Images of a Drought, Part 1

It is a curious day to be publishing this post:  We got .10 inches of water over the past 24 hours for the first time since April.  A wetting rain.  So it feels a little less droughty than before.  On the other hand, droughts are made from an accumulation of dry days over a period of months and years.  Droughts take time, . . . the vice tightening slowly.  What we found this week is that the little pond that we visit every summer on the Markagunt Plateau no longer has any water.  The picture (above) is from Monday; the picture (below) is from July 2017.

Guided Riding

I did (sort of) complain about the Wasatch.  But one reason that the mountain range draws such crowds is that it boasts some of the best skiing and mountain biking in the world.  I've posted plenty of times about the skiing, but, this week, we did some outstanding biking there, too.  The picture, above, is of VSO cruising into the Rhino Saddle just before taking the Scotts Bypass to the 9K Trail at Park City.  This is not the first time our bikes have crested the Wasatch but this week Mark was available to be our private guide.  As a Wasatch native, he knows the trails better than anyone.  He is also a cheerful and comforting presence, always ready to look the other way if you need to start heaving or to hand over a beer if you've made it back to the truck.  The picture, below, is of Mark leading us into Daly Bowl at Deer Valley on the other end of the 9K . . . just before we earned our beer.

Botanical Diversity

I don't think much of the Wasatch.  It has become so crowded and so urban that I have mostly written it off.  When I moved to Heber City in the late '80s to work as a ski patrolman at Park City, I lived in a 1950s motel on Main Street that had a weekly rate.  It also had electricity and "direct dial" telephones.  (Did it have indoor plumbing?)  Today, Heber is one of the top three destinations for the great and the good as they flee Austin and San Francisco.  Mayhem.  The Guard Road is now paved from top to bottom and the traffic is so heavy that you have to wait to walk to your truck.  (Today, while I was waiting, a fat guy blew by me on a 40 CC mini-bike revved to a full-throttled scream.  I am not kidding.  At least he was wearing a shirt to cover his tats.)  But, even in the middle of all the noise, there is this incredible diversity of flora that simply blows me away:  Owl clover, geranium, lupine, rose, groundsel, chokecherry, gilia, and paintbrush, not to mention aspen, limber pine, and Douglas fir.  It would be beautiful if you could ignore the crowds.

Sugarloaf

I feel like we climb Sugarloaf nearly every year.  We surely climbed it sometime in the last three.  But, I can't find any pictures.  The only other one I know for sure is this one.  And that was seven years ago.  At any rate, with EDO at the Governor's Honors Academy, I went up there by myself.  It was cloudy, though not rainy.  And there was a decent collection of wildflowers:  I found both Markagunt and Rydberg penstemon.

The Best of Bella

We've had Isabella with us this week.  It has been a lot of fun.  And we've had some firsts.  Today was Bella's first time on a mountain bike.  She rode Navajo Lake like a pro.  Last night, she also played with the Outlaws for the first time, sitting in on percussion.

Too Early in the Summer for an Air Show

Almost exactly four years ago, we were hiking in Ashdown with the sound of airtankers overhead.  It was the start of the Brian Head Fire.  Yesterday it was the same, we got into the gorge late in the afternoon and by that time the Single Engine Air Tankers were making round trips from Cedar City to the Mammoth Fire.  The main difference this year was that Mark came down from Summit Park for an art even and joined us in the canyon.  It was fun to see him hiking with EDO.  Pictures here.

Wet Fir

There was a shower today.  It was unexpected and it wasn't much, it didn't even settle the dust.  But, after 40 days of sunshine, it was a welcome break.  Sure, we could use some real rain, but sometimes having the sun blocked is a simple treat.  Besides, the true firs took advantage of the background to show off a little.  I don't think that most people have any liking for sub-alpine fir, but against the dark clouds I thought they looked interesting.