Still Life: Triptych

 

The chasing of dirt has picked up over the last few weeks as we’ve felt more comfortable venturing a little bit further from our current home base. Our last two hikes have been our favorites so far in the area, but I need to back up in order to catch up and cover the three prior outings. Like us in real time, you won’t know they’re lesser until the next blog post, and it’s not like they were crummy in any way.

TBG color-coordinated his shirt and trail choice.

 

The name gave it all away, and the Rim Trail followed the edge of the Virgin River chasm. For the first half-mile or so, it was a steady but easy climb up to the ridge, though it paralleled the highway, which wasn’t very relaxing.

 

Not-crummy view of the Pine Valley Mountains

 

Once up on the rim, it soon meandered away from the road and became much more peaceful. A medley of wildflowers adorned the landscape.

 

Indian Paintbrush set fire to the hillsides.

Clusters of Desert Four o’clock glowed.

 

Stansbury Cliffrose (brittlebush) filled the air with its sweet scent.

We hiked to the trail’s halfway point, a place called Chinatown Wash, which didn’t look like much at first.

But it got more interesting as we walked through.

 

And then, well…

 

The ledges were a perfect place to have our refreshments. I love the word “refreshments” almost as much as I love refreshments themselves.

To complete this trail, we headed out a few days later to its opposite end with Chinatown Wash again being our destination, thereby splitting it into two near-equal distances.

We began noticing a new-to-us lizard darting about and rustling in the underbrush, impersonating a snake.

Very funny, Long-nosed Leopard Lizard.

  Like before, we enjoyed a respite in Chinatown Wash and had the trail almost all to ourselves both times.

The third panel of this hiking triptych was the J.E.M. Trail, a popular mountain biking trail.

  

Like Hurricane Rim, this relatively flat pathway parallels the cliff-edge of the river. In fact, these three hikes had so many similarities, that I had to make a note about which color shirts we wore for which hikes. If that’s not a great reason to have a colorful variety of hiking wear, I don’t know what is. I’ll tell you some other time about my idea for a hummingbird vest.

 

 

This perspective shows why I’m glad we were walking and not riding.

 

The trail led away from the edge and into an area where there was still some water flowing over the flat rocks, but it was no real relief from the heat of the day, nor pretty enough to be very interesting. In my opinion, the mountain bikers can have this trail.

 

 

This part was nice, though.

 As promised, we did take a walk down to check in on the tortoise rehab area.

 

 

I named this one Turkey.

 

Our same little friend was at the entrance to its burrow, yawning, and beating the heat in the shade. We still haven’t seen any others, and there is no information on whether or not there even are others currently in residence. I guess we’ll just have to keep checking.

Back at our burrow, I set up my new toy.

 

A dee-luxe bird-feeding station!

I’ll tell you whether or not it’s working when I tell you about the hummingbird vest idea. Until then, stay safe, stay sane, stay well.

 

COMMENTS

1. Ingrid Beautiful country. Not a bad place to call ‘home’ for a while and wait out this ‘shelter in place’ stuff. It is getting a tad too hot though and we’re looking forward to heading north in a few weeks.

   • Chasing Dirt It is starting to heat up here, too, though not quite as much as where you are. Yikes! Hopefully, we can all be on the move again in another month or so to find family and cooler temps!

     • Ingrid We’re hitting the road bound for WI around the 27th. The state isn’t opening campgrounds until June 1st. Crazy!

2. Shannon I can’t wait to see what your next hikes are like if these are the relative duds — wide open scenery and empty trails are a few of our favorite things. I still can’t get over the shocking green grass of the RV park in the midst of the desert. No wonder you have all the birdies hanging out in your area; the new buffet area is just an added enticement.

   • Chasing Dirt You won’t be disappointed by the next few hikes 🙂 It’s hard to gauge what it would be like here if things weren’t shut down, etc. I think some trails would still be relatively free of people, especially the closer we get to the sun. You’re not the first person to comment on the green-ness of the grass here. Every night at 11:30 our sprinklers come on. At least they got the timer set so that it wasn’t coming on randomly in the middle of the afternoon — while we were sitting out there, which happened more than once LOL A few feathered friends have found the feeder, and I enjoy my morning cuppa sitting in the shade watching for them.

3. chapter3travels Love, love, love those Southern Utah views! That whole region is just one epic view after another!

   Don’t you just love when an otherwise forgettable trail leads to an epic vista like that first one? The mountain bike trail is definitely a bit of a heart stopper. The older I get, the more those edges make me nervous.

   Turkey seems less than enthused with the situation. He needs to turn that frown upside down! He lives in southern Utah, for Pete’s sake! He’s got it good!

   • Chasing Dirt Southern Utah really is a gorgeous place as long as you’re not falling off a cliff or stepping on a snake. But since those two things are (mostly) preventable, I think chances are good we may end up around here permanently someday. Hahaha, tortoises are just so staid, aren’t they? Our neighbors saw A BABY ONE in the nearby Conservation Area. We’re keeping our eyes peeled for such a treat!

4. Lowe's Travels What a fancy bird feeder, I should expect an array of colors soon, as some of them already passed by Arizona! You do have a great eye for lizards and I should call you now Lizard spotter 🙂

   Glad you are hiking for us, in southern Utah no less for I missed my hiking boots :(. We are now in triple digits too hot to hike.
   I liked that photo of you in your red shirt with the green grass/weeds and mountains behind you, good photographer or a good hiker model 🙂

   • Chasing Dirt So far, I’ve not had many feathered guests at the feeder, but some finches visit each morning now, and a robin was having a drink this morning. There are several flycatchers around now, and although they don’t care for feeders, of course, having a feeder out seems to let them know the general area is a place for birds. Funny how that happens.

     Are you sure you want to permanently live where temps are like that?! It’s hitting the 90s here now half the time, and if we do settle here someday, I’m insisting on a pool!

     Good photographer i.e. your last compliment 😀

5. placestheygo Glad you are getting out and exploring. There seem to be trails everywhere in that area. I’m sure you are getting out early, as well, with the heat wave. Hurricane and the St. George area do get very warm compared to the rest of Utah. Love your new deluxe bird feeder!!

   • Chasing Dirt It’s so nice to have so many hiking choices for sure. We are heading out a little earlier each time to try to beat the heat. You ain’t kiddin’ about the difference in the temps in this area! There is *usually* a breeze, which helps, and at least for now anyway, it cools off pretty good in the evenings/overnight. I don’t think that will last much longer, though, so hopefully we can travel again before too long!

6. Laurel I’m enjoying your expansive views of mountains and valleys as contrasted with my expansive bay view. You’re getting in some good elevation on your hikes—unlike me, where I think I get about 2 feet of elevation change in a 5-mile walk, LOL. I am going to be in deep doo-doo if we ever get back to the mountains. I like anything leopard, so I love that leopard lizard! And of course, I love your bird feeding station. 🙂

   • Chasing Dirt I have thought that if we get to still travel east this year, we will lose our hiking lungs, but I am so ready for a change of scenery, especially with the heat and the you-know-whats that will make their appearance next post. I love your bay view and all the really great birds and reptiles you see there. I so dearly hope our paths will still be able to cross there this winter. I cannot wait to see it through your eyes in person. Do you see many types of mammals in that area? Some of the leopard lizards we’ve seen since this post are much spottier (and hungrier!) — you’re gonna love those!

     • Laurel We had a bear in the neighbor’s yard last night! There are a couple of bears that cruise the ‘hood. And we have a fox that visits every so often. And a zillion squirrels, of course, so we have a squirrel-proof bird feeder (that provides hours of entertainment). And we have raccoons that steal the grill brush if we don’t lock it to the grill. No prairie dogs here, lol. Or zebras. It will be fun to explore here with you guys.

7. miladxniq great

   • Chasing Dirt Thank you!