Random street scenes from Quito...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 21 hours...

of continuous travel - from Spokane to Seattle to Los Angeles to Lima, Peru and finally  to Quito, Ecuador - I have finally settled in and met with other Zegrahm staff as we plan our tour of this sprawling city at 9,400 ft above sea level.  The magnificent snow and ice-covered Cotopaxi stratovolcano looms in the distance;  fingers crossed for an eruption!

 

It will be southern hemisphere springtime...

when I explore the west coast of South America on this upcoming Zegrahm expedition.  (I am on personal leave from the university the next three weeks.)  Here's a map showing the itinerary of the voyage where I will work as the geologist lecturer and guide, as well as expedition photographer and Zodiac driver (click to enlarge):

 

Click the link above to see the detailed itinerary and meet the other staff members for this amazing travel experience.

Here are the field reports...

for my two summer expeditions with Zegrahm (see previous post) in .pdf format:

Wild Alaska and the Bering Sea

Best of the Russian Far East

Enjoy!

For nearly the next five weeks...

I will be traveling once again with Zegrahm Expeditions as their full service geology lecturer, hiking guide, Zodiac driver and photographer, following the routes depicted in the maps below (click on images to enlarge).  I'll do my best to post a pic or two every day or so, as time and conditions allow.

Piles of gear are organized and ready to stuff into a huge duffel, and I just confirmed my flights into Anchorage.  There's been a little drama in obtaining my Russian visa, but it will be released today from the consulate in Seattle and Fedexed overnight to the hotel in Anchorage.

UPDATE:  Whew! Fedex tracking shows my passport will arrive at the hotel before me.  Close.

 

 

I've been on hiatus...

for a while now, my hectic work and summer travel schedule finally catching up with me, so I decided to take some time away from my daily blogging routine.  I'm very sorry to disappoint my regular readers.

However, do not fear.  I will be back!

RELATED:  Just returned from leading a terrific field class at Mounts Rainier and St. Helens, and it's off to the Bighorn Mountains in late August/early September as part of a research project testing the use of ground penetrating radar to prospect for caves.

The night before...

my penultimate day in southern Utah the nearly-full Moon rose dramatically over the La Sal Mountains (click images to enlarge):

As clouds grew above the high peaks, a partial double rainbow flashed brightly overhead:

The clouds grew more menacing by the minute into sunset, but never dropped any rain:

I will be spending tomorrow closing down the house and packing the vehicle for the migration north to greener (and cooler) landscapes.  It's always a melancholic time for me as these visits come to an end.  Yes, I love it here that much.

Enter Owl and exit Fish Canyon...

was the plan as I set off on a two-day solo backpack exploration of a remote part of the Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah.  Here I am in a rare self portrait taking the first steps on the 17 mile-long trail that would eventually loop back to the parked vehicle  (click images to enlarge):

It was no messing around from the start.  The drop into Owl Canyon was a plunge down steep slickrock, with the trail navigating around several large pour-offs, ultimately reaching the canyon bottom after about three miles:

At about five miles, the impressive Nevill's Arch (~ 80 ft high, ~ 140 ft wide) is encountered high in the canyon wall:

After rounding the so-called confluence between Owl and Fish Canyons (the water course in both was bone dry this time of year), I continued my walk until about 11 miles where I scratched out a simple bivy on a high sand bar:

This delicate yellow primrose opened in the night and provides a colorful treat in the cool morning air, but by mid-day will be wilted and baked in the sweltering sun:

On the second day of the hike several pools of water were encountered after heading further up-canyon in Fish, and given the exceptionally dry winter and spring in the area, must be sustained by springs:

A cairn marked the exit point, and the 600 ft climb/scramble to the rim went quickly, as did the last 1.5 miles to the trailhead, where I reached the car and cool drinks shortly after noon.  Next:  On to Muley Point!

RELATED:  Here's a good description of the route.

A milestone has been achieved...

on this blog:  This is the 2,500th post since it began in January 2009.

Chargers, batteries, cables, adapters,...

SD memory cards, netbook, thumb drives, USB external hard drive, GPS, cameras, lenses, microfiber cloth and lenspen, monopod, binoculars, headphones, maps, guidebooks, passport, e-tickets, yada, yada, yada are all strewn about as I go through my final preparations for extended international travel with Zegrahm Expeditions.  Departure is imminent:  I jet out of Grand Junction, Colorado this Sunday for Dallas, then onto Madrid and finally Dakar, where I'll board the Clipper Odyssey for a month of exploration of the eastern Atlantic region.

My Powerpoint lectures for presentation on board are pretty much in final form on my netbook, covering topics ranging from general plate tectonics to hotspot volcanism, with specific tidbits about local geology (Atlas Mountains in Morocco, the Rock/Straits of Gibraltar, etc.) that we'll experience along our route.  I've also included snippets on the historic observations of the numerous islands we'll visit made by Columbus and Darwin on their famous voyages.  On top of this, I'm also the designated expedition photographer, and so there is considerable extra gear to organize and carry.  I think I'm pretty much ready.

Oh yeah, my toothbrush.

Tip o' the Mesa...

is the name I have assigned to this new geocache deployed yesterday at the remote northwestern point of Adobe Mesa.  The polystyrene container includes some silly trinkets, a log book, and a dollar bill for the first finder (click images to enlarge):

The container is now hidden in this pile of boulders while my GPS unit gets a good fix on the location so it can be published online, allowing others to take on the fun challenge of finding it:

To complete the process of creating the new geocache I went online yesterday evening and submitted its name, lat/long coordinates, a description of the terrain/difficulty, and an encrypted hint on how to find it once you get close.  I note late this morning that my submission has been reviewed and approved and this information is now publicly accessible, with the locator designation of GC3HB9P.  All you need to do now is go to the Geocaching.com website and register (free) to begin to search for 1,723,278 active geocaches worldwide.

RELATED:  Previous posts related to geocaching are found here and here.

A mandible-jarring mountain bike ride...

for about 5.5 miles, followed by a one mile bushwhack through piñon pine and yucca, gets me close to the end of Adobe Mesa (click images to enlarge):

Here's the view from the very northwestern tippy-tip of the high mesa (elevation about 7,000 ft) showing Castleton Tower and the bucolic community of Castle Valley.  My place is to the left (west) of the large circular irrigated field:

A telephoto shot across the top of the spire shows the collapsed salt-cored anticline in the center of Arches National Park with densely-jointed sandstone on the eastern flank:

The view to the east takes in the expansive Richardson Amphitheater with the Colorado River:

And here's the view to the south, toward the La Sal Mountains, as I turn around after eating lunch and begin the arduous trek off the mesa (there's 800 ft of elevation gain on uphill grades of ball bearing-like gravel to get back to my vehicle):

Lastly, at sunset on this fine day, here's the view of the shadow cast by Castleton Tower as it slowly creeps across the northern end of Adobe Mesa (the images above were taken from the tip of the slender fin in the upper-right):

In sum:  It was a great day! 

This is the view...

that doesn't suck, the one I have to take in each and every day I'm in residence here (click to enlarge):

My recreational project for tomorrow is to make my way out to the endpoint of Adobe Mesa (seen right of center in the image) on an approximately six mile long trek (one way), initially by mountain bike, and then by foot.  From that vantage I should be able to capture some seldom seen shots of Castleton Tower (the prominent spire) and down into Castle Valley.

This day marks...

my completion of 55 laps around the Sun.  Yeah, it's my birthday.  I'm not quite sure when fossilization occurs, but I hope I've got a few more good years left.  Now, on to my 56th revolution and the adventures that await.

RELATED: Evolution has given humans a huge advantage over most other animals: middle age.

Hiss...spurt...sputter...

goes the irrigation system as it reawakens at the beginning of the warm season at my retreat in the desert.  The low water use system provides the elixir of life to a few  cottonwood and acacia trees via drip emitters controlled by an electronic timer.  There are always a few repairs necessary and usually a reprogramming of the controller that need to be addressed on start up, and those are the big chores of today.

Checking the check list...

(and even double-checking) shows that I'm ready to head out tomorrow morning on a meandering migration to Utah where I'll stay for nearly the next four months.  I'll work on several geologic/hydrologic projects during my professional leave from the university during spring term, travel for a month with Zegrahm Expeditions to western Africa and various Atlantic islands, and take some time to hike-bike-climb-explore canyon country and the Henry Mountains.

Stay tuned dear readers.  I'll chronicle many of these activities in this silly blog in the days and weeks ahead.

Storming the Bastille...

karst in remote northern British Columbia in 1988 with a small international team of cavers began with multiple airlifts of gear and personnel deep into the wilderness.  We established our base camp below Bastille Mountain at tree line, with the helicopter seen here dropping one of several nets of gear in support of our expedition (click images to enlarge):

 

That's Mount Sir Alexander standing tall in the distance, the northernmost peak over 3200 m (10,500 ft) in the Rocky Mountains, seen during the helicopter flight into our objective:

 

The alpine karst is developed on a thrust-faulted sheet of glacially scoured Devonian limestone, and the large peak in the near distance is - no joke - named Mount Buchanan:

Large shafts take the meltwater from surrounding icefields, swallowing the frigid runoff in its entirety:

 

Here's Canadian caver BM beginning his rappel into one such pit, carefully rigging off to the side to avoid as much as possible the icy spray of a waterfall:

 

Lastly, here's an expansive view of the karst plateau below Wallbridge Mountain, taken from the summit of Mount Buchanan (yes, indeed, I had to climb the namesake summit):

We discovered dozens of pits and one large cave during the ten day assault, and the area is still ripe for discovery.

The conjunction of Jupiter and Venus...

in the western night sky this evening, captured at around 8 pm PDT, shows the bright planets seemingly side-by-side (click to enlarge):

 

Their relative orientation will change quickly this week, so keep watching if the weather provides clear skies.

The first bat has arrived...

for the season and is hunkered down in the bat house above the back deck.  I noticed several guano pellets on the deck this morning indicating the box was likely occupied, and I just confirmed it by peering inside with a flashlight.  Last year there were more than 80 bats in residence (I never got an accurate count).  Welcome back!

Experience a virtual field trip...

to Mount St. Helens using these two linked videos.  They were shot and narrated by me in the mid-1990s during a week-long EWU geology field trip to the volcano.  Realize there was no such thing as digital HD technology at that time, but they are still pretty cool to watch.  Enjoy.

• Mount St. Helens - The View From the Summit
• Mount St. Helens - Into the Crater

NOTE: These should work fine if you have the QuickTime player installed.