enjoys a bath during sunny moment in an otherwise stormy afternoon.
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus).
This season's first snow has arrived...
in the La Sal Mountains following a couple of days of light rain at lower elevation. My weather station located in Castle Valley has recorded nearly one inch (25 mm) of rain and more is forecast the next several days. It’s a good start to the 2026-2027 water year.
Making a brief appearance in the stormy high country: Green Mountain (left) and Pilot Mountain (right) are 12,160 feet (3,707 m) and 12,200 feet (3,719 m) high, respectively.
The view opened up a bit more later in the afternoon, but unsettled weather is expected to continue for a few more days.
A humongous storm cell blossoms...
over the La Sal Mountains last night, but alas, no rain in the valley below.
UPDATE later this afternoon: It appears that an enormous volcanic eruption is now underway in the La Sals! Yikes!
A gang of five painted faces...
is hidden in a sandstone alcove protected from the elements, thereby preserving the vibrance of the pictographs, in upper Davis Canyon inside the boundary to Canyonlands National Park. They seem a jovial bunch.
The wonderful Five Faces pictograph panel in Davis Canyon and another guy.
Log House ruin in Davis Canyon sits high on a ledge, precluding any close investigation. Note the numerous hand prints above the structures. All of the wooden logs had to be lifted up the cliff face!
Conjuring spirits the night before our walk, BH contemplates the meaning of life, the universe and everything at our rock shelter camp.
An interesting alignment of glyphs...
occurs in Shay Canyon where two separate but identical geometric patterns, about 20 feet (6 m) from one another, seem to match from the right perspective as one approaches the petroglyph panel from below. Coincidence or purposeful design by the ancient scribe?
Friend and neighbor BH points along the sight line that links the two separated petroglyphs.
BH’s point of view as observed from his position in the first image.
Did ancient astronomers use the Six Shooter Peaks...
as natural pointers in order to track the changes in seasons? Here are a couple of potential “observatory” sites that the early residents of Indian Creek Canyon constructed along sight lines related to equinox and solstice sunrises and sunsets.
The so-called “Mushroom Ruins.”
The “Boulder House.” The summit of South Six Shooter Peak sure looks like a gunsight from this perspective.
Photographer’s Ephemeris software suggests that the Boulder House ruin is optimally located to catch the descending Sun in the notch of South Six Shooter Peak during the winter solstice. An early winter test of this hypothesis is in order if the weather permits.
Red pin is location of Boulder House. Yellow line marks the Sun’s position, blue line marks the Moon during winter solstice.
Sun’s position at 3:34 pm MST on 21 December 2026, during winter solstice. Note the sharp shadow cast by the spire pointing directly at the location of Boulder House.
But wait, there’s more: Boulder House ruin also has a direct sight line to the summit of North Six Shooter Peak, and during the summer solstice the setting Sun falls right above its summit! This is no accident but by design.
Boulder House ruin and the view toward North Six Shooter Peak.
Photographer’s Ephemeris shows that during the summer solstice the Sun passes over North Six Shooter Peak during sunset, as seen from Boulder House.
Another long day at the office...
was spent observing slow and subtle changes in light and shadow in Indian Creek Canyon. Somebody has to do it, and I’m joined by my neighbor and friend in this determined endeavor.
So-called 'hero dirt' conditions...
exist on the singletrack right now, the perfect level of soil moisture that makes for a grippy experience with optimal traction. When I left the valley in July the trail surface was dry and dusty and loose so it’s wonderful that the recent rains have naturally repaired the trails.
The perfect trail surface: Better traction, effective braking, precise cornering with overall enhanced control.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
The first flood event to pass the new culvert...
beneath Castle Valley Drive earlier this summer did so quite easily, leaving behind a clear high water mark in the stranded flotsam. Considerable deposition of fine sediment has occurred in the bouldery rip rap, both upstream and downstream of the arch culvert.
Given the level of the high water line within the culvert, I conservatively estimate that the peak discharge through the structure was at least 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) but cannot estimate its duration.
First arrivals at the feeding stations...
are clearly rejoicing now that the horn of plenty is being replenished on a daily basis upon my return.
Constantly amusing white-tailed antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus).
Thieving California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica).
The haunting Buckhorn Wash pictograph panel...
demands visitation whenever I traverse the northern San Rafael Swell. Perhaps I may have been an Archaic Basketmaker shaman in an earlier life? Nevertheless, I am drawn to this extraordinary painted mural at the base of a huge sandstone wall.
My usual trajectory re-entering canyon country...
involves an exploration of the northern San Rafael Swell. Cedar Mountain provides a commanding location for landscape photography at both dusk and dawn. But the nearly full Moon once again defeated any attempts at Milky Way photography last night. Nevertheless, this high perch is magnificent!
This site will just have to make do for the evening. There is absolutely nobody around, save for jackrabbits and birds.
View southward from my perch, 1,600 feet (488 m) above the valley floor below. Look closely: Henry Mountains are on the far horizon, about 75 miles (121 km) away.
Dawn light strikes canyon country. Window Blind Peak - the stumpy butte left of center that is nine miles (14 km) distant - caught the first rays. Profoundly quiet. Sublime.
There’s even an outstanding geological cheat sheet provided at a BLM viewpoint. A crossbedded conglomeratic facies in the Dakota Sandstone (Cretaceous (143.1 Ma - 66 Ma)) forms the ledge at the edge of the high escarpment.
A capable co-pilot...
sits atop the dashboard in the Bronco, ready to assist on my return to red rock canyon country in the next day or so.
An enormous diluvial dumping...
from pluvial Lake Bonneville occurred through this gap in southeastern Idaho known as Red Rock Pass. The volume of the great gush is estimated at five thousand cubic kilometers (1,200 cubic miles!) of water, released about 14,000 years ago in a catastrophic megaflood that likely lasted weeks to months and scoured the Snake River Plain in Idaho downstream from this site.
Red Rock Pass, a few miles south of Downey, Idaho on US 91. View is to the south, or upstream during the big spill. The vast expanse of Lake Bonneville would have existed on the far side of the skyline ridge, reaching across a third of Utah. Once the rising lake water began spilling across this low point along its shoreline and into the adjacent valley, a great unraveling was unleashed. The unconsolidated surficial alluvium and the underlying sedimentary rocks forming the bedrock sill rapidly eroded, much as a dam collapses when overtopped.
Red X marks the spot (near lower right) of Red Rock Pass, the spillover point for Lake Bonneville. The torrent of floodwater exiting the basin through the gap lowered the overall lake level approximately 105 m (350 feet). Map from Idaho State University.
More here about this tremendous flood from the Idaho State University: Lake Bonneville flood.
Pointed east but headed north...
to escape the heat and smoke. Time to migrate to greener country. All packed and ready to rock.
A series of storm cells...
pass across Porcupine Rim this evening, and, unfortunately, nary a drop of rain fell in the valley. But fortunately there weren’t any lightning strikes. Here’s one storm cell, backlit by the setting Sun at dusk.
Filtered Moon shine...
continues to indicate the compromised air quality that persists at night due to suspended fire smoke throughout southeastern Utah.
Not Mars! Waning gibbous Moon captured shortly after midnight during “moderate” air quality.
Happy 250 America...
as Castle Valley celebrates the semiquincentennial anniversary of the founding of our great nation on this Independence Day. Community tradition has the volunteer members of the Castle Valley Fire Department hosting a breakfast and parade, seen here featuring Engine 37 leading the way.
Cherry on top: Air quality this morning is the best since the summer solstice.
Read the Declaration of Independence.
A window of good air quality...
allows for an 18 mile (29 km) ride this morning. Oh, the joy!
AFTERNOON: Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. By noon the air quality is deteriorating as the winds pick up and smoke density increases again.
Fire danger is very high in Castle Valley...
according to Smokey the Bear standing watch at the entrance to our community. The fire smoke in the air was so dense yesterday afternoon that if - goodness forbid - a fire had occurred in the valley, we’d have been largely unaware. Let’s be extra vigilant, folks!
No fireworks! And apparently Smokey still loves beaver, too.