Western Heat Wave

Intense heat is beginning to develop across the Desert Southwest and will spread northward through the Great Basin and Central Valley of California; before it's over, the Pacific Northwest will also be enveloped in the swath of hot air.

The culprit is an atmospheric ridge, a northward bowing of the jet stream along the outer rim of a high pressure dome.  Within the ridge (beneath the dome), sinking air heats up and dries out and cloud formation is impaired; Santa Ana winds may also develop in Southern California.  Triple-digit heat is forecast for much of the region, with upper 90s (F) expected in Oregon and Washington.  Meteorologists warn that the high pressure ridge will remain in place through the upcoming weekend.

As one might expect, the Western heat wave is tied (meteorologically) to the Texas floods.  East of the ridge, the jet stream dips southward and this trough has spawned an upper level low over central Texas.  Counterclockwise winds around the low are combining with clockwise winds around a high pressure dome over the Southeast, pulling copious Gulf moisture across East Texas, Louisiana and the lower Mississippi Valley.  Once this atmospheric pattern shifts eastward, the flooding rains in Texas will cease and the Western heat will abate.

Through Riverless Terrain

Leaving Ely, Nevada, this morning, we headed east on US 50; our first stop was Great Basin National Park, in the Snake Range, just west of the Utah Border; details regarding the Park are provided in the linked post.  Today, a deep snow pack closed the Wheeler Peak road at Mather Overlook (just above 9000 feet) but we enjoyed broad views of the Park and adjacent landscape.  We then took a hike along South Baker Creek before setting out across the beautiful but arid lands of the Great Basin.

One of the highlights of that journey was the vast but dry bed of Sevier Lake; filled to the brim during the cool, wet climate of the Pleistocene, the lake is now a sink, fed by the fickle flow of several basin rivers that have been mostly dammed or diverted.  After crossing Interstate 15, we climbed along US 50 to merge with Interstate 70 and then crossed the massive hump of the Wasatch Plateau; beyond this high ridge the highway winds through some of the most scenic topography in North America (if not on the planet) where eroded beds of late Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks line the road.  After dropping through the Waterpocket Fold, we crossed the Green River, completing our loop through Utah, Nevada and California.

Looking down at that River, it occurred to me that this tributary of the Colorado was the first stream of any size that we had crossed since leaving Mono Lake; indeed, the West Fork of the Walker River, north of that lake was the last river that I had encountered.  Such is the nature of the Great Basin: two days of driving through magnificent but riverless terrain.

Back in the Basin

Since the high passes through the Sierra Nevada remain closed due to a heavy snowpack, downed trees and rock slides, we backtracked to U.S. 50 last evening and spent the night in Carson City, Nevada.  This morning, we traveled south on Route 395, along the eastern base of the mountains, headed for Mono Lake; approaching that famous remnant of the Pleistocene, we re-entered California, ascended along the West Fork of the Walker River, descended into the basin of Bridgeport Reservoir and then climbed onto the northern rim of the Mono Lake basin where we enjoyed a fabulous panorama of the lake and its surroundings.  For more details on the lake and its history, see the above link.

Stopping at the Visitor Center and three public access sites along the edge of the lake, we explored the tufa (calcium carbonate) formations and surveyed the open waters where thousands of eared grebes fed on brine shrimp; during the autumn migration, up to 1.8 million of these diving birds stop to rest and feed on Mono Lake.  Two pair of ospreys are currently nesting on the tufa formations but must travel to other regional lakes to catch fish, which cannot survive in the alkaline waters of Mono.  Other sightings included hundreds of California gulls and a single pair of ruddy ducks; according to local birders that we met, avocets, black-necked stilts and phalaropes, regular migrants and summer residents at Mono Lake, have not yet arrived.

Heading east across the Great Basin, we passed the northern end of the magnificent White Mountains; Boundary Peak, the highest point in Nevada, is at the northeast end of that Range.  Continuing along U.S. 6, we crossed the stark beauty of of central Nevada; the highlight proved to be the broad, scenic Railroad Valley, southwest of Ely, where Blue Eagle Peak rises along its eastern rim and Currant Mountain anchors its northern end.  After a night in Ely, we plan to visit Great Basin National Park and then head for Colorado.

Crossing the Great Basin

West of Salt Lake City, Interstate 80 passes between the north end of the Oquirrh Range and the Great Salt Lake.  As we drove west, black-necked stilts were feeding in the roadside shallows, cliff swallows swooped about the highway bridges and flocks of California gulls moved across the morning sky.  Throughout western Utah, flat plains, remnants of Lake Bonneville, alternated with stark fault-block ranges, many of which were capped with snow.

In eastern Nevada, the ranges were more numerous and the intervening valleys were both rolling and green, covered by sage grasslands that were grazed by horses, cattle and pronghorn.  Just west of Wells, the highway began to follow the Humboldt River, passing the majestic Ruby Mountains; we would parallel that river all the way to Lovelock, where it enters its terminal sink.  Beyond that point, the greenery of eastern Nevada gave way to desert landscape, characterized by vast lake flats where American avocets patrolled the alkaline pools.  This low desert, lying within the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada, ended at Fernley where we climbed into the Sierra foothills along the Truckee River.  Passing through Reno, we continued westward and upward on Interstate 80 before turning south to Lake Tahoe.

Backed by the high spine of the Sierra Nevada, this beautiful lake is renowned for both its resorts and its fabulous alpine scenery; after a full day on the road,  it seemed like a great place to spend the night.  Tomorrow we head into the California Cascades.

From Denver to Salt Lake

Beginning the first leg of our California road trip, we left Denver this morning, headed west on Interstate 70.  Climbing through the Front Range, we crossed the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower Tunnel and entered the vast watershed of the Colorado River.  After dipping through the Blue River Valley, we crossed Vail Pass and descended along Gore Creek and the Eagle River to the Colorado itself.

Following the Colorado, we snaked down Glenwood Canyon and, just west of Glenwood Springs, cut through the Grand Hogback, entering the Colorado Plateau, a landscape of mesas, buttes, plateaus and cliff-lined valleys.  Passing Battlement and Grand Mesas to our south and the Roan Plateau to our north, we then drove along the Book Cliffs (Cretaceous in age), that rise along the north side of the Interstate from Grand Junction to Green River, Utah.  Leaving the Colorado, we entered Utah where the La Sal Mountains, a massive laccolith near Moab, loomed to the SSW; after crossing the Green River, just east of the Waterpocket Fold, we turned north on US 6 toward Price, Utah, passing formations of Mancos Shale carved by the Price River and its tributaries.

Beyond Price, the highway climbs onto the Wasatch Plateau where, at Soldier Summit (7477 feet), we left the watershed of the Colorado River and entered the Great Basin, dropping from the Plateau and through the Wasatch Range to the urban corridor of Provo and Salt Lake City.  Tomorrow, we cross the Great Basin on Interstate 80, headed for Reno and Lake Tahoe.

Go West, Old Man!

Though I did not visit the American West until I was 25 years old, I had imagined living there since my early teenage years; deep blue skies, colorful rock formations, mountain vistas and "exotic" wildlife beckoned from nature films and calendars, instilling a fascination with that region of the country.  When I finally visited, traveling through most of the Western States, I was hooked and eventually moved to Colorado at the age of 31.  Since that time, though I have family and many friends in the Midwest, my soul has never left the West, nourished by sunshine, dry air and spectacular landscapes; the fact that they come with spring snow and parched soil is of no consequence to me.

Today, my wife and I leave for our Colorado farm.  This time, our stay on the farm will be brief since we plan a road trip to Northern California, one of the few regions of this fabulous country that I have yet to visit.  The journey will take us across the Rockies and Colorado Plateau, through the Great Basin, into the California Cascades, down the Pacific Coast and through the heart of the Sierra Nevada.  We anticipate a wealth of majestic scenery, many species new to us and two weeks of adventure that will surely bring many unexpected and unforgettable encounters.

No doubt, there will be plenty of fodder for blog posts, which I hope to provide on a daily basis, but it may be impossible to adequately express the emotional impact of our journey.  Going home again, to many places yet unseen, is to heed the will of the soul.

Wintering Tundra Swans

Breeding across the Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada, North American tundra swans are represented by two populations, each currently comprised of about 100,000 birds.  The western population, which breeds in Alaska, winters on estuaries of the Pacific Northwest and on lakes of California's Central Valley and the Great Basin.

The eastern population, which often stops to rest and feed in wetlands along the Great Lakes during migrations, winter primarily on coastal bays of the Mid-Atlantic region.  Nevertheless, small flocks may turn up anywhere between these major wintering areas, including lakes along the Front Range of Colorado and New Mexico, reservoirs of the Great Plains and riverine wetlands along the Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas and Ohio Valleys.

Resting on open waters, these magnificent birds feed primarily on aquatic vegetation and on waste grain in nearby agricultural fields; they are also known to consume clams and other marine invertebrates.  Like snow geese, their spring migration (which peaks from February to March) is often more gradual and less direct than their autumn flights and the swans generally travel in smaller flocks.  Smaller and slimmer than trumpeter swans, tundra swans are also identified by their high-pitched calls (hence their nickname: "whistling swans") and by a small yellow patch at the base of their bill.