Night Skies in the Southwest

No city lights, and only clear skies and stars. Everyone should experience these kinds of nights. This is from inside Zion National Park.

Canola fields in the Pacific Northwest

Canola fields in the spring are an easy target for photographers. Plants grow between three to five feet tall and produce small, yellow flowers. Canola belongs to the same plant family as mustard, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. Around two million acres of canola are currently grown in the United States.

Ruth, geology field camp and the famed mines of eastern Nevada

Visiting Ruth in eastern Nevada brings back memories of geology field camp while in the Mackay School of Mines Geological Engineering program/University of Nevada. The famed open pit mines around Ruth, including the largest in Nevada (the Liberty Pit) produced vast fortunes from copper, gold, and silver mining.  Kennecott closed the Liberty Pit (pictured) in 1978. The mine was reopened briefly in 1996 to 1999, and then again in 2004 to present. There were 2,300 residents in Ruth during peak mine operations, but today I don’t think there are more than a couple hundred residents.

Great Basin National Park; Wheeler Peak, Bristlecone Pines, Lehman Caves, record snow and no crowds

Great Basin National Park is only a small portion of the much larger Great Basin region extending from the Sierra Nevada east to the Wasatch Mountains. The Park’s three main attractions for the relatively few visitors venturing here (and a big plus for those that do!) include 13,000-foot Wheeler Peak, 2,000-year-old stands of Bristlecone Pines, and the fragile rock formations within Lehman Caves. Due to this past winter’s record snowfall, many feet of snow remain at the higher elevations making much of the park only accessible by snowshoes or skiing. The much-needed snowpack has creeks flowing strong, and Lehman Cave pools are as full as park staff have seen in the last 30 years.

 

Zion, translated from Hebrew as “the citadel of ancient Jerusalem”

The National Monument when first formalized was named Mukuntuweap, Southern Pauite for “Straight Canyon”. The name was later changed to Zion. The valley is estimated to have been inhabited for at least the last 8,000 years. A beautiful Park. However, we will have to return for the narrows hike another day. With record winter snowfall, the Virgin River is still flowing at around 1,000 cfs, well above the 150 cfs benchmark the Park Service has set to hike the canyon narrows safely. Many years the narrows is never closed to hikers. This year, they are estimating it won't be open to hikers until early July,

Lots of hiking and I still don't like big snakes

Many miles on the trail so far this trip and I still jump coming across a snake, especially big ones. For this encounter, there was not one, not two, but three, four-foot snakes in our path around us. A true snake gathering. Luckily, in this instance not venomous. 

Buckskin Gulch in the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness; one of the world's longest, deepest and most dangerous slot canyons

Buckskin Gulch, within the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs wilderness area, is considered the longest continuous slot canyon in the world with the red sandstone narrows running uninterrupted for almost 15 miles until the confluence with the Paria River. Over the course of its 15 miles, there are virtually no exit-points from the 300-500-foot-deep sheer walled canyon. As such, due to the severe flash flood potential, this hike is considered to be one of the ten most dangerous in America. To get a sense of the volume of water that comes through the canyon during a storm, see the picture of the ladder embedded high above in the cliffs (from a storm a few months ago). We traversed the replacement ladder to about 2 miles up-stream from this location.

Seeking slot canyons in Grand Staircase-Escalante

Located between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is an expansive place for outdoor adventure without the crowds of nearby National Parks. It extends over 1.9 million acres and is named for the Escalante River Canyons and for the Grand Staircase, a series of colorful cliffs extending north from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon. Since we have been most recently in high country, our focus here are slot canyons! FYI, great little BBQ place in Tropic called IDK BBQ with some surprising national writeups and awards for a small-town spot.

Bryce Canyon and my favorite color hoodoos!

Bryce Canyon National Park is celebrating 100 years this year. Such a pretty place to preserve. Must do hikes to experience the awesomeness of the Park are the Queens Garden/Peekaboo linked Loop and Fairyland Loop trails. Come prepared and remember the high elevation. We spent our early May hiking days marching along through lengthy snow squalls and 30+ mph winds. 

 

The National Park named for nearly impassible cliffs and rounded domes

 

Capitol Reef National Park was named by early explorers referencing two unique features of the Park; eroded sandstone which forms rounded domes resembling the dome of the U.S. “Capitol” building, and nearly impassible line of cliffs referenced with the descriptive maritime term of “reef”. In addition to the hiking, the old homestead of Fruita and the nearby town of Torrey are wonderful to explore. If possible, camp in the Park campground in the Fruita Historic District, and don’t forget to get your pie!