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park was my destination for this break.  I chose it for the cool temperatures, minimal crowds, interesting geology, and human history.  It exceeded all my expectations.  I especially liked the contrast of the lush green orchards of Fruita with the many shades of rock.

New Mammal Sightings: Yellow-Bellied Marmot

View from the Fremont Creek Trail.  Fruita is in the background.

Yellow-Bellied Marmot!  In the picnic area

View from Chimney Rock Trail.

View from my favorite trail, Cohab Canyon Trail.  Fruita is in the valley.   Notice the black, egg-like rocks, which were transported here by ancient glaciers.

On the Cohab Canyon Trail.

Grand Wash Trail.  Scale is lost in this photo, but these cliffs are at least 100 feet high.  Not a good place to be in a flash flood.

Mule deer in the picnic area, which they seem to own.  I saw at least 6 every time I drove or hiked by.

View from the picnic area where I took a Siesta.

Hitch 2: Duck Creek Basin

Another great week working at Duck Creek Basin and camping at Timber Creek Campground in the Humboldt-Toiyobe National Forest.  Out Pinyon-Juniper reduction project is helping to restore sagebrush habitat and also creates a fire break.  Our project sponsor is the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition.  

Olivia holding a baby pinyon tree we pulled up.  She is holding it at the above-below ground point.  Long taproot!

Lunch tree on our last day.  Trees that had crowned were left standing.

Lots of large anthills like this one.  So far I haven't been bitten, but they often form around the trunks of the trees we are cutting

Felling a small tree.

Our crew and our partner crew pose on our final day after we load the trucks.

Red Canyon Mountain Biking

I stopped by Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest on the way back to Ely from Bryce Canyon to do some mountain biking.  

Another biker on the trail ahead of me.  I seem to have inspired him to get out his camera.

What's wrong with this picture?  I don't think that's what clipless pedals are supposed to do . . .

Luckily I had my first aid kit.

View from the trail.

100 meters after Shoe #1 blows up, Shoe #2 felt left out.  Time to restock the first aid kit.

Bryce Canyon National Park

I decided to go to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah for this break.  I was able nab a spot in the park campground for a few nights.  While I was there, the Annual Astronomy Festival was going on.  I went to several interesting talks on the myths behind the constellations and how to use a Planosphere. Dr. Amy Sayle, a planetarium educator lead these presentations.  It turns out that Dr. Sayle works for the Morehead Planetarium at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I went to college.  One of my friends actually works for her at the Planetarium.

New Mammal Sightings: Pronghorn Antelope (I saw this briefly from the shuttle bus), Mule Deer

View from the rim.

Another view from the rim.  I have dozens of these . . .

On "The World's Best 3 Mile HIke" down into the canyon.

I watched 2 of these lizards on the trail for at least 10 minutes.  They would skitter around one another and every few minutes one would make a lunge at the other, but the other would always have scrambled away.

Fairyland Point

Along the Rim Trail, one side provides near constant overlooks into Bryce Canyon, but the other side often appears as this.  Beautiful but overshadowed by the canyon.