Guadalupe Mountains National Park

I got to go to Texas today!  For a while now, I've been wanting to visit/work/hike in the Guadalupe Mountains.  Today, with the park only a half hour down the road, and in Texas, I got to.

 

It's been a very busy few weeks, getting programs put together, giving my first cave tour, and trying to stay away from rattlesnakes.  I was planning on focusing on my bat flight talk and other research I still need to do, but my co-worker talked me into a hiking trip in the Guadalupes and I simply couldn't say no. 

 

We set our sights on one of the peaks, Hunter Mountain, and we were off.  I loved how the scenery went from Chihuahuan desert vegetation....

...to trees!  As we hiked further into this lovely mixed conifer and sporadic hardwood forest, we kept commenting to each other how wonderful it smelled.  And it did!  Beautiful, wonderful, trees!

Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks are the best examples of Permian geology in the world.  I won't bore you with the geological details of this place, but it's pretty spectacular.  In the picture below, say hello to a section of the reef that used to ring pre-historic Delaware Sea.  

We made good time getting up to the top where we randomly ran into another co-worker and her friend.  The view was awesome.  I'm so excited to explore this fabulous park.  I will need to get something with which to carry more water (temps today were in the high 90s) and get my talks and tours squared away at work before I can really play.

Wonder Above and Below

I have now been in Carlsbad, New Mexico almost three weeks.  The Chihuahuan desert is a beautiful place.  I'm excited to get out and explore this new environment and to get some good hiking taken care of at Guadalupe Mountains National Park to the west of us and Big Bend National Park to the south.

My first two weeks here were spent in training.  They don't mess around!  In our first week we completed two of the park's offered "adventure tours".  It was exhilarating!  My first wild cave was Spider on the second day of training.  What made me very nervous about Spider Cave was not its namesake, but the part of the SOP that states, "enter the cave before the group to check for rattlesnakes...should a rattlesnake be found, remove it, then proceed with the tour."  Thankfully, there was no rattlesnake removal.  We hiked down into a canyon and came upon this mound of rocks with a locked gate on top.

Our leader unlocked the gate, we followed him down a ladder, slithered on our stomachs using elbows and toes to propel us through a 40ish foot stretch until we reached the first room, the Auditorium.  Spider is fun because rooms and formations follow the ABC's.  The highlight of the tour was the Ghost Room, a place covered in beautiful white calcite and aragonite formations. 

Our second adventure in the first week was the trail to the Hall of the White Giant.  This too was pretty incredible.  This was a more strenuous trail with slippery flowstone to maneuver on, Matlock's pinch, a rope and ladder to climb, Castration Rock, and more.  It was AWESOME!  I was able to go again after hours for training purposes, and this time brought my camera.  Unfortunately, because I had the camera, I didn't get any pictures of myself.  Below is a photo of my roommate Natalie B. climbing through a tight place on the rope.  You can see the rope in the picture.  Understand this is vertical, although the angle of the picture looks horizontal.

This coming Friday I enter the schedule for real, in uniform, on the desk, in the cave, and give my first "big" cave tour Saturday.  Bring on summer!  Let the adventure begin!

To meet the quota

I set a goal at the beginning of the year to post at least twice a month.  It is almost May, and I'm only at one post for April.

However, I have big news to announce.  I have known for quite a while, and most people have since been informed, but I will be spending my summer at ....

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

I'm sure I'll have all sorts of adventures to report.  Now, I need to focus on researching this new place and re-packing from the semi-unpacked state I've been in the past week. 

And, since every post should include a picture, here I am in 2007, younger and a bit more full in the face, visiting Vesuvius National Park in Italy. 

Done With Death Valley

I am sitting, even as I type, on the plush, clean, welcoming carpet of my living room in Houston, Texas.  Hooray for the end of the season and a much needed two-ish weeks of unemployment!

Here's a quick re-cap of the last few weeks.

To let you in on a secret, Scotty's Castle is not where Scotty lived.  His residence was about five miles west of the Castle at a place we call the Lower Vine Ranch.  Last month I was able to do the hike from the Castle to the cabin where Scotty lived.

Up on the ridgeline, looking down at the Castle complex.

When the workers were installing the perimeter fence, they came to a large wash.  They built a bridge over the wash so they could more easily transport the very heavy concrete fence posts.  Here's the group posing.  Since the bridge was also the only shade on the hike, we had lunch underneath it.  Paul, Keegan, Eric, Patrick, Mark, and Abby.

Death Valley is covered in mines and old mining claims.  We stumbled across a collection of three cairns, which usually denotes a claim.  Poking around in the stacked rocks we found the tin box, opened it, and read the old mine claim papers.  Pretty cool.

Another stop was a natural warm spring in the middle of the desert.  It was very warm water and it was a fairly warm day, but we still doffed boots and socks to soak our feet.  I pulled my feet out and had almost microscopic red dots cruising up and down my legs and decided I was good.  Eric, Paul, Abby.

Patrick and Keegan.  Because of the bending of the light/reflection in the pool, and the way he was sitting, we decided Keegan looked like a hobbit.

On one of my last weekends, I ventured to Salt Creek, a running stream in the middle of the valley.  There is a short 1/4 mile boardwalk trail that goes around the creek.  My main reason for going was to see the Death Valley pup fish.  They were out in masses, swimming and scurrying and very enjoyable to watch.

The pup fish are about of fifth of a pencil in length and comparable in circumference.

As I walked the boardwalk, as much as I enjoyed watching the pup fish, I found another site of desert survival.  A lizard with lunch (another lizard) in its mouth.  Pretty awesome.  Lunch was still kind of moving his head and opening and closing his mouth, and I felt kind of bad for it, but it didn't stop me from taking a couple pictures.

Me, in costume, in action on Scotty's porch, getting ready to explain the metal plate on the wall.  Any ideas as to what Scotty might have used it for?  Or said he used it for?

The two weeks before and the week after Easter were crazy busy.  We had full tours running every ten minutes.  It was fast and furious and we were exhausted by the end of the day.  Here we are in the back office, getting ready to head home.  Patrick, Chris, Paul, Walter, Mark, Taylor, Ashley, and Steve.

The end of the season is always hard.  It's bitter sweet in many ways.  You're ready for something new, ready for a new resource and the adventures it holds, but it's hard to leave the familiar, and even harder to leave behind the friends.  You quickly find out it is a small world in the Park Service and while paths may not ever truly cross, chances are you'll run into someone who's worked with so-and-so or who has worked where you've worked.

Three of the four in this picture have worked at Cape Hatteras, and all four of us know the supervisor out there, even though we haven't all worked with him at the same park.  I'm going to miss these guys a lot!  We were trying to get us all in costume, but it didn't happen.  Me, Eric, Jeanette, and Taylor.

To quote the '49er who said as he was lead by his rescuers out of the valley, "Good bye, Death Valley."  On to my next adventure.

Castle Ironwork

I love the attention to detail at Scotty's Castle.  I'm fast approaching my 200th tour of the season, and every time I go in, I see something different.  I simply had to post pictures of some of my more favorite pieces.  My apologies if you find this boring, but there are some really skilled people in this world.

 

The two pictures below are the same thing, one taken from the ground, the second taken from the bridge.  This is probably my favorite.  It's a bit hard to see from the first picture, but there is a small flower hanging upside-down, that swings freely from it's curly-cue.  Beautiful, simply beautiful.

The next few items are light/bell holders.  Detail.  I love it!

In each room, the curtain rods are different.  The picture below is from the Solarium, my favorite curtain rods.  Amazing. 

 Decoration in the Upper Music Room above the tour exit door.

Each candelabra in the place has a different design.  Each room is so unique in it's own way.  Like I said, I always find something new.  In this picture, you can also see some of the tile work too.  All original.

The ceiling in the Upper Music Room.  All the beams are hand carved, and the chandeliers are exquisite.  I realize it's hard to see the detail from this picture, but I love this room!

Two more, and I promise that is it.  This little guy is hidden in a corner and is often over-looked as people come into the entryway of the Annex building and are caught up by the splendor of the Italian Suite (and who can blame them, it's gorgeous). 

This archway is part of the entrance to the Hacienda, a few feet away from the Castle.

I've got four more weeks out here.  Accepting all last minute visitors during that time!

Castle Couture

Finally, a post about what I look like for most of my work day.  It's a little different than my ranger uniform, as you can see.  The character I have chosen is a newspaper reported from the LA Times.  "I'm sure most of you have read stories about Scotty and his castle in the papes, but have you noticed all those stories say something different?  None of them agree?"  I am at the castle to set the story straight... and look mighty cute doing it too!

It's hard to see in this pictures, but I'm showing off the seam in my stockings.  Yup, we try to keep things here as authentic as possible.  I don't usually curl my hair though; this was a special occasion because I knew we we're going to take pictures and I had friends from Great Basin visiting and I wanted to give them the true experience. 

This is my co-worker Masaki.  He's from southern California.  He's also chosen a news reporter character.

This is Steve, who I worked with at Great Basin.  He is a prospector in the Amargosa Valley and a good friend of Scotty's. 

We have quite the collection of costumes; I'll have to take more pictures and post our winter bunch.  I have also taken quite a few pictures of the details in the wood and metal work in the castle and am anxious to post those as well.

February Outings

There's a lot to cover, but don't worry, I've got plenty of pictures to accompany this post.

Earlier in the month, I had some time in the afternoon and decided to play tourist and hiked the Golden Canyon-Gower Gulch loop.  Golden Canyon is a pretty popular tourist stop and I was a bit embarrassed I hadn't hiked it yet.  It was beautiful.  You get up to the top and it's almost like you're looking over the Badlands of the Dakotas instead of Death Valley.

At first, my perception of the park was a barren, desolate place, with a serious tree deficiency.  However, the colors in Death Valley are absolutely spectacular.  It is truly a geologist's dream.

That's me, hiker extraordinaire, loving the intense afternoon sun.  The next day it rained and the temp dropped.  Good timing, I must say.

Last weekend I explored Sidewinder Canyon.  There were some really awesome slot canyons, a beautiful day, and a lot of climbing up dry falls.  It was good to stretch the muscles in a way they hadn't been stretched in a while scrambling up canyon walls and brush up on the three points of contact.  Awesome place.

Up the canyon, looking back towards the valley and the Amargosa Range to the north (the eastern border of the valley named Death).  See what I mean about colors?

This is one of the three main slot canyons.  I could easily reach out and touch both sides of the canyon walls in the picture below.  It got even more narrow and rather dark at times because the sun couldn't reach.  Beautiful!

Narrow!

I wasn't the only one enjoying the slot canyon.  This is a chuckwalla.  He was huge!  I wish I'd had something to give some perspective.  From head to hind feet, definitely a lot bigger than my foot.  So cool to see wildlife in their natural environment.

A very narrow passage.

Last weekend a co-worker, with a jeep, agreed to go explore some of the off-pavement trails in the park.  We stopped at a talc mine.  I'm posing with an old and long forgotten gas pump.

This is not snow but talc from the mine.  It was everywhere and was in sharp contrast to the dark, almost black, hills around us.

Remains of the old mine.

We stopped at the Warm Springs area and there was a huge mine adit! 

Looking through the bars over the entrance, I got a picture of how they shored the ceiling.  I had no desire to get in there and explore.

At the Warm Springs Camp, the original inhabitants built a swimming pool, with a diving board, where the spring water would collect.  It was so far out in the middle of nowhere in a place difficult to access (thanks I.W. for taking me in your jeep!) it seemed so out of place.  Totally cool!

Finally, we made it to our goal, Striped Butte.  It was a large outcropping of rocks in the middle of a large valley between mountains, that had the most beautiful striping on it.  There is so much here at this park that needs exploring.  It was a lovely day with great company!

I've had a few nibbles from parks for this summer.  I'll keep you posted.  Happy four months in Death Valley!