We have learned to be flexible, and today we decided to flex (5-7-10). We got up early to work in the park with Marlin and got done in a couple of hours. Our plan was to leave tomorrow (Saturday) and start heading north, so we had work to do today to prepare. We decided to go down town to get the mail and such and on the way stopped at the Forest Service headquarters to ask about our path up Flaming Gorge. It’s still just too cold to move north and up. A call to Yellowstone this morning told us that the south gate is still closed and most of the roads require snow tires. Snow tires? We’re not ready for that, not with pulling a trailer. Mike at Steinaker said he was happy to have us stay longer, his hosts won’t be here until the end of the month and he likes the work we do with Marlin. So, we decided to postpone our trip for another week or so and to stay here in Steinaker State Park, helping here and in Vernal, to give nature another week to warm up. The people at the forest service were most friendly and had lots of good advice, but most of their camps are still closed. The writing in on the wall. We should not, can not, risk severe cold with the Shining Example. It’s a great blessing that we have this place to stay, that we like it and they like us, and that it’s warm enough here (with the hookups) to stay without risk. We have to take that advantage, take that gift as it is given. Thank you Mike and Marlin at Steinaker for making our trip safer and more enjoyable!
North East Utah is pretty too, but in a totally different way than SE Utah. We took a small hike (5-8-10) on the north side of Red Fleet State Park to explore a place where they have discovered over 200 dinosaur tracks. Wow! The hike there was excellent, the rocks and trees and flowers are all beautiful here. You can really see the motion of the geology. Like the San Rafael Swell, this is a huge anticline which pushed up, then was eroded off, exposing eons of rock layers, so of course a whole lot of fossils (and oil and natural gas wells and phosphate mining and all the rest). It’s so cool to see these definitive layers pushed up at strange angles and exposed for viewing, and how different each layer is. You can see the old sea floors and sand dunes and everything. The dinosaur tracks (dilophosauraus) are right at the reservoir, so when the water is high most are under water, but since it is still low we could see many including some trackways, which are two or more consecutive tracks made by the same individual. How many other wonderful mysteries are hidden beneath the Earth’s surface? We saw mule deer and a juniper titmouse and western bluebirds and watched a spotted towhee working on his low nest and squawking furiously at everything. Flowers included penstemon, mustard, fringed gromwell (or fringed puccoon), spring gold, evening primrose (birdcage I think), cactus buds, and more we cannot identify (yet). Wow! Indigo also found an amazing fossil, a full little clam in the rock. It was a nice evening walk.
Yesterday we went out to lunch to celebrate Indigo’s birthday which is today (5-9-10). Happy birthday Indigo! And thank you to Roy and Carol who sent a little money just for this treat. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there, and again, happy birthday to Indigo! Yay!
Miracles abound in nature. This evening (5-11-10), between the rain/hail showers, we sat beside ‘our’ lake to watch the birds. The sound of the owls hoot echoing off the hills across the bay and the red winged blackbirds cry, each staking out his territory, along with the myriad other birds around us on shore kept our ears company while we watched the western grebes diving for fish, the tree swallows circling in acrobatic whirls just above the water, visits from spotted sand pipers, spotted towhee, osprey, a yellow-rumped warbler and a gray-headed junco, plus numerous others too fast to identify (including a hummingbird going about 300 mph). Storms are brewing on the horizons and the temperature has plummeted again. That means more mice trying to move in to the MVU, which is unfortunate for them. The cat decided to catch a baby chipmunk yesterday, I think we got him away from her before he was hurt; kitty wasn’t really hungry, just having fun. The little guy was terribly frightened but appeared unharmed. He was about the size of a mouse, mom has been outside lately and she’s quite large for a chipmunk. Life abounds here, whether the vista is large or tiny. After a stroll enjoying the gorgeous lake and abundant bird life recently, Paul stopped randomly in the sagebrush and enjoyed a vista on a much smaller scale. A small sage plant had a caterpillar in it. We have seen these caterpillars, they are remarkably fleet, easily 5x faster than any we have seen before. This caterpillar didn’t seem to be eating the sage, just inspecting. Then, on close inspection, there sat a beautiful beetle, colored just the same gray green as the sage. Again, he didn’t seem to be eating the sage, just using it for cover. Little vistas, all around, little miracles abound. It’s not always what we see, it’s HOW we see. The rain has started again, which is better than the hail we felt while doing our rounds in the park this afternoon.
