Home / Alumni Resources / Class Blogs / NHFQ 2017 / Sierra Nevada

1 June 2017 Dylan Huntzinger

We piled into the vans at 7:00 and set off for the Sierras. Jessie Beck and Kevin Condon joined us for this trip, as did “Essential Eric” Engles and “Lovely Lisa” Frankel. On the drive we passed through the Santa Cruz Mountains, curved around the San Francisco Bay, crossed the Great Central Valley, and the Central Sierra Foothills. We saw many interesting birds along the drive including a black-billed magpie. While Field Quarter usually spends a few nights in the Stanislaus National Forest, this year’s heavy snows brought us farther North. We made our first camp at Crystal Springs. The camp is nested in a Jeffrey Pine forest along the banks of the swollen and raging Carson River. Camille, Stassya, Dylan, and Ellie go phony boating. They tested the river’s speed and turbulence by tossing pine cones into the white water. Meanwhile, other naturalists tossed the cones around like footballs, marveling at how non-prickly they were. We watched the shadows rise on the South-facing ridge opposite our camp as the sun set.

2 Jun 2017 Ana Rubio

Today was yet another adventure filled day in the life of 27 young naturalists. We drove up to Blue Lakes Road, and got to explore the high sierrasfor the entire day! At first we were greeted by the sound of a fast moving river, and the snow that covered the road sides. After we huddled up and talked about the plan for the day, we all set out to adventure at a naturalist pace. Many of us were walking quickly down the road, stopping only for the sound of singing birds or mammal tracks; while others slowly walked down the road observing a trail of scat.

Some people walked far down the road and spent the entire day spinning the wheel about birds and their adaptations to the high sierra, while others trailed off and spent the day in a wetland meadow. It was astounding to look at the wildflowers growing from such a unique and inundated landscape, which really allowed us to create questions and hypothesis’ about the natural world. Some people hiked around the meadow, some keyed plants, and others watched for birds, some of which were unique to the high sierras, for the rest of the day. At around 4 p.m., we all made it back to the vans, had a few presentations, and got ready to head back to base camp. We were able to make a quick pit stop at a beautiful lake that was anything but cold. Many of us ran in, basking in the light of the high sierras while swimming. To our surprise, we were greeted by some leeches, oh boy! We now know that you can expect some critters, both big and small, on our daily adventures as NHFQ students.

3 Jun 2017 Anastassya Zack

Today we travelled from the West Side of the Sierra to the East side. Out the window of our three white vans, we got to observe all of the changes in the landscape that this move brings. We also stopped along the way for a snowball fight and a lesson on the part that snow and snow melt plays across the state. After this year of heavy snowfall, it is a particularly interesting and pertinent lesson. After a morning's travel, we arrived in the Mono Basin! We got our first looks at the eastern Sierra and the edge of the Great Basin desert. The transition from one ecosystem to another forms interesting lines of trees leading into desert sagebrush scrub. Our first stop in the Basin was at a park and a boardwalk on the edge of Mono Lake. We received a brief history of the place from our instructors and got our first looks at the water up close. The bird life at the lake’s edge was also an incredible thing to behold! Red winged blackbirds called loudly and we got some clear looks at osprey nests on tufa towers out in the lake. As the afternoon grew longer, we headed up Dechambeau Creek to our campsite for the next week. It’s a beautiful site hidden in quaking aspens along the creek corridor, but all of our tents are out in a meadow overlooking the lake from a sagebrush hillside. Time to explore Mono Lake!

4 Jun 2017

5 Jun 2017 Camille Hartley

While many of us woke up early, whether to watch the sunset, look for birds, or cook breakfast, our day as a group began with a small lecture from Christy, who tolds us about the history and current perils of California Gulls at Mono lake. Coyotes + Low water + A land bridge to Negit = bad news for nesting gulls! After this, we hopped in the vans and headed towards Conway Summit, making a brief, fun-filled pit stop at a snowplow garage to watch the dance of the Cliff Swallows.

Atop Conway Summit, we were settled in by Sean’s presentation on the Great Basin Desert, where we learned about what it means to be the only “cold desert” in California. She also shared a wonderful diagram of the different zones of an Alpine habitat, which was backed up by valley of visible shrub-lines and tree-lines at her back. Whatta classroom! Sheyna followed up with a presentation about geology, which, yet again, we were able to observe in the magnificent view below us. I almost believed I could see the Mono Basin sinking as the Sierran Block grew ever taller.

And then the keying and birding began! For three hours, we all performed a mini bioblitz, trying to gather as much information as we could about the place by figuring out which species of wildflowers grew on the summit, or where the birds were hiding. We came back together with a long species list and couplets on our minds, and then shifted gears to listen to Sarah’s presentation on Climate Change, where we got a complex visualization of the various factors overlapping in habitat degradation and the snowballing processes of climate change.

After returning to camp for a moment, we packed dinner and then piled back into the vans to head to Travertine hot springs, where we finally got the second installment of Chris’s startalk that we had all been waiting for. We dispersed into the hot springs, and were lucky enough to catch a beautiful sunset over the Sawtooth ridge as nighthawks swooped overhead. We came back together and learned the Native American legend about how the moon and stars were created from Ryan, piled back into the vans, and dreamed about keying flowers, brain eating amoebas, and moon burned turkey vultures.

6 Jun 2017 Joe Kline

Today we took a trip to the Dechambeau Ranch to meet with Ryan’s brother Nick, otherwise known as Grub. Grub works for the National Forest Service. He is an essential part of the diversion and transport of water in the Inyo National Forest, which encompasses the Mono Basin. Grub gave a short lecture with a Q and A at the end about the challenges he faces in trying to supply water all around the area so that he does not encroach on the water rights of the residents, but also keeps the land healthy. What was especially interesting was that Grub uses some of the existing waterway systems that the homesteaders used and made. Later we explored the ranch, or what was left of this historic ranch, now a landmark. The Dechambeau family is an interesting family. They were ranchers that moved to the west for the gold rush but ended up settling down in the Mono Basin, starting a ranch that sold and bartered meat to the miners. Mr. Dechambeau in his spare time supposedly would make very nice skis as a side hobby. He was also the one who built the entire ranch, apparently he was a competent carpenter. As I wandered around trying to take in as much of the history as I could, I noticed a group gathering on the other side of the ranch near the horse stables. Everyone was bino’ing on a group of trees in the distance. I came over to see what was all the fuss about. People looking into the tree line where excitedly whispering, “I see it,” and I assumed it was a bird, but certainly no common raven considering the excitement. I asked Eric what it was and he pointed me out to a great horned owl sitting on a tree branch. It was the first time I had ever seen a great horned owl. I was so excited, but it didn't stop there. Then Eric pointed out the second owl on the same tree and a fledgling on a tree to the left. I was in awe. The whole family was there. The group started to pull out the big scopes and try to get a visual up close on the faces. Rozy got one set up and I jumped to the opportunity to look through the scope. As I looked through I could zoom in so close that I could see two bright yellow eyes piercing back at me. Her eyes were powerful and majestic, and the shear sight left me with little words and a mix of emotions. I find owls to be such mysterious creatures. Only a few minutes later right behind us a beautiful soaring bird flew by in a flash. It was so agile in flight and looked slightly like a raptor. After it perched on a tree I got a better look. They looked a lot like a raptor, but had an unusually long tail for a raptor and was even more unusually small for one as well. After a good look I made my best judgement on the species by general body shape, the tail, and the beak. He was an american kestrel, another first for me, I have never seen one before. Today is turning into a great day for birding, a lot of firsts for me already, first time I have seen a horned owl and an american kestrel. Both very beautiful in their own ways. We packed up our stuff and drove over to Dechambeau pond. I took the area for granted when we arrived and I decided that I would just sit and journal instead of explore. A few minutes later with my nose deep in a journal I got a tip from Ellie that I should go check out the pond because supposedly there was a lot of odonates flying around. I was particularly interested because I am following dragon and damselflies so I decided to go check it out. To my surprise the pond was full of life. Insects swarming, and bird calls bellowing; I had no idea that a little pond in the desert could hold such beauty. Sure enough there were dragonflies and damselflies hovering all around the cattails. I could see them doing the usual odonate stuff, trying to mate and hunting other insects. Jack came over and we started to make out bird calls coming from willows across the pond. They were some of the most beautiful and intricate songs I have ever heard. Lucky enough one of the birds flew by and landed on a cattail. We got a spectacular look at him as he cried out his beautiful song, his chest vibrating with every note. The colors gave the species away pretty easily, he was a yellowheaded blackbird. Before we could even process his presence the blackbirds came sweeping down and looked as it it had caught something in his mouth. I bino’d in on the bird as he landed on a willow close by. In his mouth was a dragonfly and it gobbled the dragonfly down. Amazing, I had never seen a bird eat a dragonfly let alone known that they did eat them. What a day of firsts. I felt as if I was experiencing the world with fresh eyes. I imagine that this biodiversity and healthy ecosystem activity was a lot more present when there was more water in the basin. Long live mono lake.

7 Jun 2017 Nathalie Martin

Today was quite the jam-packed day. Our adventure began with a visit to Panum Crater, which formed through volcanic activity around 650 years ago. In geologic time, this is extremely young! As we hiked along Plug Trail to explore the crater, we saw dark, glassy obsidian catch the light and felt the lightweightness of porous pumice in our hands. These are the rock types that formed from the explosion. Interestingly, although these rocks feel and appear different, they have the same composition; they just emerged from the earth differently.

At the top of the trail, we overlooked Mono Lake and could see all of the surrounding peaks. Some students sat in the shade of a Jeffrey pine to key a plant in the Boraginaceae family. In plain sight, a rock wren sang nearby, and Ryan and Jack briefly explained the geology of the surrounding mountains.

We spent an hour or so at the crater, then took a trip into the town of Lee Vining. We got to spend some time exploring there, from gift shops to cute coffee shops to soft serve at Mono Cone. At the Mono Lake Committee Bookstore, many students got t-shirts and such to commemorate our final field quarter trip. There at the bookstore, we met with Bartshe Miller, the education director of the Mono Lake Committee.

Bartshe gave us some background information on how water was diverted from the lake and then we hopped in the vans to visit some of these important sites. We visited Lee Vining Creek and Rush Creek, two of the tributaries of Mono Lake, to see how water was and is diverted from them. These creeks are still used to provide water for LA, but not nearly to the same extent as in the past. Bartshe spoke of how the story of Mono Lake illustrates a juxtaposition between old water laws/infrastructure and new values in the 21st century, and visiting these sights gave us a visual understanding of this story. There is still much to be done to save Mono Lake, but, as we learned, a lot has been and is currently being done to restore this unique ecosystem.

After several stops with Bartshe, we parted ways with him to head back to camp for dinner and then nature notes in the meadow overlooking the lake.

This Wednesday evening

A wave of clouds stretches across the sky

The aspen howl and swirl in the wind, singing and dancing loud as ever

We play and laugh on the road in the soft, orange-purple light,

Where piggyback fights ensue

A mysterious bird flies over our circle in the meadow

Staring down at us, spastic yet graceful in the strong wind

Sitting here, I look around at everyone

I think back to the beginning of the quarter

And about how very much we’ve grown since then

8 Jun 2017 Dylan Huntzinger

We rolled into Lundy canyon as dark clouds rolled overhead like cotton balls off a conveyor belt. We were joined today by David Carle. We marveled at the canyon’s tranquil beaver ponds, the lower of which has not been maintained for the last two years, according to David. We also found some snow on a canyon slope! The trails were muddy and Lower Lundy Falls was running at full bore. Diana Tataru gave us a presentation on glaciers featuring an elaborate model built out of snow and rocks. And Tara Johnson-Kelly told us all we ever wanted to know about pikas (complete with cute pictures). Back at camp we had a heartfelt discussion about our place in nature.

Sierra and Mono Basin