Charlie Horse's 2019 Picture Thread

[Charlie Horse]

If I had gone out a day-- even an hour earlier there would have been too much mud.  We had a good snow year but finally it's all melting off and any new snow won't last.  Let the 2019 season begin!

   

This was a short hike.  I'm out of shape and so is Shelby.  While only in the 40s, to us it was a hot day indeed.  So we just did a nearby area I hadn't yet explored.

   

Some small hoodoos.

   

This area has tons of black, shiny and smooth pebbles.  I think I found their nesting site.

   

This is a globular cluster.

   

This was our view as we rested in the shade of some hoodoos at the edge of a cliff.  I should have brought a book and relaxed a bit.

   

I love the flat sandstone surface.  I don't think many people come here.  I saw some bicycle tracks from last year, and some old clay pigeon fragments, but no signs of tourists.

   

We ended up following the horseshoe bend in some cliffs, high on a sandstone shelf. 

   

This is the formation with that spire at the end.  It looked a little lumpy so I decided not to take the animals this time.  Ok.  My feet were tired, I admit.  Really, though, with this smooth stone you need to study that you can get back up places you go down.  I just wasn't into that today.

   

Shelby GT was the perfect goat.  He got a little hot, but overall I think he had a good time.  I wouldn't want to do this trip in the middle of summer.

   

We turned around when the shelf we were on ended.  There was a smooth ramp up to the next shelf, but I'll explore that another time.  The shelves get smaller the higher you go, so they get more rocky and rough.

Thats it for this trip.  It was just a 3 hour warm-up for the season.

[Nanno]

Very nice! You're right that it would be a very hot hike in summer. Doesn't look like there's any shade at all. Beautiful rock formations though!

[IdahoNancy]

Thanks for taking us along. We here in North Idaho would never see sights like yours if it were not for your pictures.

[Taffy]

Charlie Horse,

Your photos are a big tease for the September get together! I don't think a week will be enough time!

[Charlie Horse]

Just a short hike not far from home.  I wanted to get a little something in before the week of storms.

   
Found an old coal mine.  Look at the size of that seam!  It must be entire inches thick.  Big money!  Why oh why was it ever abandoned?
Its collapsing.  Sheets of stone are laying in piles in there.


   
I found a special spot in the canyon with a different type of sandstone.  On the way back, I could see from a new perspective an interesting formation up and out of the main canyon.


   
I wish the whole place was like this.  I cant explain how this sandstone exists while the stuff on both sides is very layered like from mud or something.  Perhaps this was an ancient sand bar on a shore.


   
Its like the innards of a sandstone lump just eroded away while the shell remained.  In fact thats exactly what happened, I bet.

[Charlie Horse]

A nice day for a hike.  I went to a layer that I'm not really sure about geologically.  Its above the Morrison so it could be 100 million years old or so.  I'm not sure if it is the Dakota/Chinlee or not.  I had a chance to talk to Jim Kirkland, the famous paleontologist for an hour last week.  He said I should look in this area because T-Rex can be found here (Assuming I guessed the right layer). 

   
Luna showing us the cliffs in the background.  Same formation that created "Miller's Cows".  Lotta cows at the base of those cliffs.


   
Shelby GT inspecting the view.  The view pleases him.


   
We kept coming across insane sandstone.  Yellow areas were bleached white, then filled with strawberry.  Add the lichens on top to complete the painting.


   
It looks so tasty.


   
Barry Goatalo had a strange interest in sniffing and tasting this rock.  He was messing with it for several minutes.  Perhaps it WAS tasty!


   
Thats the Morrison formation off in the distance.  Then a herd of yellow cows.  The ridge I was walking along had giant blocks falling off and rolling down the hill.  I found some petroglyphs but I think they were fake.


   
As I walked along the top of the ridge, I found a gap in the rock and some dirt that had been disturbed long ago.  I suspected a giant sand worm had breached the wall, so I followed the path down.  A white paleosoil had been exposed, and there was a 2 foot thick rock layer just sitting there in the white slope.  The giant worm had dislodged some of the rock.  Eureka!  Mineralite! 


   
As the ledge became higher, I had a good view of the Morrison formation near the highway.  I noticed a hole in the rock in front of me.  Thats a sign of thin rock for sure. 


   
I tried to get the goats to follow me away from that area.


   
So... Not so safe.  Still, I had been jumping over bottomless gaps that had been exposed as giant blocks began to tip toward the edge, so I guess overhangs are no biggie.


So it was a short 4 hour hike just exploring.  I never saw a single fossil of any kind in that layer.

[Nanno]

Very cool! I LOVE the colors of those rocks! What a neat place to hike with goats!

[Charlie Horse]

Out here the towns empty out and everyone heads to the desert on Easter weekend.  I kid you not, the main street of the nearby town had zero cars on it Friday evening.  Some people at the grocery store loading up, and the gas station had some campers.  But it looked like a zombie movie.  The tradition is called "Eastering" and it explains how every single house has some kind of big camper or motorhome out back.  Out in the desert, the highway is mostly 4 wheelers and side-by-sides.  I took Bacchus out and let me tell you-- He's gotten bigger over the winter.  I had to let his saddle out 2 inches.  I think I'm going to fit my fancy new saddle to him.  I tried it on Shelby but he has trouble with the yoke choking him.  That goat chokes if a shadow falls across his neck, so I may have to rig a more horse-like breast collar for him instead.  Bacchus has no problems, on the other hand. 

   
See the clusters of campers?  I parked near a group because my Lexus couldn't handle a stupid deep wash.  They need to widen that a bit or I need to get my Jeepster restored.  I had to hike to where I was going several extra miles.

   
An Easter flower.  Sadly near here I found a poor dead cow.  It had .. I dunno, been going through the wash when it was very muddy and must have broken a leg or got stuck.  The hazards of being a free range cow I guess.


   
I made the mistake of climbing a steep slope of that dark gray mancos shale dirt.  It expands when wet, and turns to a popcorn-ish dirt gravel and fluffy powder when dry.  Look at how Bacchus is sinking.  I did too, and I think I've ruined my socks.  They're so caked with dirt that they look like a mold of my foot.

   
Then there's this antelope.  He or she (I could see no sign of its gender) was disgruntled that I disturbed it.  It was unphased by even Luna.  It walked away, turned around and stared.  Its tail would start wagging and it'd swear at us "G'Dyer!" and stomp.  Very displeased.  Look at that face!

   
They say these things were built to outrun a fast cheetah-like cat.  There are no fossils of such cats, but the design of the antelope more or less demands that such a thing existed.  I'd like to cross one of these with a goat and see if it'll carry a pack. 

I also saw my first mule deer out on the swell in the same area as the antelope.  We have zillions of deer around town and the mountains, but I don't think they do so well in the deeper desert compared to the antelope.

[Nanno]

They say these things were built to outrun a fast cheetah-like cat.  There are no fossils of such cats, but the design of the antelope more or less demands that such a thing existed.  I'd like to cross one of these with a goat and see if it'll carry a pack.  

Well, you'd certainly get a workout chasing your gear through the Swell at high speed!

[Charlie Horse]

Continued where I left off earlier in the spring. 

   
The desert is starting to bloom. 


   


   
Good thing there were so many nice smelling flowers around.  I found a giant dinosaur dung pile.


   
Figured out that the shiny black rocks I keep finding are eroding out of the asphalt layer.  How this layer was formed, I have no clue.


   
Bacchus got hot and gave me trouble going up tricky ledges.  I had to drag him up one, and after that he was all depressed.


   
He was lagging a lot and sulking.


   
Bacchus inspects an army of goblins.


   
Ahah!  Sid and Charlie once again.


   
I still think it looks like a Skeksis castle.  I found some boulders at the bottom that have impact craters around them.  Perfect place for a nap in the shade.


   
Bacchus wouldn't relax.