Day 1: TRAVEL TO THE RESEARCH SITE & ARRIVAL

Sunday, July 10, 2022 

TRAVEL

Just before I left for this, my fifth Earthwatch Expedition, Jeff and I heard bad news about our Paddy cat. He was diagnosed with diabetes and would need one or two shots a day. We both decided that he was in cat hospice and that if he stopped eating or showed any signs of discomfort, we would have him euthanized rather than put him through the rigorous medical routine. He is 19 years old, deaf, stiff in his hips, and has IBD so requires a special diet and other meds as well. In his old age he has gone from 8+ pounds to a squeak above 5 pounds. Ever since his lifelong pal, Teddy, died, Pad has been a sticktight burr, wanting to be near one or the other of us, and meowing to be picked up and cuddled. We love him and hope the old guy has more months or years.

So, after hugs for Pad and Jeff—who will be batching it with no car—at 7:00 am, Sunday, July 10th, I set off on I-15S for the St George, Utah, airport in the far southwestern corner of the state. Because it was Sunday there was little traffic. I arrived at the airport about six hours later and parked in the long-term open parking lot. No covered parking available at this tiny airport that sits squarely in the high desert sun. I cracked the windows, parked near a small tree, and crossed my fingers that all would be well on my return.

On entering the airport, I saw several with backpacks but no Earthwatch volunteers. However, after exploring a bit, I found Eileen Mershart sitting near a large suitcase and a backpack. She was from Madison, WI, had arrived the day before, and was staying in St George in a Hampton Inn. She had been on a rhino Earthwatch in Africa and on the same Whooping Crane Earthwatch on the Gulf that I had been on—but not the same team/time.

It had cost Eileen $40 to be driven to the airport, so I volunteered to drive her back to the St. George Hampton Inn before taking off for home after the Earthwatch Expedition.

Soon our young Southern Utah University (SUU) interns arrived: Isaac Sorensen, Ashlee Hardin, and Leeloo Yutuc. Then from the Boston area Dorian & Kate Hart with their teen daughters, Elanor and Kira. Then Jeanie Kroon, an upbeat woman from Denver who was suffering from long covid. Soon we seven volunteers and the three interns were gathered. The interns helped us load our baggage into the Earthwatch/SUU van and off we went to Deer Springs Ranch LLC, with Isaac driving. I thought that the ranch was a hop from the airport, but it was three-plus hours away with a bathroom stop and a stop at Walmart to pick up snacks and bug spray etc. along the way.

Eventually we turned off onto a dirt road, and then travelled about 15 miles on dirt roads to dead-end at Deer Springs Ranch Cabins #1, #2, and #3. The van and other vehicles were each backed around to face the exit road, fire danger from lightning strikes in this area necessitating a quick exit. We were told that mid July was “monsoon season.” Sure enough, dark clouds rolled in and it rained for short periods nearly every afternoon and evening, often much of the rain evaporating before it reached the ground. Temperatures were in the high 80s and mid- to high 90s depending on elevation. 

ARRIVAL

The Hart family and I were assigned Cabin #3, which was down a hill and at the bottom of a long set of stairs. The five-bedroom, two-story cabin had a deck which was sheltered by an upstairs balcony and contained a picnic table and grill.

From the deck one could look down the mountain to a distant pasture which, as it turned out, would be our primary research area. (See photo below)

Each day about 10:00 or 10:30 we would be driven down to the Deer Springs Ranch pasture, which generally had longhorn cattle on it. However, in the pasture were two fenced off enclosures ( Jackie called them exclosures) which the cattle could not enter. These were filled with taller grass and several species of flowers. The enclosure we used the most also had a small marshy stream running through it. 

The Harts occupied the upstairs bedrooms. I, thankfully, was assigned the downstairs bedroom, which was only a hop from the bathroom. I could not have easily navigated the stairs in the middle of the night.

My bedroom with bureau and bed made up with ruffled country-style bedspread and pillows. That's me reflected in the mirror taking a photo of myself and the bureau. On the wall on either side of the mirror are two propane lamps with lanternlike mantles.

On this table, the Hart family played bridge each night

Our corner kitchen--propane fridge to the right. The sink spigot was on permanent spray.

The livingroom with the sofa and chairs shifted a bit to allow the front door to be open and access from the stairs to the second story more convenient. I used the living room very little as my room had a comfortable chair. Often the Harts used it to nap or gather in the cooler downstairs air.

Eileen and Jeanie were assigned Cabin #2. Cabin #1 at the top of the hill was headquarters and sleeping rooms for the interns and occasionally our principal investigator, Jacqualine Grant, whom we would meet later that evening. Jackie had a nifty hammock stand and liked to sleep in her hammock outdoors, weather permitting.

There was no electricity in the cabins or wifi in the area. The lights, stove, refrigerator and hot water in the shower and kitchen were all propane. There were several propane lamps on the walls, each containing a lanternlike mantle, but we were asked not to use them or the candles in the cabins, so we read and made our way about using our headlamps. Soon the cabins will all be solar, which will allow fans to help with the heat, particularly in the upstairs bedrooms. Also, Jeanie and others found some wifi a short hike up the road from Cabin #1 at higher elevation. Our cabins were at about 6000‒7000 feet we were told.

Cabin #1 was also the gathering place for our activities and the place where we all ate lunch and dinner, generally in our laps as the dining table was often covered in research materials and dessert boxes. Our delicious vegetarian meals were cooked by Kurt Jacobsen, a former restaurant owner and cook, now the ranch overseer, who managed wonderfully in the tiny cabin kitchen.

Each day, we ate our breakfast in our cabins and then walked to Cabin #1 for a daily 8:00 am orientation session. Each weekday was themed: Sun.: Arrival; Mon.: Introductions and Getting Started; Tue.: Pollinator Communities; Wed.: Floral Associations; Thur.: Professor’s Choice; Fri.: Recreation & Closure; Sat.: Departure Day.

After we had settled into our cabins, we hiked up to Cabin #1 and enjoyed a vegetarian dinner of fajitas, rice and black beans cooked by Kurt, the Deer Springs Ranch Manager and former restaurant owner and cook. Over dinner we met Jacqualine Grant, our PI, who announced weather and work plans for the following day. 

After dinner we gathered on the porch and admired the ranch pastures below and the pink cliffs with their emerging hoodoos in the distance. These cliffs are similar to those in Bryce Canyon National Park, which is just a hop from the cliffs and the ranch, which in places abuts the Dixie National Forest and BLM lands.

Pink cliffs facing the DSR pastures. The pink cliffs are actually the top riser of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The cover photo was taken looking from the pink cliffs toward the Ranch. These cliffs are really Riser #1 of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.* In the cover photo, one can see the green area where the Ranch pastured its longhorns & where we conducted most of our research.

*GSENM is called a staircase for the “series of plateaus that descend from Bryce Canyon south toward the Grand Canyon, marked by vertical drops at the Pink Cliffs, Grey Cliffs, White Cliffs, Vermillion Cliffs and Chocolate Cliffs. The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument has been eroding and revealing between 275 million and 50 million years, but it is relatively new to us humans: It was the last part of the lower 48 United States to get mapped, and once people started poking around they realized they were dealing with an un-spent wealth of ancient and modern science and culture. In 1996, President Bill Clinton set the Staircase aside as a national monument because its untrammeled significance distinguishes it for researchers and explorers alike. (Internet) 

At the end of the evening, we played a memory game in which we all introduced ourselves and told one thing we liked or were interested in, each person repeating the name and interest of all before. I was near the end of the line and, of course, could barely remember my own name much less eleven other names and each person’s interest. Fun, though, for those who still have their grey cells. A “friend” of mine once told me that all my grey cells had gone to my hair. I am beginning to think that not so funny.

However, we all remembered Leeloo’s burning interest: crocheting. This because Leeloo spent much of her free time crocheting a vest (photo right). She worked very fast and completed the vest on the team’s last day. Look at those long fingers. Excellent for positioning and pinning insects from our traps, also.