Midseason

Sorry for being a slacker, but I just havn't had the chance to write much. I guess procrastination pays, because others have written excellent blogs about stuff i like to talk about. In lieu of being a parrot, I'll just link em here:

Mesa Verde is cool: and so is Marilyn Collyer, who is mentioned in the article and very knowledgeable about the natural history of the area. She volunteered to lead us techies and the interps around to look at plants and stuff.

ZOMG, don't forget the first annual NATIONAL FOSSIL DAY!

Fiery Fourth

It's been steady progress at work, with us making thwarting thistles, knapweed, toadflax, and other noxious weeds. We'll soon be trained in chainsawing to begin fighting tamarisk growing in a few areas of the park. Fire season is also upon us, and recently the fire crew has been short staffed as a portion of their team is in Arizona beating back a wildland fire started by a sloppy camper. Four of us on the natural resources crew have red cards, so a few of us were called in to fill in weekend dates, and were outfitted with linepacks and associated gear.

I passed on the first round of overtime, since I had some family come in for a nice visit. We had a lot of catching up to do, since my brother works as a contractor for NASA's manned space program that is currently in the process of reinventing itself as the space shuttle is retired. They met me at Mesa Verde and we toured Balcony House, Spruce Tree, Sun Temple, Far View, and a few other sites, which made for a full day. I was hoping we could check on the status of the parrot figurine from Yucca House, but I'll have to find out another time.

We spent a day rafting the lower Animas River in Durango, and the next day saw Cascade Falls in Ouray. We saw a bear cross the road at Pinkerton Hot Springs. That worked up our appetite, so we scarfed down some Mouse's Chocolate and then went to a local pub to watch the sunset. It was a busy holiday weekend and the hot springs were packed like sardines. My brother's family went on north to visit with more relatives, and we went in search of a campsite. The nearby Forest campgrounds were all full, so we drove to Dallas Creek and found a nice gravel patch along the roadside to call home.

Dallas Creek is the trailhead for the hike we did on the 4th of July. It goes up into the Mount Sneffels Wilderness to the Blue Lakes, which is some spectacular alpine scenery. Snow banks along the mountainsides were melting into cascades, all of which fed into a strangly blue lake. The water clarity was somewhat clouded by glacial flour from the slow moving rock glacier on it's south shoreline. We explored the shoreline to get a few nice views of the nearby waterfalls, and then trudged up to the upper Blues. The trail is very steep and messy at first, probably because the original trail washed away. After about half a mile, it improves and the going gets much easier.

At the upper lakes, we had a nice lunch and just soaked up the incredible vista. Mount Sneffels just seemed sooooo close, I figured I had to try it while I was there. The hike up to the saddle was fairly easy, and I could see all the silly jeepers below bouncing around the Yankee Boy parkinglot on the non-wilderness side. A study in contrasts. Mount Sneffels summit sits outside the Mount Sneffels Wilderness, and I suspect someone in the jeep touring industry can explain that irony.

From the saddle, the route quickly became interesting. It took some focus and gumption to scramble around the pinnacles guarding the South Ridge couloir. Once past the couloir, the summit loomed above, not looking much easier. The wind tried to convince me to turn around, but it slacked off and after a few moments of wondering what I was doing, I was on the summit with 3 other nice folks. The view was amazing, and I tried to take a few photos, but as always they don't do justice to grand scenery of dappled sunlight racing across distant ridges, etc, etc. I went back down immediately, and began the hike out.

We celebrated in the hot springs as a rain storm came over the mountains. We watched the fireworks and began driving back home in the dark. After midnight, we began singing the Deer Patrol song to keep us alert, as we passed many a mulee munchin on the roadsides (one was taking a dirt nap). It was a great holiday weekend, but now it's back to work.

Happy Solstice!

I just wanted to wish the planet a happy summer solstice, and especially send some good vibes to those helping protect and restore the Gulf Coast. National Park Service personnel are being enlisted to assist in the BP oil spill cleanup and all of my crew has signed up for the job. We're not sure where or when folks will be deployed, but this will certainly impact our restoration efforts this season at Mesa Verde.

Here's a photo of the beautiful mountains just north of us at Lizard Head pass. We saw lots of waterfalls and mountains the past two weeks. The alpine meadows are starting to thaw and light up with amazing wildflowers.

Cheapers the Gosling

Hi World, I'd like for you to meet Cheapers, the Cute Canadian Gosling. We found him in the middle of the road, trying to keep up with Mama Goose and her other 3 chicks. Cheapers was having a hard time walking, so we tried to help. A long-tailed weasel scampered nearby, so we didnt want to leave the scene until Mama came back. She never did, instead leaving Cheapers behind as she went far away. We decided to adopt Cheapers and take him to a rehabilitation center (why dont I donate more to them?!?!?). He was having convulsions and died a few minutes later. Poor Cheapers, I'm sorry you never had the chance to fly, honk at the full moon, and eat delicious pond scum.

I felt bad for depriving the weasel of what he probably considered his job in nature, so we brought the chick back and laid him on the log I saw the weasel scamper upon. Then we went on our not-as-merry way.

Since summer kicked it in with a vengeance, we wanted to see some waterfalls whilst the streams are all running full bore with snowmelt. We were not disappointed. We had a wonderful hike along Four-mile Falls trail and saw a pair of stunning waterfalls. I was hoping we could keep hiking upstream to a lake and hot spring, but there was still too much snow in the trail to be safe.

Denied a hot-spring soak, we stopped in Pagosa Springs to try one of their hot springs. ZOWEEEE! It was so hot I could only stay in for a few minutes before turning lobster red.

Work at Mesa Verde is in full swing too, with us spraying gobs of Musk Thistle, and chasing the Hound's Tounge from under the oaks. From what my boss has noticed from last year is that these treatments make a huge difference. Wahoo! This coming week we are to begin work on Seeps and Springs monitoring.

summertime?

What a difference a week makes. After just one week of spring-like temps, suddenly it feels like summer! The snow had completed melted off Sleeping Ute, which is the locals indicator for when planting should begin. Then we hit several bright, sunny days reaching into the 90's and snow in the nearby La Platas began melting fast. All the rivers are running full bore, even though it hasn't rained in weeks.

At work, a long time employee of Mesa Verde National Park gave us an excellent field trip to learn the plants of the area. She was extremely knowledgeable, and not only knew the life cycle of many plants, but also the various indigenous uses of them.

Afeared the canyons might become too hot to handle, we forayed into Utah to see some ancient sites along the enigmatic Comb Ridge. We saw the Petroglyph Procession panel, Monarch Cave, and Fishmouth Cave. The last two caves were very interesting sites, with sherds all about the ruins, and even dried corn husks here and there among the ruins. We also saw mountain lion paw prints in the dried mud of a tinaja. Alas, the gnats proved too annoying, so we retreated to the Abajo mountains to camp in the cool conifers.

The next day we toured Arches National Park. It is full of majestic sandstone sculptures, and a photographers paradise. Being Memorial Day weekend, the park was very busy too, especially at such iconic sites as Delicate Arch. However even on one of the busiest days, we could find solitude just a few miles from the campground, such as Tapestry and Navajo Arches. We explored the parks until dark, grabbed grub in Moab, pondered the Polygamy Porter, and blazed on back home. Time flies!

Bears, Bees, Buntings, and a Parrot

The past two weeks at Mesa Verde National Park have been eventful, so I apologize for the delay in updating the blog. I went with the Natural Resource manager on an evening survey for the Mexican Spotted Owl. It was almost too windy to go, but we gambled and it paid off with a very nice sunset and evening. On our hike up Wickiup Canyon, we stopped to observe some of the Cliff Palace Milk Vetch and saw a black bear ambling along the far side of the canyon near Buzzard House. We climbed atop the ridge just as the last light of dusk faded, and then began our owl calls.

At first, all we heard were the crazed calls of Poorwills along Bobcat Canyon. Towards the end of the first survey, we very faintly heard a few hoots, but couldn't identify them. Later, as we hiked down Navajo Canyon, we distintcly heard the calls again. The first guess was that it was a Flammulated Owl, but since the Long-Eared owl call is similar, we weren't sure until we returned to the office and listened to some recordings to eventually conclude it was a Flammulated. It's too bad we didn't hear the Spotted Owl, since it once nested in the park, but hasn't been observed in nearly five years. There's concern that a long-lasting drought is limiting their prey, which consists mostly of small rodents. Both the Mexican and Pacific Spotted Owls are in trouble, so it would be great news for it to return.

Weed killin' is also off to a good start. We went down to Mancos River Canyon to begin treating Whitetop (aka Hoary Cress). The willows along the river bank were a great birding area, and we saw many different species. The most exciting for me was when I looked up to see a brilliant azure bird shining in the sun. I hastily yanked out the binocs to get a better look and immediately recognized it as the Lazuli Bunting! My lifelist luck continued when we saw a Lewis's Woodpecker foraging in the utah junipers near our house while we were having dinner. It's another amazingly beautiful bird, with metallic green along the back and rosey-colored breast.

Another goal in the past two weeks was treating areas we expect to become busy with summer, the campgrounds and parking lots. Not very exciting terrain, but we added another new weed to our kill list: Houndstounge. For the weekend, we went on a trek down Sand Canyon, which had many Anasazi ruins along the trail hidden in the canyon. We also saw a lot of lizards, including a pair of Collared Lizards and this Whiptail enforcing the law. During our explorations in other areas, we noticed many ancient pottery sherds, but also spotted a tiny figurine. When I emailed the photos of the figurine to our staff Arche (short for archeologist), she became exicted and her boss recommended going back to recover the figurine so that it can be studied in the lab.

Typically, most sites are strickly in a non-collection status, even for research archeologists that oversee the site. Only until funding becomes available to begin a proper excavation and research program is a site to be disturbed, otherwise important information would likely be lost or destroyed in a piecemeal approach. This means that the figurine will likely be replaced exactly where we found it, instead of going on display in a museum, the only exception would be if the piece is of special significance. We were able to find the tiny artifact again, and the arche decided it was made from stone and probably represents a parrot. Once the lab investigation is complete, we hope to know more about it.

Meanwhile, back at the ol' homestead, our neighbor has brought in many beehives. The worker bees are efficient foragers, and made a bee-line straight to our hummingbird feeder. Often, the swarm was over 20 bees. The birds didn't trust the bees, and seem to have migrated onward. Hopefully we'll find a way to make both the birds and the bees happy.

Remembered Earth

"Once in our lives we ought to concentrate our minds upon the Remembered Earth. We ought to give ourselves up to a particular landscape in our experience, to look at it from as many angles as we can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. We ought to imagine that we touch it with our hands at every season and listen to the sounds that are made upon it. We ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. We ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk."

So that's the plan. We made the run to Denver last week and passed the supervisor exams, so that should officially end the paperchase for this season. I had the afternoon off, so I took the advice to check out the Nature & Science Museum. The paleontology exhibit was awesome, and I had to give close inspection to the hadrosaurs on display. Another favorite was the lifesize model of a Big Pig (Archaeotherium), that startles the crud outta people when they walk into the room and turn around. So numerous are these rhino fossils out in the badlands that the plains Indians have legends about the time of the Thunder Horses. The museum also had a nice section on Indians and Gems (including Tom's Baby). The human body exhibit was studiously avoided -- I'm the kid that was disturbed by dissecting the cat in highschool bio, so seeing a room full of flayed dead people in strange poses is not on my to do list.

On the drive back home, I stopped for a few leg stretchers along the way. My face quickly began to freeze in the cold, snowy winds at Kenosha pass. Much nicer was the west slope of Wolf Creek pass, that has a nice path to Treasure Falls. The rapidly melting snow has the creek running full tilt, so the viewing area soaked me quickly! Brisk! To increase the excitement, the mist freezes in the fir tree nearby, forming icicles that were melting and falling down. It was nice seeing the Collegiate peaks and Crestone Needles still draped in snow, and I had to dip my hand into the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Brrr!

This week was notable for the first paleontological park opening in Texas: the Minerals Wells Fossil Park - where the public is allowed to collect for free! Too bad I missed the ceremony. I also missed attending the launch of STS-132, the last scheduled flight for Atlantis, but at least was able to watch her fly on TV.

The work week went by quickly, since we're all business now. Lots of dead thistle, and we're just gettin' started. Last night, I was up till 1am helping with an owl prowl. We were surveying for Mexican Spotted Owls, which haven't been conclusively seen in the park for over 4 years. Once the owls would nest, sometimes in conspicuous places. There is concern that recent summer droughts are limiting the rodent population below critical thresholds needed to support more owls. On a more positive note, we saw a black bear on our hike into Wickiup Canyon, and heard many poorwills and a long-eared owl for much of the night.

The area we conducted the survey is along a 90 year old trail that has been closed to the public in modern times to protect the archeological sites. This year, a pilot program has begun to allow hikers a guided trip to see some of the ruins and experience the backcountry, such as Spring House and the Honeymoon Suite. Also along the trail is the rare and endemic Cliff Palace Milk-vetch. We are concerned that hiking will trample many of the plants, so we surveyed the population and flagged the plants we deemed in harm's way. Hopefully visitors will tread even lighter than normal -- since nobody should be a meadow stomper.


"It is here that I can concentrate my mind upon the Remembered Earth. It is here that I am most conscious of being, here that wonder comes upon my blood...." -- Momaday