Hello dear friends! I’ve been neglecting this blog of late,
but rest assured it has been on my mind. I’ve been trying to recharge a bit in
order to actually write a coherent sentence. It happened nicely that this
weekend we have four days off, so a little bit of extra time to rest up, and by
rest up I mean only for a short while before we are out the door again.
Let me say here that I am extremely grateful to Jordan’s
mother, because without her we would be without any mode of transportation. I
hate the feeling of being dependent on a car, but the truth is that I have been
the moment I passed my driver’s test. And before that, it was the mercy of Mom
or just hopping on the bike. You may be scratching your heads a little since I
previously mentioned that Reno is a very bike-friendly city—and it is!—but The
Great Basin Institute (GBI) is located on the far south end of town, away from
most everything else, at least a 30 minute car ride on the freeway. One can
imagine the time it would take to bike there, gaining 1,000 ft in elevation
while carrying all your food, clothing, and camping gear for the week. Thank
you, Jordan’s mom!
Until we got the ‘new’ car, our crew leader and a few others
have been extremely helpful in carrying the three of us where we needed to go,
Cody especially. She has gone far more above and beyond her call of duty. She
would get up early in order to get to our place and make it to GBI on time and
various other places we all may have needed to go. I’m still trying to think of
a proper way to thank her…
So now that our car situation has been resolved, there is a
whole new world outside the Space and outside the city limits! We don’t really
ever sit still. We spend four days in the field—hiking all day—only to come
back and hike some more. A few weekends ago, we decided to hike Mt. Rose, just
outside Reno. It’s no Mt. McKinley, Pikes Peak or Everest, but 10,776 ft is
still a long way up there no matter how you look at it. For a gal from the ‘lowlands’
of the Midwest, it’s awesome just to be in a place surrounded by mountains, let
alone sitting on top of one. I’m in continual awe of every new place we visit
and explore.
Only last weekend, we went Lake Tahoe for the second time to
climb as well as take a dip in the cool water after baking in the sun all day.
Jumping in the lake felt like jumping into an ice bucket, but never had it felt
so good! It was definitely colder than Lake Superior the last time I jumped in
it. I still can’t quite get over how blue and how clear the water is. I can’t
remember the English name for it, but the water reminded me of the Vierwaldstรคtersee,
one of the alpine lakes I visited on my German immersion trip in high school.
Almost tropical looking.
So yes, Nevada has been treating me well thus far. I’m
having a difficult time believing it’s been almost a month and a half since I’ve
been here. It’s a bit scary how fast the time is flying. I’ll be Minnesota
bound in a little over two months. I think I might find myself pining for the
mountains as soon as I reach Minnesota soil. Hopefully it won’t have all been
washed away by then. I can’t believe the flooding! I received some pictures
from my mom and the water at Big Sandy is so high it’s only about five feet
from the deck of the house and it’s still rising! They have been laying sandbag
after sandbag. It’s times like this where I wish I could be home to help…
My time in the field has been exhilarating! I’m experiencing
all different areas of Nevada. So far, we’ve been south of Carson City in the
Pine Nut Mountains, east in the Desatoyas, and north in the Black Rock Desert. Most
of the vegetation in these areas is similar but we’re also seeing a few
anomalies which always keep things interesting. Though the work is sometimes
long and tedious, I am learning so much and am so grateful to see all these new
landscapes and new plants. Nevada is so botanically diverse! We’ve filled quite
a few plant presses already with unknowns! I’m glad we were able to spend a
little time in the herbarium yesterday to key out most of the unknowns and
clear up to seemingly endless confusion between Horsebrushes and Rabbitbrushes
and the minute differences between all the different variant forms of Artemesia tridentata (Sagebrush). There are at least seven or so that we’ve
seen so far and many of them have overlapping ranges so it can be quite
difficult!
In addition to all the new plant life and being rewarded
with awesome panoramic views, I’ve also been inundated with wildlife! Birds,
insects, reptiles, and mammals oh my! In the Desatoyas, a herd of wild horses
ran along the mountain on the other side of our camp, a small herd of antelope
with a few calves bounded away as we drove in to our sites and I’ve been buzzed
by so many birds it’s almost ridiculous! I think the best moment, though, was
being buzzed by a Long-eared owl. We had spooked this kid a few times as we
hiked into our sampling sites and the last time we walked by, it flew directly
at me before swerving up after realizing I was in its flight path.
Yes, Nevada is full is delightfully wonderful surprises.
