There are many amazing sites along the high desert, including some of the largest sand dunes in North America, which were formed from ash from the eruption that created Crater Lake. A main feature is the Abert Rim, one of my favorite visuals along the drive from Humboldt County to Boise. One time, traveling through there, Sam, Sharon, and I saw yellow along the upper edge. We couldn't figure out if it was a yellow lichen of some sort, or sulfur. At the time, the sun was beginning to drop, and the yellow was glowing brightly. Just mesmerizing. I studied it and studied it, wishing my mom was there to see it, too, because she so loved lichens. When I got to the hotel, I did research for a couple hours. Never did find out exactly what it was, though lichen seemed to be the most possible source, given the photos on this page:
http://www.southernoregon.com/lakeabert/index.html.
Funny thing is that I have not seen the yellow since that trip. Must have been perfect timing or something. Please look for it if you ever travel along HWY395 from Lakeview.
Abert Rim is a 30 mile long fault that rises up 2,000 feet above the alkali lakes. It is one of the longest exposes fault escarpments in all of North America, and was formed by geologic upheaval many millions of years ago. Evidently, it was "discovered" in 1843 by some explorers, and named for a commanding officer. Bighorn sheep were transplanted to the rim in the 1970's... OH! I knew it! When I was driving past with the dogs, I thought I saw Bighorn sheep. I forgot until now. At the time, I did a double take, but I was driving and there wasn't anywhere to stop. So I just figured it was a figment. Now I know those round white things that looked like Bighorn sheep horns may have actually been what I thought they were! Very cool.
To the west of the uplift are the Alkali lakes, which have no influx our out flux of water--no streams empty into them, and no streams empty out of them. So any water there is from the rain/snow. As a result, the lakes have high salinity and other minerals. Not sure if you would float if you got in the water. One of the lakes is Lake Abert, and it is full of brine shrimp. They say that over 10,000 birds come to feed at the alkali lakes every year. Lake Albert is the only one of the alkali lakes that has water year around. The others tend to dry up, and you can see the white, salty residue on the rocks where the water evaporates.
Enough of the geology lesson for the day. Did you know that it is hard to pick up horse manure when the ground is frozen? The manure becomes one with the ground. A secret seems to be picking the manure up as soon as it is dropped, so it doesn't have a chance to freeze. Just spent an hour and a half picking up frozen manure with rubber gloves. Lovely image, eh? I wouldn't be so worried about it, except the horses have been in the arena, and I don't want the arena sand filled with manure. Other than the clumps that are immersed in ice and impossible to pick up, the arena is now clean. I am going to try locking the horses up in their pens/stalls at night, and in the morning, letting them out into the middle pasture and giving them their breakfast there. Hopefully that will encourage them to stay out of the arena.
You may wonder why they've been in the arena in the first place. The quick answer is convenience. The arena is where their stalls/paddocks open in to, and their water trough, with de-icer, is in the barn. The footing is much better in the arena, with less chance of the horses slipping. Once the freezing stops (it will stop, right?), I can put another water trough out in the middle pasture, and they can just stay out there and come in at night for grain/feed. Atleast that's the plan, now.
The moon over the rim reminds me... I'm going to keep my eye out this evening to get a picture of the moon over the snowy mountains to the north/east of my house. Last night the snow caps were glowing pink from the sunset, and the full moon was perched above them. Just breathtaking. Hopefully I can post a picture tomorrow.
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