Waterfalls and the Upcoming Transit of Venus

Red Mountain #1

It may not be the dog days of summer yet, but it sure seems like it.   The threat of forest fires is occurring sooner this year because of the warm spring, so the fire crew is rushed to complete some of the fuel-reduction treatments around buildings at Mesa Verde.  The buildings around Chapin Mesa are in the middle of Astragalus schmolliae (Schmoll's Milkvetch) habitat, so we needed to flag plants at risk so they wouldn't be mowed down.  Then we did some reveg work at Yucca House National Monument, where we found a state-listed rarity, Penstemon breviculus.  Finally, that led to us chasing Houndstounge, Cynoglossum officinale at the Morefield campground.  We've been fighting houndtoungue there for at least 3 years now, and so far it has not been seen outside the environs of the campground so we hope we can exterminate it before it infects another area of the Park.  The good news is that it seems like we're suppressing it well; the bad news is that the seed base lasts from 5-10 years, so it will take a few more sweeps before we can claim victory.

Gray Copper Falls

It was a hot weekend for Montezuma county, with temps in the upper 80's, so we escaped to the mountains.  There is a really nice hike near the ghost town of Ironton called Gray Copper Falls.  We spent the afternoon leisurely hiking up to the falls.  We found a tiny population of the uncommon orchid Calypso bulbosa (fairy-slipper orchid), and something I have dubbed the Snow Ghost mushroom.  We did encounter a little bit of snow, but it is nothing compared to last year when even on the 4th of July we were still humping over snow drifts.


By late afternoon, we had reached the falls in the shadow of Red Mountain Number 1 (really, couldn't think of a better name for a mountain?).  The

"Snow Ghost" Mushroom

hosetail-falls had the remnants of a giant snow/ice cone similar to Coronet Falls, but only the base was left.  We couldn't approach the base of the falls, but I continued hiking up to the top and found the collapsed tunnel of an old mine and crumbled down cabin on the north side of the stream.  Timberline was just a little bit further, but it seemed best to turn around and save peak-bagging for another day.  Before turning back to the trailhead, we saw a Golden Eagle circle the high mountain ridges.  Then we were visited by a family of mule deer.  It was really nice having the trail all to ourselves for the entire day!

We camped near the leach fields of Ironton (don't drink the water!) and had a nice, little fire by moonlight.  In the morning, we re-visited Cascade Falls in Ouray and payed traditional homage to Mouse's Chocolate. YUM!  We stopped at Little Molas Lake to soak in the vistas when lightning strikes chased us out from the mountains.  It was great to see it rain, since the wildflowers aren't going to make it on the snow melt alone.

I hope to see the Transit of Venus this coming week and then think of some way to celebrate World Oceans Day when I'm over 1,000 miles from the closest ocean.

The Road to Chaco

Fossil wood fragments

This past week, I had the chance to be a paleontologist for a day.  A road-cut along the main road in Mesa Verde exposes a nice outcrop of the middle Menefee formation units.  Recently, erosion happened and a few sandstone blocks tumbled down the man-made cliff onto the shoulder of the road.  Since this was an important outcrop (Menefee is part of the Mesa Verde Group, so this road cut serves as a Type description), we rushed down to describe fossils contained within the rocks.

For the most part, it contained wood fragments in various states of coal.  This area was once a swamp 78,000,000 years ago and this particular outcrop resembles a flood plain near the shoreline.  A few animal burrows were found; bark-beetle tunnels in the wood and what might be ghost shrimp burrows in the sand.  We found a good laurel leaf imprint, and a fossil that resembles an avocado (pending identification).   If you want to give it a try, you can see a few photos posted to my G+ account.

At work, we focused on rare plant surveys this week.  Three botanists from the Colorado Natural Heritage Program were here for their projects, and we tagged along.  We found new populations of Aletes macdougalii (Indian Parsley), and mapped a few areas of Hackelia graclienta (Mesa Verde Stickseed).  Intensive surveys of Astragalus schmolliae (Schmoll's Milkvetch) were also done.  I also found time to assist the wildlife biologists with some fence repairs.

Which room held the Macaws?

For Memorial Day weekend, we went camping at Chaco Canyon.  I have been wanting to visit that unique area since I first knew it was out there... but it is way out there. It's surrounded by badlands, and to emphasize that point, we battled strong winds during the day.  It was so windy, tents from the campground were being ripped from the ground and gusts would sweep sand into your face.  It was so windy, the mystery on why the ancient Chaco people left the area didn't seem so mysterious to us.

Fortunately, Chaco is rich in mystery.  The Great Houses were the largest buildings in North America for the past thousand years and were not surpassed in size until the early 1900's.  They required 210,000 trees, most of which were cut, seasoned, and transferred over 50 miles.  Why was this amazing place built in the middle of Nowhere, when they could've built it along the banks of the San Juan or Animas river?  Just reaching Chaco on foot back then must've required a carefully prepared journey, so maybe the remoteness was to enforce purpose on those who wished to visit?  They certainly didn't try to hide it, since huge effort went into creating 400 miles of ritual avenues that led to Chaco from many different directions.  And this is just the beginning of questions about Chaco that continues to vex archeologists.

Pueblo Bonito

When the sun set, the winds settled down and allowed the campfire program about archeo-astronomy to be held.  It was an interesting talk, and presented some intriguing sites all along the canyon; such as the solstice Sun Dagger Petroglyph and the Supernova Pictograph.  After the talk, volunteers setup huge telescopes at the observatory so we could see M-51 (the Whirlpool Galaxy), M-13, and Saturn with its entourage of moons.

We spent out last day on hikes up to Pueblo Alto and down canyon to see more petroglyphs and a few more Great Houses.  The wind really tore into us and we felt baked at the end of the day.  I'm glad I didn't have to walk the Great North Road back to Mesa Verde!  Now it's time to enjoy some Chacoan food:  chocolate imported from central America!

Farewell, Chaco Canyon!

The Flying Monkeys of Zion

So there I was... surrounded by a scrum of scruffy fire fighters in a dimly lit garage in the shadow of The Sentinel, listening to a briefing of the surrounding hazards.  "So there's a huge propane tank behind the museum, and over here is the magazine for storing blasting caps that has a quarter-mile detonation radius, and this area over by Hurricane is called Monkey Fling Mesa and may have jet fuel and rockets..."  Yes, boys and girls, life is strange.

A crew from Mesa Verde had arrived at Zion National Park to assist with a 670 acre prescribed burn in the northwest area of the park to restore a ponderosa forest.  By the time we arrived, the weather forecast had changed; red flag warnings would be in place over the next several days along with above normal temperatures and relative humidity in the single digits.  Since the Rx-burn was cancelled, we were asked to remain in the park for the next few days to assist if a wildfire would occur.

Why is that area with the rockets called Monkey Fling Mesa, you ask?  It turns out that this area is where fighter jet ejection seats were designed and tested.  To ensure the rocket-seats were safe, chimpanzees were strapped into the rocket-propelled upholstery.   Therefore, at least one of my friends buttocks has benefited from a mach-1 monkey arcing 2000 feet above the desert floor.  Discuss.

The final bit of surrealism was having our campsite below the Altar of Sacrifice.  Being able to visit Zion National Park for the first time was a real treat.  The scenery is as stunningly majestic as Kings Canyon and Yosemite, except it is out of sandstone instead of granite.  It should be on your bucket-list of places to see, and maybe it already is because the park gets in excess of 3 million visitors per year.  The campground was constantly full, so plan accordingly. 

I really wanted to hike a little into the back-country, but since we needed to be close to the engines, our hikes could never get more than 2 miles away.  We were still able to see much of the valley, and did short hikes up the Watchman Overlook, Emerald Pools, and the end of the famous Narrows.  Near our campsite, little frogs would sing us to sleep while bats would wheel through the sky overhead.  We explored different parts of the park to familiarize ourselves with access roads and were able to visit Lava Point overlook and the Kolob Canyon Overlook.  Kolob Canyon looked amazing and still had pockets of snow hidden in the crevices.  There's lots to explore, so I hope to return soon and hike around a bit -- maybe starting with Angel's Landing?


Meanwhile, back at Mesa Verde, we have begun surveying some of our plants of special concern.  This included a nice hike down the Square Tower House trail to look for Aletes macdougalii (Indian Parsley), and another fun hike to Soda Canyon near Battleship Rock to look for the endemic Hackelia gracilenta (Mesa Verde Stickseed).

This Sunday would be a great time to visit some of these parks, since there will be an annular solar eclipse visible.  Many national parks are planning events around this astronomical event. 

Happy National Park Week!

 I hope everyone had a chance to take advantage of National Park Week: no entry fees!  It's nice being back, we saw a cattle drive going right past the entrance of Mesa Verde and while writing this entry, a pony-drawn carriage just went down the street with 3 girls. 



Since the spring here has been really warm, the plants are all running a week or two early... which makes us a week or two behind schedule!  We knocked out a few projects, the best of which was reseeding parts of Yucca House National Monument with native plants, such as Big Sagebrush, Four-Winged Saltbush, Globemallow, Dropseed, and a few others.  It rained that evening, so maybe they have a good start.



Another project has been identifying some of the species that form the cryptobiotic crust in the soils of cool, mesic environments.  My own research project also had to kick into high gear, with putting nets around a dozen budding Schmoll's Milkvetch plants.

My goal is to determine if Schmoll's Milkvetch is an obligate entomophile; a plant that requires an insect for pollination.  We were able to take a few nice photos of bees visiting the plant, so that is a good clue (free guided trip to Spring House Ruin to anyone that can name the species for me!).  Next is to determine if the plant can pollinate itself somehow.

For fun, we made a trip out to Telluride to see Cornet Falls (aka The Frozen Throne) once again.  Despite being there more than 2 weeks earlier than last year, half of the ice cone had already melted away.  The snow pack around Lizard Head pass was substantially less too.

Fortunately, we had a little rain and snow over the weekend, so hopefully the wildflowers are going to have another great summer.  For now, the La Platas still their cloak of snow and the mountains look spectacular.

I Feel Refreshed

We're back for a three-peat season at MEVE! March has been warmer than normal, which has hastened the bolting of many early-season plants. The past two years, it had snowed on my first day of work, but this time it was 78 degrees and sunny. Very pleasant weather, except in the distance I could see the snow disappearing day by day in the La Plata mountains. That snow pack is needed for the summer wildflowers, stream flows, and the montane forests.

Before I had the chance to fully acclimatize to the altitude, we had the red-card refresher course. After a winter of very little physical activity, I was concerned how I'd do on the pack test, but I was able to finish the 3 miles with 5 minutes to spare. That afternoon, the winds kicked up into a red-flag warning and the forecast had called for gusts of 55 mph, so there was concern that a few field burns on agricultural lands would get away. Fortunately, we weren't called up for duty on my first day. Whew!

As luck would have it, the Four Corners received a decent snowfall over the weekend; a little over an inch fell on the Mesa and 4-8" fell across the South San Juans. That should help keep springtime green, and a little boost to the 48,000 baby pondos planted last week at our nearby national forest.

How To Know You're in the 21st Century

And now it's time for something completely different. Every now and then, I come across something that makes me pause, maybe get goosebumps, and maybe even say something profound such as "duuuuuuuuude". A few good examples would be the sequencing of the human genome (happy DNA day on April 20th!), pushing the frontiers of particle physics with the Large Hadron Collider, or merging the boundaries of technology and art to create wonders...

But perhaps the best indicator I live in a new century: The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia

761 planets and counting (image courtesy of NASA/JPL). These are just the confirmed results; Kepler has another 2,321 candidates in the queue and that number will keep climbing. Considering Kepler's field of view is just the right wing of Cygnus, the number of planets awaiting discovery is, umm, astronomical.

What is perplexing is that despite the overwhelming success of Kepler discovering new worlds is that there appears to be no follow up missions. A delay might be explained by the James Webb Telescope going way over-budget and its launched delayed almost a decade. There were some difficult technological challenges with Darwin and the Terrestrial Planet Finder, but aside from JWT, NASA does not have any big exploration missions on the books. It looks like there is finally planning for a successor to Hubble called ATLAST, but it likely will not launch until 2030! Ouch! Perhaps that is being realistic, but it sure is a far cry from the Apollo-type mandates.

One ray of hope is shining from the ESA, who is proposing a follow-up mission to Kepler called PLATO. It will scan about 250,000 stars, so about 10 times the results from Kepler. It is not expected to launch until 2018. I suppose patience is a virtue, since by the time we can actually study these new found worlds we will have discovered over 20,000 of them!

Bees & Birds

Calm down; there's still 5 more days to log your Great Backyard Bird Counts (although the observations must be for dates Feb 17-20th). Almost 100,000 lists have been submitted for this year, which is a record setting pace. It's always fun for a bird nerd to peruse the past results, and this year's interesting bird is the Snowy Owl with a record number of observations. I had read in December from several sources that this winter was likely going to have an unusual irruption of Snowy Owls, which might be due to a predator-prey oscillation. A great example is it is the first time a Snowy Owl was ever seen in Hawaii, and there was even one spotted near my winter foraging grounds in Texas!

Our GBBC list was not the best this year, since we didn't record some of our regular visitors over the weekend (downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and white-throated sparrows have often made our list). My favorite was going to a nearby pond by the library where we counted over 70 Lesser Scaup! We also saw some American Widgeons hiding among the Mallards, and like the Scaup, will be migrating north soon. Since central Texas experienced record drought over the summer, I was concerned how this might impact migratory bird populations. I don't know how accurately the GBBS counts can be used to track population counts from year to year, but it was comforting to see the species counts were at least very similar so far.

Oh, and speaking of migrating north for the summer, so are we. I'm going for a 3-peat season at MEVE!

One of the activities I'm excited about this year is studying how some of the rare plants produce viable seeds. I had read a book called The Forgotten Pollinators and one of the topics about the Allee Effect made me consider if it could be the reason behind the inexplicable range of Schmoll's Milkvetch. Schmoll's Milkvetch is an endemic for the park, and grows only on a few mesa tops. There seems nothing particularly special about its habitat requirements, which made me wonder if the fruits are not viable due to lack of proper pollination. If so, is the lack of pollinators because there are too few plants left to support the pollinators? We hope to do a few experiments and determine if Schmoll's requires a pollinator to cross-fertilize the plants. If it does, it would be interesting to find out who it is (or was), and if the pollinator needs protection along with the rare plants. There could be other reasons for the limited range, but this research has never been done for Schmoll's, or any of our rare plants for that matter, so enlightenment awaits! Stay tuned for more exciting details!!!

As if anticipating my research, our Yellow jessamine-trumpet vine flowered like crazy and attracted a bunch of these pretty green-metallic halictid bees in the photo. Extra credit to anyone who identifies them.