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Had to pull over less than 100 miles in - headgasket issue. Officially part of the Subaru Club!
Towed the car and will be storing it for the summer. Flew to Texas and borrowed my sister's car to do the rest of the drive.

Trip to Nevada - Arizona and Utah

2023.05.13

Had a chance to stop and do a little bit of botanizing on my way out west. Everything up until this point was me looking at plants as I drove down the highway at 70 mph wondering what they were.

Somewhere in Arizona

First stop was a scenic overlook somewhere in Arizona. Neglected to take any plant photos as I was just happy to be out of the car.

Following that stop was a quick pulloff without a marker, I just really wanted to see what was growing there.
It's apparent I drove through at the right time because so much was in bloom.

Globemallow (Spharalcea parvifolia with brilliant orange that tended to group together on the side of the road.

Pale evening primose (Oenothera pallida) looking nice with a very funky 4-merous style.

Rusty lupine (Lupinus pusillus) with a vibrant violet flower and fuzzy legumes.

Canaigre dock (Rumex hymenosepalus) in bloom. It reminds me of oakleaf hydrangea blossoms that are past their prime.

I believe this is desert blazingstar (Mentzelia multiflora). There are several varieties listed but I couldn't hone in on which one.

My first desert grass ID. This is downy brome (Bromus tectorum), also known as cheatgrass – a horrible invasive that was very common along my route.

Glen Canyon Dam

The next stop was Glen Canyon Dam followed by the Wahweap Overlook. Spent a good hour here enjoying the fresh air and spectacular views.

View of the Glen Canyon dam bridge.

Of course there were all sorts of cool-looking plants just out of reach on the other side of this fence.

Wahweap Overlook

Panorama of the view from the top of the Wahweap Overlook (I recommend opening this image in a new tab and zooming in).

I passed by lots of cholla cactus in New Mexico, but this plains prickly pear (Opuntia polyacantha) was the first cactus I was able to photograph.

I believe this is blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima), a scrubby Rosaceace plant. Its blooms were not quite ready to open yet.

A brittlebush (Encelia sp.) bloom, exposed on the mountaintop.

A pepperweed (Lepidium sp.), a member of the mustard family, on full display.

Some barley (Hordeum sp.) growing right on the edge. It's easy to focus in on the plants but it's also important to put them into their environmental context.

Utah Sunset

Another panorama, taken off the side of the highway shortly after crossing into Utah. Listening to "Clair de Lune" while driving here as the sun was setting was really cathartic.
Once again I recommend opening in a new tab and zooming in.

Brilliant colour on this prairie-fire (Castilleja sp.), even in the low light of this photo.

I believe this is Thompson's beardtongue (Penstemon thompsoniae). I had nearly missed it but when I became aware of it I realized it was all over the ground!

Desert bitterbrush (Purshia glandulosa) about to pop.

Onto woody plants.

Piñon pine (Pinus edulis) in person! This charismatic little fella has been on my list for quite some time now. No cones to spot on the branches though.

A juniper (Juniperus sp.) I didn't have time to key out with some funky-looking cones.

Overall, a few great stops but I wish I had taken some more time and made more stops in New Mexico and east Arizona. Hopefully I can do so on the way back.

Next stop, Zion!

Zion National Park, Utah

2023.05.14

Had enough time before my start date in Nevada to make a detour and spend the morning in Zion National Park – a longtime dream of mine.
I hadn't even left the park and kept thinking "I have to find a way to come back".

I parked outside the park and walked in through the south visitor's center early in the morning Sunday, making sure to get a cancellation on my National Parks passport.
I found the "Please do not apply cancellation to your government-issued passport" notice funny.

Watchman Trail

I started with the Watchman trail, starting right by the visitor's center. The trail is just over 3 miles with over 360 feet of elevation gain and took around two hours to complete, and there were plenty of showy plants to see.

Early on you're greeted by banana yucca (Yucca baccata), which remains intermittent throughout the entire trail.

You'll also see more blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima), this time in bloom! What a difference a move into the canyon can make for bloom time.

These tall mountain larkspurs (Delphinium scaposum) belong to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, and were almost missed as I went up the trial.

Another Castilleja, this one being Castilleja appelgatei, Applegate's paintbrush or wavyleaf paintbrush. From here, the trail goes up.

Colorado four o'clock (Mirabilis multiflora) giving a nice violet pop as you make your way up.

A new plant to me whose name I adore, roundleaf buffaloberry (Shepherdia rotundifolia). It's weird to see a member of Elaeagnaceae and not have a gut reaction of disgust.

Here's one that completely surprised me: an ash! Singleleaf ash (Fraxinus anomala) is one of two ash species in Zion valley.

Utah penstemon plant (Penstemon utahensis) with a brilliant red ready for any hummingbirds that may be nearby (according to the internet, and as suggested by their tubular flowers).

I was told that this little fellow is a Woodhouse's scrub jay - this shot didn't pick up their vibrant blue colour.

I took far too many photos at the end of the trail before turning back and hiking down.

On the way down I saw plants I didn't notice on the way up, such as this winding mariposa lily (Calochortus flexuosus).

Or these scouringrush horsetails (Equisetum hymenale)! These were in clusters along an area where a water flow trickles over the trail. I'm always happy to see Equisetum.

Desert marigold (Baileya multiradiata) catching the sun as it came out from behind the canyon peaks. Zoom in on the stem and note how densley pubescent it is – an adaptation against water loss.

Walking back to the visitor's center, Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) lines the riverbank.

The Zion Shuttle and Going Up the Canyon

Parking outside and walking into the park was great, as it meant I could hop on Zion's free shuttle to get up and down the canyon to see more.
Personal cars are prohibited inside the canyon itself, so you get a nice ride through a stunning vista, and the valley itself is quiet given the low traffic.

Given my time constraint to get to Nevada for work (and the fact that I didn't plan ahead at all) meant that I didn't go as far as the Narrows, nor did I apply for an Angel's Landing pass – those will be on my radar for next time.

The Court of the Patriarchs was a short but steep walk from shuttle stop 4. From left to right, the peaks are named Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It was here that I first noticed Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) as it provided nice shade as the day started to warm up.

I'm no geologist but looking at this geologic wonder of a valley, I wish I was one.

Weeping Rock

Stop 7 brings us to Weeping Rock, a phenomenon that occurs as water percolates through permeable rock, forming a beautiful hanging garden where it drops.

Zion shootingstar (Primula pauciflora var. zionensis) is a very charismatic species that is well known from its presence here. I didn't realize until after I left the park and did some reading that it is relatively short-bloomed, so I'm glad I was able to see it during my detour here. Note the black maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus) subtending the basal leaves of the Zion shootingstar.
There were a decent number of species here that I neglected to photograph.

The wonderful shape of the wall below weeping rock.

The view from Weeping Rock.

Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca)! I thought I caught it on the way in but only took a photo on the way out of the Weeping Rock trail.
I couldn't get close, but it must be the Rocky Mountain variety based on range.

Day 0 - De-Wintering Ella Mountain

2023.05.19

We were finally able to make it up to Ella Mountain today, after concerns about inacessibility due to road washouts from high snowpack.
I've been floating around the engine crews all week and have been learning some of the ins and outs of their work, but it was nice to finally get up to where I'll be working this summer.

I didn't have too many photos of the view as there were other tasks to be done at the station and this was more of a quick in-and-out to see how the tower was after winter.

Forgive the quality of my phone camera.

The windows of the tower were covered by metal shutters that either fold up and out of the way or are fastened to the lower wall.

It was dark and dusty inside before we opened the shutters – all of the linens were taken back to the station for a solid wash.

But when all was said and done it brightened up quite nicely. As is the point of the tower, I have a nearly unobscured view of the surrounding landscape for quite a ways, even on hazy days such as today.

In the center of the room is the Osborne Fire Finder, a device used to give direction and distance of a spotted fire. In areas where towers are close enough, these are used to triangulate fires.
However, this is the sole tower in Nevada, and my use of the Osborne Fire Finder will give others an idea of where to look.

These windows need a heavy application of cleaner, among the other tasks needed to get this tower up to snuff for regular operation.

Day zero at the tower, looking forward to the season!

Wildflowers of a Nevada-Utah Highway

2023.05.20

Had to drive back towards Utah to a spot with phone signal to do 2FA to sign some documents, and on the way back I stopped at every turnoff to see what was in bloom.

I had originally stopped before the Nevada-Utah border but was chased back into the car due to thunderstorms and hail, so all of these photos were taken on Highway 319 in Nevada.

The first stop is between the road and continuous piñon-juniper woodlands. It is in these ares where wildflowers and shrubs thrive, though I'm not sure if it's management or burn scar that lets them do so.

I have some reading to do but will get into piñon-juniper in Nevada soon.

We start with what I believe to be cushion phlox (Phlox pulvinata), which grows very readily along the side of the highway. As the name suggests, they form these cushions of blooms.

What looks like broadbeard beardtongue (Penstemon angustifolius - another penstemon), but not yet in bloom. This should bear bright blue blooms before too long.

For these I was directed to spring forget-me-not (Myosotis verna), but the leaves on this look a little narrow compared to images online.

A pre-bloom lotus milkvetch(Astragalus lotiflorus). These blossoms will range from white to pink to violet when they open.

There were a few plains pricklypear hanging about the blossoms here.

These flowers were uniquitous at this stop, and were found amongst other plants. It is definitely Cryptantha sp., possibly/likely weakstem cryptantha (Cryptantha flaccida) based on range.
The genus Cryptantha comes from the Greek "kryptos" meaning "to hide" and "anthos" meaning "flower". Apparently in other species the flowers can be hidden by bracts that subtend the blossoms.

Russian thistle, also known as tumbleweed and better known as windwitch (currently classified as Kali tragus), is a noxious invasive from Euraisa that has plagued the USDA since the 1800s.
As the common name suggests, this weed tumbles and in doing so, spreads seed across the landscape. This plant probably deserves a full writeup given its life cycle and history in the US.

Chambers' twinpod (Physaria chambersii), a member of the mustard family Brassicaceae, displaying a brilliant yellow bloom. Check out the glaucousness of those leaves, another water-saving trait.

I became enamoured with this little fellow - mat buckwheat (Eriogonum caespitosum).
From the dense, matted foliage to the bulbous flowers on high stalks, this alien-looking plant is one I now enjoy seeing as I whiz by.

Another lupine! I previously saw rusty lupine (Lupinus pusillus) somewhere in Arizona, but those flowers were on much shorter stalks.
This one is Mojave lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus) and, as the name suggests and can be seen in the photo, has flowers that are spaced out along the stem.

This is desert evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa). We previsouly saw pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida) in Arizona, so we're looking at their sibling here.
There is some discussion around different varieties of this plant based on leaf morphology, but I will leave it as is.

I was chased away from the previous spot by thunder and lightning, and after realizing it wasn't the smartest idea to be the tallest thing around, I drove a few miles down the road to sunny skies.
This view looks back into Utah, at peaks that have no official names – the closest I could find was Panaca summit. On a clear day I believe I can see these hills past Empy and Mosey mountains.

I was immediately greeted once again by globemallow (Spharalcea parvifolia) with its wonderful orange parabolic flowers.

This is undoubtedly some type of Phlox (a little water stressed, too), but I am uncertain which one. It could be either longleaf phlox (Phlox longifolia) or cold desert phlox (Phlox stansburyi).
Both share similar habits, morphology, and habitats so I will leave it there.

Crossing the street, we see Highland Peak, just west of Panaca (there will be a quiz). On this mountain there is a repeater I use to talk to Ely dispatch every day at the tower.

More prairie-fire! This one is northwestern prairie-fire (Castilleja angustifolia), and it really pops out among the desert. This group of plants has quickly become a favourite of mine out here.

Once again we see wandering mariposa lily (Calochorus flexosus), previously seen in Zion canyon.

I'm pushed towards a kind of ragwort (Senecio spp.) but I'm not sure which one. Hopefully I'll have more time to look at desert Asters soon.

Mojave desertstar (Monoptilon bellioide) was found in and around some of the shrubbery here, just a smidge past its prime it seems.

I couldn't figure out this goober – seems to put all of its energy into disk flowers with a few ray flowers. An Aster of some kind but I'm not sure where it falls.

Look at this little fella! I almost missed him but am glad I managed to spot him, and in full bloom too! Reading online suggests this is beehive cactus or spinystar (Escobaria vivipara).

The third penstemon I've been able to stop and photogrpah, this one being Thurber's beardtongue (Penstemon thurberi).

This is winged four o'clock (Mirabilis alipes), not yet in bloom. You can see the buds juuust developing, and when they open it'll be a bright pink display.

Further up the road we find Mojave popcorn flower (Oreocarya confertiflora), with a fitting name both in form and the fact that it popped up everywhere on this turnoff.

Lots of photos for this charismatic plant: nakedstem sunray (Enceliopsis nudicaulis). Check out the velvety stem, leaves, and calyx that create that bluish hue.

This goober let me get pretty close before taking off at top speed.

This is prairie flax (Linum lewisii). It can also produce bright blue blooms but every specimen I've seen in Nevada has been white like this one.

Another lupine! I'm stuck between Lake Tahoe lupine (Lupinus meionanthus) and silvery lupine (Lupinus argenteus). As things have started to dry, the leaves were difficult to parse.

This was longer than it really needed to be, but I've been enamoured with the wildflowers since I've arrived and hoped to share them. I'll get to woody and non-showy plants when the wildflowers wither.
I don't mean to neglect the other species present, but there really is beauty in the ephemeral.

The next update should include more tower information – I've been hard at work cleaning it up for the season.

The Caliente Bureau of Land Management Station

2023.05.21

Here's an overlook over some of the stuff I can share about the BLM fire station here in Caliente.

The fire station is located at the Bureau of Land Management's Caliente Field Office and is one of a few buildings here.
In addition to the engine crew, there are biologists, dispatchers, and other BLM workers on the property.

In front of the office sits the fire danger meter, which has sat on "Low" ever since I arrived in Nevada.
The outlook of the intensity of the fire season has been the topic of discussion and no one is 100% sure what it will look like – more on that later. It's quiet now but some are expecting a busy late season.

The station is part office and barracks. Here is my room and messy desk. Most folks on the engine crew are local and live in town, so only a handful of us stay overnight at the station.
The cohesion with the engine crew has been great – they all have a good groove but none of us out-of-towners have felt like we're on the outside, it's all been very welcoming as we start.

This hallway leads from the barracks to the offices...

...and it can feel a little eerie at nighttime when everyone is gone.

Along the hallways are both topo and relief maps of the district. Ella Mountain Lookout sits in the center of that circle.

The relief map with elevations of the area. Ella Mountain sits in the center of the Clover Mountains, south of Caliente by roughly 14 miles.

Past the offices and maps, there is the common room, kitchen, and outside sits the yard where we'll do PT/workouts. On the opposite side of the pullup bars sits the engine bay.

While we're outside, here is the station mascot, Digger a.k.a. Spartacus. He's a desert tortoise that was found and adopted nearly 15 years ago by the station.
The crew at the time found him on a fire in an area that was outisde of his native range so they suspect he was a pet that was released, and as such they couldn't re-release him so he's been kept ever since.

We're not sure, but the oldest guess at the station is that Digger is around 80 years old. Check out the rings on his shell!

Here is a wider shot of Digger's enclosure.

Since we're outside, here's a view of the engines we have at the station.
The two larger ones are Type 3 Engines and can carry up to 800 gallons of water and 20 gallons of foam retardant, the smaller one is a Type 6 Engine. They are affectionately named '34, '35, and '63.

Ducks in a row. These panels give info on your pressure, tank levels, and pump motor status (the pump is powered by a separate diesel engine that runs when the truck is on).
The various levers, switches, and handles allow for regulation of the pump in terms of priming, regulating pressure, and making sure the pump is running smoothly (as you would want when on a fire).

Pretty much everything Ella Mountain has been delayed by a couple of weeks due to the record snowpack from the winter and washouts in the road from the subsequent snowmelt.
As a result, I've had the chance to float around the engine crew and learn some of what they do while I'm not up at the tower. This includes things like working the pump and hose, practicing hose lays, doing drills for mobile and stationary work, and packing hose (imagine taking 200 ft of firehose and packing it into a space the size of a beach ball).

Right across from the station is a hike that goes up a peak that forms part of the "bowl" that the town sits in. I decided to take a trip up on my first Sunday off.
I'll only show plants that weren't looked at yet but there was a good spread here.

I believe this is Nevada goldeneye (Heliomeris multiflora var. nevadensis) – it looks correct but is blooming a few weeks earlier than online sources suggest.

This little fellow is flatspine tickseed (Lappula occidentalis), and I was surprised to find that its native range is pretty much the entire western half of the United States.

This is skyblue phacelia (Phacelia coerulea), a member of the waterleaf family Hydrophyllaceae (or subfamily Hydrophylloideae, family Borangiaceae, depending on who you talk to).

Another un-keyed phacelia.

The trouble with cheatgrass: a possible outlook for the fire season.

I wrote earlier that cheatgrass is an exotic invasive that is found pretty commonly throughout the west, and in many stands it is the bulk majority of herbaceous growth in some areas.
It is prolific in areas that are earlier in succession (you don't see it as much in piñon-juniper stands), and can form thick carpets in the landscape akin to microstegium back east.

I have mentioned more than once that a large area of Nevada received record snowfalls this past winter and have had a lot of snowmelt. This higher-than-average amount of moisture that has been present since winter has meant that there has been a greener spring here in the Ely District, something that has some people here at the station cautious for what things will look like this summer.

Greener vegetation and high moisture contents means that fire activity has actually been pretty quiet so far this season since it's hard for fuels to ignite as they are still uncured. However, it also poses a threat due to the fact that more water has meant more vegetative growth which means more fuels (even if green) on the landscape.

The concern is not for the short-term, but rather the long-term when things do eventually dry out (which they will) and plants wither, die, and cure. When this process happens, the dried grass will be like gasoline on the ground that offers large swaths of continuous fuels across the landscape. Already while out and about I have noticed smaller plants and the tips of plants drying, so we'll see what the season brings.

I'll leave you with this goofy-looking plant. It is a type of buckwheat (a relative of the tiny little mat buckwheat!), I believe it is desert trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum) based on habitat preferences (preferring rocky foothills and gravelly slopes). These swollen stems caught me off guard when I first took a look at them.

Days 1 to 3 – Cleaning up Ella Mountain

2023.05.24 to 2023.05.26

A winter shuttered up has lead to a thick caking of dust on everything within the tower, and I spent my first three days staffing the tower cleaning up what I could.
I wasn't smart enough to get a proper side-by-side before and after display of the tower, but hopefully you get the general idea.

A forewards-backwards view of the tower almost-before cleaning (there was a bit of clutter I had already removed while de-wintering).

Here is everything as it is now. I removed what clutter I could which included tools, books, out-of-date fire resources, etc., and there is NO MORE DUST.
It was a fun challenge cleaning the exterior windows in 20 m.p.h. winds, and that'll probably remain a bi-weekly task from now on.
The linens are all still at the station after having been washed. I'll bring them up when I start staying overnight.

I made sure to keep the topo map table clear of anything. This map lines up well with my visbility from the tower, ranging from Highland Peak in the north to the Moorman mountains in the south.
All that sits on it now are my binoculars and whatever I'm working on during the day.

I re-organized all of the books beneath the Osborne fire finder and dug out the visitor's log with new sheets for people to sign should they venture up the mountain.

The downstairs of the tower was a much different, more messy story. Dusty again with lots of clutter and cobwebs to remove.

What home isn't complete without wild horse bones atop the refrigerator?

Luckily I thought to do a proper before-and-after comparison down here.
The kitchen still remains uncleaned due to the fact that there is no running water. I'll probably spend a whole afternoon doing the dishes when the cistern is filled.

On that note – I haven't yet stayed in the tower due to the lack of water. As I said, the winter delayed things on the tower and as such we haven't gotten a tank up to fill the cistern with water yet.
It's looking like that may happen within the next week (at the time of writing June 1) if all goes well, but we'll see.

I found this note while cleaning out the downstairs cabinets. Apparently a few years back, some people off the beaten trail hacked their way through the door using a hatchet in order to get into the tower.
What's funny is that my supervisor told me they missed the spare key that is kept handy for just such an occasion.

Note that the stationery belongs to John Dubovick – he was the one who staffed this lookout for over 20 years and retired after the 2021 fire season (read an article about him here).

I stuck the horse bones outside, below the flagpole. Let me know if you have any names for them.

Returning to the land of the living, here are some wild horses I saw on Friday the 26. They're not native to the area (none in the Americas are) and can have impacts on the landscape, particularly through their feeding habits. More on that when I discuss piñon-juniper.

The plant for today is ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)!
No closeups on morphology unfortunately, but I have been eager to see this tree for years, and now I pass through a lovely grove of them every time I come through Springs road.

There really is a vanilla scent if you lean in close and get a good whiff of the bark.

When you look up, it's hard not to think you're standing in a grove of loblolly pines and feel like you're in a North Carolina pine forest.

Return to Zion – Angel's Landing

2023.05.29

I submitted an entry into the Angel's Landing permit lottery on a whim on Sunday afternoon for a Monday timeslot and was successful!
Park rangers said it was a <10% chance to get it on my first try on a holiday weekend.
I took off on Sunday night to car camp on BLM land near the park and spent Memorial day at Zion.

Brace for a very long update.

I haven't met a desert sunrise or sunset that I didn't like.

The hike timeslot was for before 9AM, but I was at the park by 6 so I could get an early start.

I stopped at the Court of the Patriarchs once again and was lucky enough to see them as the sun just began to illuminate them. Once again, from left to right, the light is hitting Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

Angel's Landing

The hike starts in the center of the canyon and takes you along the Virgin river as you begin to gain elevation. Along the first stretch, I saw plants such as this Palmer's penstemon (Penstemon palmeri).

Many new things were coming into bloom that had not been when I was here two weeks ago, such as this western spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis).

Or this narrowleaf yucca (Yucca angustissima).

As you start to enter switchback territory, you meander your way up into a little nook outside of the main canyon, directly west of Angel's Landing.

Where you find this Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) that refuses to give up, a middle finger to dry conditions.

Or these herbaceous fellas who don't care about the fact that they're on sheer rock.

Eventually you make your way along a canyon, where conditions are much wetter and some different plants can be found.

Like Rocky Mountain Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca)! Only one was present on the hike to Weeping Rock, but there were so many here!

Though there were some plants I was not happy to see, such as this western poison-ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii). I thought I had escaped it since coming to Nevada but it definitely has its spots here.

Eventually you reach the famous Walter's Wiggles, a set of 21 switchbacks that take you up an almost vertical 250 feet.
The image on the right shows what it looks like from across the canyon (photo credit Michael Just, Getty Images).

Shortly after you make it to the top of Walter's Wiggles, you reach Scout's Landing, a broad area that leads you to either Angel's Landing or the West Rim Trail.

I neglected to get any actual photos of the landing but took some photos of the views there. From there, there were only the chains between me and Angel's Landing.

The chains are part of a half mile hike from Scout's Landing to Angel's Landing, and I'll use the cliché that photos don't do it a justice.
I've spent time and had no trouble with drops in the Southern Appalachian mountains and have worked at height on 100'+ towers made of scaffolding but I was very much feeling the height on this trail.
Some of the better photos were taken on the way down, after I felt more comfortable with the chains and the trail - as such, they are out of order.

Check out some of the places where the chains have worn into the rock.
These photos don't do a justice to the near 1500' drop on the side of the trail (I was doing my best to look away from said drop).

The bad parts are areas where you have no chains to grab onto as you make your way up.
The absolute worst parts of this hike are where you are on the ridgetop with open canyon to either side of you.

Finally, the top.

A forwards-backwards view of the canyon. Try to spot the Zion shuttle in both, get a sense of scale.

A panorama going from the north end of the canyon (left) to the south end (right).

The larger bird looks to be a peregrine falcon (the ranger knew it wasn't a California condor because "he flapped his wings"), the smaller ones (bottom left) are white-throated swifts.

I had originally took the ranger's word of it being a Turkey Vulture but my friends Teron and Caroline suggested taking another look.

These little guys are all over the top and will try to climb on your legs or into your backpack for food.

In total I spent around 30 minutes at the top, watching the sunrise. It was only myself and three others the whole time until more started coming up at 930-10 – I recommend starting as early as possible.
I was able to get on the trail by 615-630 and while there were some people already there, it wasn't crowded until the way down and the near-empty top was a real treat.

That's me!

I'm always amazed at how plants colonize the littlest nooks and crannies above sheer drops. Every desert paintbrush I saw on the way up gave me the courage to keep going on the chains.
This was not a plant I was willing to get close to for keying and identification.

Before going back down I went up a bit of the West Rim Trail. The whole thing is much too long to do on a whim so I stopped under this ponderosa pine and took in the vanilla of the bark again.

I took a detour before lunch to find a river access and made my way to stand in the Virgin river, in the dead center of the valley.

Not to turn this into a food blog but I had the hanging garden hummus wrap from the Zion Lodge. It was a solid hit after making it back to the canyon, and it gave me time to decide where to hike next.

Emerald Pools

One lunch and several postcards later, I made my way up towards the Emerald Pools. By this point, the park was more crowded but not so much that you were standing in line on a trail anywhere.

The trail to Emerald pools starts in the same place as Angel's Landing/West Rim but takes a turn south along the canyon wall rather than north.

As you make your way up the trail (about a mile or so to reach the lower pool), it feels like you're headed into a secret nook of the park. Things immediately become more green as you go.

I bypassed the lower pool to first visit the middle and upper pools at the start of the western canyon. This photo shows the middle pool as you look back east.

It was difficult to get a photo of everything at once, but the upper pool was a gorgeous stream of water that immediately misted over the canyon rim.

It was hard to not find the lower pools as the most picturesque of the three. Multiple waterfalls cascading over the cliffs to the pool below, with hanging gardens across the wall.

Once again we see Zion shootingstar (Primula pauciflora var. zionensis) among less desireable plants like western poison-ivy again.

And we're back in the central canyon.

Once again I'm thankful for the Zion shuttle system – a free shuttle that comes very regularly (less than every five minutes) to the 9 major stops along the canyon in both directions.
I can only imagine the absolute headache it must have been to navigate and experience the park when personal autos were allowed in the canyon, before they were restricted.
To hope anywhere along the park for free without worry of parking is really an underrated thing. Thanks public transport!

Weeping Rock Hanging Garden

Once again I made my way to Weeping Rock for a quick hike up to see the gardens again.

Along the way I spotted golden columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha) and this rough horsetail (Equisetum hymenale).

Riverside Walk

Later in the afternoon I made my way to the top of the canyon to the Temple of Sinawava to do the Riverside Walk. It was about 40 to 50 minutes there and back.
I didn't stop for plants here but instead I just enjoyed the walk.

Some more golden columbine growing along the canyon wall, and bright red crimson monkeyflower (Erythranthe verbenacea), which is native only to the canyon.

As with the critters on top of Angel's Landing, the squirrels here are very much used to humans and will wait for food.

There are a few places along the riverwalk that really take you out of the desert and become reminiscent of floodplain forests back east in NC (with sandier soil).

The Narrows (which are high on my list of hikes to do) are closed due to high water flow volume.
Unfortunately, there is still a decent amount of snow upstream so they'll stay closed for a while longer.

A guide to cairns: don't.

Big Bend

On my way out of the park, I stopped at Big Bend for just a few minutes to take a look around before I left for the day.
There are no trailheads here but it puts you right below Angel's Landing with a great view of the Great White Throne at a bend in the Virgin River.

From there, it was a stop at the visitor's center to get a cancellation for my NPS passport.
I hope this update wasn't too much of a slog and that the photos were worth the super-long posting.

Peaks around the Lookout

2023.05.30

On a typical day, I can see 40 miles in any direction from Ella Mountain – that's 5,024 square miles, give or take (this assumes an average; some directions I only see 35 miles and others up to 60). For reference, that's larger than the entire area of Connecticut, which has a total land and water area of 5,018 square miles. On clear days under good conditions (particularly in the winter), you can look to the southwest past Las Vegas towards Death Valley and see into California, over 120 miles away. With such a large operational area, I'd like to give a rundown of what I'm looking at.

While the Osborne Fire Finder (tutorial coming) is the way to get pinpoint accuracy on a fire to within one square mile, it's important to know the surrounding landscape and the names of local landmarks. Doing so would allow dispatch to quickly know the relative area of a fire and would give them a chance to immediately get into talks with resources while they wait for the more accurate, "legal" reading. Most people in dispatch know the area enough to where I could say there's a fire on the southwest side of Mosey Mountain and they would know where I'm talking about.

I've taken some panoramas of the views and came up with some cheat sheets of the peaks as I get acquainted with them (and the views are pretty nice to look at too). You may notice that only the distant peaks and ranges are named. Everything close (i.e., not hazy) is part of the Clover Mountain Range, the range on which Ella Mountain sits. There aren't really any named peaks within this range aside from Ella Mountain itself (or Elly Mountain, depending on who you ask). If there is a fire that close, I would likely just tell dispatch in Ely that I have a smoke report in the Clover Mountains then give distance and direction (also, if a fire is that close, they'd look into evacuating the tower – it has happened before).

Enjoy the view!

While the above images with labels are nice to look at, I've included the original panoramas at a higher resultion. Feel free to open in a new tab, zoom in, and look around.