Video of Utah trip

First week back, unexpected birders

 This was the first week of our season, with only 40 guests, but about half of them were birders. Unexpected birders. Fortunately, and possibly also unexpected, the bird population was soaring. Our eager eyes sought out the friendly feathered phyla. I went out on two bird-themed walks, one on a forest road at El Capitan Cove, and another in Windham Bay. Both were seeking the land-based flutter-ers, and we found quiet spots to sit quietly, listening to the songbirds of the forest, but seeing more seabirds in the end.

Many of the sea birds from this week are migratory, and I found myself pleased to point out Parasitic Jaegers and Long Tailed ducks as we cruised around the passageways. They both have long tails and are only found here in the early springtime. We passed by a Common Loon and I got a close-up snapshot as well.

On the first day of the trip a few guests approached me and asked for Arctic Terns, and on the last day of the trip, at Dawes Glacier, they appeared out of the sky for our viewing pleasure. As a bonus, we got to see some Black Oystercatchers as well. The trip closed as an unbelievable success for birds, albeit unexpected.  

End of the Road

 I'm back in Bellingham, and putting away Lord Nelson (the Dodge Dakota) for the summer.  It was a great road trip and I'm very happy with the truck, as well as pleased with the high desert of Utah.  But I didn't just stay in Utah!  I also went to Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico.  Here are some photos from the ruins of Chaco Canyon.  I was expecting more of an Adobe style structure and that it would be attached to a cliff, but the ruins were freestanding, with many stories (up to 6, I believe) and low doorways.  The floors were made from logs from the previous forests of pine that were around during the time the people lived here.  I read in Jared Diamond's "Collapse" that the people here cut down the trees to build these big temple structures, which caused more soil erosion, which cut deep Arroyos into the valley (and I did get to see that there was a 20 ft deep arroyo in the middle of the valley where the river used to flow) and that lowered the water table, which prevented the trees from re-growing.  The climate was also drying out at the same time, apparently, and that didn't help.
In driving past Salt Lake City, I noticed that the hills around there have some steps in them, evidence of former higher water levels, and the Wikipedia page talks about how it was much much bigger long ago.  So the area around there is drying out, and has been for a while.

The doorways are really short, about 4 ft tall in most places, and it baffled me because they used these buildings for ceremonial reasons mostly (according to the signs) and I would figure you would want to have high doorways for a church.  Also, the way they built, with the wooden beams for archways, is easier if you have less sitting on the wood, so higher doorways would be better.  The rooms are standing height.  

 In the middle of the pueblo there are lots of these round rooms, which used to have roofs over them and a little ladder in the middle to get down.  They look like they should store grain or water or something, but the signs all mentioned that they were for ceremonies.

 A view from above gives a perspective on the whole complex.  The people had a lot of appreciation for astronomy and so the whole pueblo is oriented to the sun and I think that might also be a reason for round rooms.  I'm a fan of the sun and moon as well.

 On my way back to Utah, I stumbled upon Goosenecks State Park, on the San Juan River.  There was a picture on the wall of a gas station and the attendant told me that it was very close, so I had to go look.  I didn't overlook looking over from the overlook.

 I found myself back in Goblin Valley again, and here is a picture of the sunset on the sand cliffs.

 And I went up some of the slot canyons nearby, one of which has some ropes placed in some spots in order to help you get up.

 Here is a 8 inch arch in the side of the slot canyon.  I like this because it looks just like the full size arches.  It is hard to tell the scale from the stone.

 And a view in the slot again for comparison of the stone size.

 It was full of water in some places and I had to bridge across the sides to get past without wet feet.

 Then I saw my first Bighorn Sheep!  This was a pregnant female and she was just content to be in the road eating shoots and didn't want to leap away.  I had great luck with the animals not wanting to run away.  I think Lord Nelson is a soothing color.

 I went back out to Grandview Point on the end of Island in the Sky for sunset.

 And got this picture looking up the Green River valley to the north...

 As the rainstorms came walking their way across the plains.

 I then went into Arches.  I'd been waiting for this, not wanting to go during the spring break rush and looking for week day.  It was still very crowded, but I saw some wild turkeys!

 Of course Delicate Arch was still standing proud.  If you look, you can see lots of folks enjoying it.  I remembered the last time here with Danny and hardly anybody else.  But that was in November.

 I also went to this tiny thin arch at the north end of the park.  It is about 300 feet across and seems to be ready to fall at any moment!

 And found a few new arches to myself.  This one has a big room in it that you could hang out from the weather, it had good wind and rain protection.

 And an arch in the making.  This is a shot looking up at it.

 Then I went to a new area of slot canyons, and found my favorite one of all.  It starts out green...

 and then becomes a hip scraping slither through the dark, with a little bit of light guiding you.  Really really narrow.

 But the sandstone was sculpted most beautifully.

 On my way back I stopped again at Antelope Island and saw a Coyote.

 And a Chukar!

 And the Avocets were looking their best.

It was a great trip and I start at work tomorrow, so I'll try to work on the video that I took at some point, but don't expect it too soon.

Road Trip Continues

Since I last checked in, I managed to see some more cool stuff...  First off, are a lot of beetles roaming around, and I found two of them working on the future populations, using the birds and beetles technique.  This was on a trail down into the Barrier Canyon, where I saw some Barrier Canyon art!  The classic look is that the figures are tall and skinny and have no arms or legs, and this one in the photo is 9 ft tall and about 20 ft up a cliff.  If you figure for erosion, that makes it very old.  

 Along the way there were present resident rodents, this is an antelope squirrel.

 And of course the pronghorn.  This one was posing for me in front of a mountain range.

 I really like the juniper trees and the twists they get themselves into sometimes.  I guess the only way out of this pickle was to die and turn into a dried up old stump.

 And I've seen some wild donkeys, this family had a baby, and some words of advice about my photography.

 In this area around the Barrier Canyon, I found a cool overlook of the Green River,

 And a beautiful arch that is not often visited.

 A closer look from another overlook.  The river twists and turns so much it must get very tired before it can rest in the ocean.

 A little further along is Island in the Sky, a part of Canyonlands National Park.  From here, you can see where the Green and Colorado rivers join up.  It is a very high mesa with cliffs all around, and I like the name.

 I tried flying my Nikon from the kite on a lonely dirt road when the wind was blowing, and it worked out quite well, but for the sandy drop at the end.  I brushed the camera off without damage.

 Does anyone know what this is?  I see these nice white flowers poking up towards the sun all over now, since the rains have fallen and the sun is getting brighter.  Spring comes slowly here, it is still cold at night.

 This is a very steep road down the cliffs from Island in the Sky to the Colorado River, and I drove down it with my stomach in my mouth.  Eventually, my stomach returned to its rightful place...

 Down at lower elevations, the cacti are blooming, and I got this look at sunset next to the Colorado River.

 There are arches all over the place and some of them have nice trails to get to the viewpoint, so on this one, I found a wonderful little tree all lonesome, with a ladder framing the way.

 It leads to the Corona Arch.

Road Trip!

I'm on a road trip now, in a place where water is far away and scarce. I've driven my faithful little Dakota (now named Nelson) down through the state lines and into Utah, to explore the canyon country before going to work in Alaska. It was a great drive down, through Eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho and finally into Utah. I stopped at the Great Salt Lake and camped out on an island in the middle of it, called Antelope Island. And I saw Antelopes! The lake fluctuates a lot with the rainfall and evaporation, so it was pretty low when I was there, but there are tons of birds wading in the shallow mudflats. Avocets (more than I'd ever seen before) and Northern Shovelers dipped their bills in search of sand shrimps, and a few Northern Pintails and Wigeons joined them.

 I also saw a magnificent Ring-Necked Pheasant roaming through the tall grass. Bison also enjoy the island, and they are the dominant form of life here, sometimes so crowded that there are Bison traffic jams. 

 The next day I arrived in Green River, which is a small town but also a flowing waterway filled with dirt and agricultural runoff, and the cause of many of the canyons around here. I proceeded to get lost in the maze of high and low, with red sandstone cliffs and arches here and there. I found some slot canyons near Goblin Valley State Park, and they are very accessible, so I met about 600 people there, but still, they have a stark beauty and wonder about them, with such steep walls and perfect curves. It is how the secret waterfalls of Shangri-la will look in a long time, I am sure. The sandstone is amazing red and very uniform, and when the rivers cut under it makes wonderful bridges and arches.

 I went into the San Rafel Swell and found a narrow canyon with a disused Uranium mine at the end of it and some old broken buildings that might have been from Moonshiners, back in the day. There is a lot of broken history lying about. Broken buildings, shards from making stone tools out of Chert, and pieces of sandstone at the bottom of cliffs that might have been old arches and bridges, but now are back to dust. The wind is never ceasing here and it makes it a bit hard to cook, so I tend to bring the stove into the back of the truck for dinner.

The truck is doing amazingly well. I have taken Nelson (or Lord Nelson if you prefer) on roads that quite frightened me, and the four wheel drive is great. In Glen Canyon National Recreation area there is a ranger station that nonchalantly told me to be careful going on the 4WD roads, and I found that the terrain exceeded their hype of it, which is uncommon of rangers. Usually they tell you it is SUPER DANGEROUS and then it isn't. In this case, I found I didn't want to test Nelson, despite the fact that they told me I could probably make it, so I did a short jaunt in the park and came back out. In fact, I find that I like to go on roads that a 2WD truck could probably make, but just barely, and then put it in 4WD and have an easy time of it. Its fun, but the more fun I have, the more likely something will break, so I am trying to baby the poor thing. He's not so young anymore.

I also went to Horseshoe Canyon, which is a part of Canyonlands National Park, and found out that this is the place (or next to it, Bluejohn Canyon) where the guy who got famous for losing an arm (or cutting it off himself) did his gruesome efforts. I didn't go into Bluejohn because it requires ropes, and alas, I didn't bring any. But you would drop into the canyon, then hike down the empty waterfalls (like what Abe and I did) and then do a huge 75 ft overhung rappel at the end to get into Horseshoe Canyon, where you would exit from. Maybe I'll do something like that at a later date.