May 20th through the 22th Great Basin National Park participated along with 100 other National Parks for their annual BioBlitz.  The BioBlitz invites citizens to come and participate with scientist’ to learn and document the biodiversity of the park.  This year Great Basin National Park’s BioBlitz focus was on birds. Gretchen Baker, an Ecologist at Great Basin did a wonderful job of putting together an engaging and interactive educational weekend.  From the live bird and reptile presentations to birding field trips we were able to learn from experts and connect with so many people who have a similar desire to enjoy and protect the world around us.

Friday May 20, 2016

Friday morning we were actually debating whether to take the 3 hour trip or not.  We had signed up several weeks in ago but when the morning came their were high wind warnings and a likelihood of snow…we aren’t that smart when it comes to wanting to stay warm and dry so ultimately we decided to take the plunge and head down there…I am sure glad we did.  It was an amazing experience.

After battling the crazy wind we finally arrived a few hours after registration began and jumped into the bird illustrating and photography classes held at the Baker Hall just south of the visitor center.  The kids loved drawing pictures of birds and were excited to be able to do it again the next day.

As a break I was going to take Asher and Pickle to the park next door but the wind was so fierce they quickly decided against it, so I took them to the Great Basin Visitor Center while Andrew stayed for a lecture on Vultures.

Here is a little overview of Great Basin.  It is a beautiful place ranging from desert basin up to soaring mountains with caves and arches too.

The visitors center is really kid friendly and has a lot of interactive exhibits which the kids loved!  The ranger on staff was awesome and listened and answered ALL of Asher’s questions…he never runs out of questions. Pickle was being really shy and he wanted to help her feel at home so he taught her a special hand shake.  She was too shy to do it in front of him, but once we left the center she loved to do it with me.  You put your knuckle’s together like you are doing a fist bump and slide them back and forth to grate the cheese.  Then you pull your fists away opening your hand and wiggling your fingers to sprinkle the cheese.  She loved it!

Whenever we travel to different National Parks I am amazed at the peace and solace I can find at each unique location.  There is something about being in nature, in wilderness or admiring and contemplating historic places where others have walked before us. Being in these places allows me to connect with myself, with nature, and with the world around me. Starting this year I was hoping to allow our children the opportunity to feel that and develop a love for the parks and preserving these important places as Andrew and I have.  As we have traveled to nearly 30 parks now, I am amazed at all the people we meet who are drawn to the National Parks as I am. We all have different backgrounds, have different stories, but as we gather at these parks there is not just a connection with the earth around us, but a connection with each other.  A camaraderie that ties us together.  These Parks are not just for us to connect to nature and our past but a place to connect with each other.  Coming to Great Basin allowed us the opportunity to connect with so many more people on a more personal level than we usually do when we are at a Park.  Having two days dedicated to being together with a common purpose was incredible.  An opportunity for our kids to learn from others through experiences.  I wish we had more time to soak up the community that existed there.

That evening Bryan Hamilton did a presentation on the reptiles of Great Basin.  He actually brought 3 live snakes for the kids to touch and hold, including a rattle snake.  When he pulled out his rattle snake, he had it climb into a tube so that there was no way for the snake to bite people and allowed us all to come, touch and examine it.  We can all say we have touched a rattle snake now.

The other two snakes were harmless, a gopher snake,

and a beautifully colored King snake.  Which looks threatening but as the saying for snakes in North America goes:

red next to yellow, kill a fellow (coral snake)

red next to black, friend of Jack (king snake.)

We ended the evening with a potluck dinner.  It was so nice to relax and mingle with all those who came to participate.  National Parks have always held a special place in my heart.  A place where I can find solace and peace, learn more about myself.  Through this experience I hoped that I could allow my kids to grow a connection with them as well.  As we have traveled and gotten to know more and more people at the parks I have found how that love and desire to connect is around me by so many more people than I could have imagined.  Everyone has a different background, a different story, but we have all been drawn to the Parks for something and that desire connects us all together.

Once things had wound down and we had signed up for our birding field trips the next day we headed off to find camp.  Great Basin has several campgrounds, not all of them were accessible with a lot of the park still being covered in snow. We camped at Baker Creek Campground, near where we would be hiking the next day.

With the wind being so bad Andrew had been wise to bring our two 4 season backpacking tents instead of our normal family tent.  They are both very sturdy and low to the ground so the wind doesn’t impact them the same.  But since we don’t all fit in one we had to bring two.  Both kids wanted to sleep with me so us three crammed into the one tent and Andrew got to stretch out in his own tent.  The kids fell asleep to the howling of the wind while listening to On The Shores of Silver Lake (from the Little House series.)

In the middle of the night it began to snow.  Poor Asher had to get up and trek through the snow and wind to use the bathroom in the middle of the night…and poor Andrew got to be the one to go with him.  Other than that it was a great night.

Saturday May 21, 2016

Next day we packed up and headed off to meet our guide to go birding.  This was all of our first experience with birding.  It was a huge eye opener.  When Andrew and I use to work in the wilderness with troubled youth we could identify the larger birds, hawks, eagles etc. But all of the small birds we grouped into one category “S.O.B.’s”  Small Ordinary Bird (or some other bird.)  The fact that people could hear the call or song and identify the bird was amazing.   They could stop in a location and do a “Point Count” where they count the number of and species of birds in a certain location that they could hear or see within a certain amount of time.  The only bird I can identify from  sound is the “cheese-burger bird” which is actually the Mountain Chickadee.

The kids quickly made friends with two other kids on the hike and had so much fun hiking and throwing snow at each other and us.  Pickle quickly became best friends with a little girl and cried and cried when the BioBlitz was over about having to leave her behind.  There were people from our neck of the woods in Riverton as well that had a little one that played with the little girls.  And those three led the hike on the way back after we were finished.

We got to see a Gosshawk, as the big trophy for the day.  Andrew got a good laugh by stating that he was a “moderate expert, since I have this bird identifying pamphlet”  when posing his question on clarifying of exact type of species of one of the birds.

Saturday afternoon Martin Tyner from Southwest Wildlife Foundation came a did a live bird presentation.  He went over all the birds of prey in the Great Basin.  Martin has dedicated his life to saving animals.  It was inspiring to hear his stories about reviving eagles and other birds and then being able to release them back into the wild.  He seeks opportunities to connect with the community and get them involved when that special time comes to release the birds. If you ever get a chance to listen to him speak I highly recommend it.  He has a great book with a lot of fun and funny stories about his experiences healing these amazing animals and all the proceeds go to help build the preserve he is creating to continue his work.  Please buy his book, Healer of Angels through his site so that they get all the proceeds instead of buying it through Amazon or another book store.

He brought out 3 of his birds, a Coopers Hawk, Prairie Falcon, and a Golden Eagle.  It was amazing to see these birds of prey up close and personal!  They are so beautiful and I am so grateful that Martin takes the time nurse these beautiful bird back to health and to educate those around him so we can continue to have people excited to continue to fight to protect them.

Asher was so thrilled to get to participate with another bird illustrating class taught by the two artist in residence Miki and Kristin.  He drew an amazing blue bird and truly found a love of art.  He has been really working on developing his art the last few months, and it was great that he had the opportunity to learn with such great teachers.

The afternoon finished with more talks about raptors from the past and present.  Gretchen shared with us images from fossils they have found in the caves and mountains.  One that was unreal was the Incredible Terratorn that had a wing span stretching over 16ft!  Truly Incredible!

Neil with HawkWatch talked with us about tracking the migratory patterns of Raptors and how every year in the Goshiute Mountains they count, catch and tag raptors as they migrate south for the winter.  They can use this data to compare with other agencies around the country and see how the raptors are doing.  Anyone is invited to come and watch what they are doing… something we will be doing this October!

Sadly we weren’t able to stay for Sunday and after the last seminar of the day about snails we had to say goodbye to our friends…Pickle was devastated to have to leave her best friend.  She said the saddest thing was that she had only gotten 1 day with her best friend.  Hopefully we will make it back to Baker soon so they can play together again.

We took one last drive up the mountain to Mather Overlook to see Mount Wheeler…what a sight!  It is an amazing mountain with amazing trees.  Great Basin is particularly special because it protects some of the worlds oldest trees, the Bristlecone Pine.  The snow was too deep we weren’t able to climb up to any of the groves up on the mountain but they do have a “cheater” tree near the Lehman Cave’s visitor center.

There is a Bristlecone that was transplanted there so people could see it without having to hike up 13,000 ft.  But without being in the extreme conditions that Bristlecones grow in, it hasn’t taken the gnarly, weathered look they are known for.

This trip we did not do any tours of Lehman Cave like we did last time since we came to participate in the BioBlitz we didn’t want to miss any of the activities that they had planned.  I want to thank Gretchen and all the staff and volunteers that made the BioBlitz such an amazing event.  It was great to feel and be a part of park.  I look forward to participating again next year.  I invite you all to look at the parks near you to find a BioBlitz next year to participate in it is a great way to “Find Your Park“.

Please comment about your favorite experiences in our National Parks here as well as share your experiences at http://www.findyourpark.com.