Hidden Nature: Discover the Plants, Animals and Natural History of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park

By Larry Hyslop

Hidden Nature offers 14 sketches of the plants, animals and geology in these two magnificent national parks. It stories are for people who enjoy reading about the desert ecosystem, who hunt for a deeper appreciation of the area’s beauty. The easy to read stories recount the author’s travels through these parks, while offering descriptions of the parks and their most common hikes. The desert ecosystem sketches are expanded with carefully researched science backgrounds, and offer much more than a guide book description.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry Hyslop
• Release date: Jan 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465907417

Larry Hyslop

Larry Hyslop lives in Elko, Nevada, where he contributes the “Nature Notes” weekly column to the Elko Daily Free Press. He travels extensively around the West, visiting national Parks.Larry has written nature descriptions covering the landscapes of national parks, along with guides to the Ruby Mountains and Elko area. He worked with Charles Greenhaw to develop guides to the California Trail through Northeastern Nevada.Grayjaypress.com

Book preview

Hidden Nature

Discover the Plants, Animals and Natural History of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park

Larry Hyslop

Gray Jay Press

Elko, NV

Hidden Nature

Discover the Plants, Animals and Natural History of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2005 Gray Jay Press

All Rights Reserved

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the written permission of the publisher, with the exception of brief passages embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All photos are by the author unless otherwise noted.

For ordering information, contact:

Gray Jay Press

109 Chris Ave.

Elko, NV 89801

hyslop.nvgmail.com

grayjaypress.com

Cover photo: Mesa Arch

Insets: Delicate Arch, desert bighorn ram and sego lily

Back Photo: Claret cut cactus

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Dedicated to my grandsons,

I hope they enjoy the canyons and mesas

of southern Utah as much as I do.

Thanks

As always, I need to thank Cindy for waiting. After each hike, she always returns to the pickup before me. Not once, has she left and made me walk back to town.

Thanks to Park Service personnel for reviewing these stories. Thanks to Marilyn Glaser for editing them and for attempting the lost cause of teaching me, proper, comma use.Thanks to Kathy Schwandt for helping with book design.

Contents

Preface

Aztec Butte

Introduction

Healthy Herds

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Grassland Partners

Ord’s Kangaroo Rat and Indian Ricegrass

Salt and Fins

The Arches of Devil's Garden

A Thinking Bird

The Common Raven

Dark pinnacles and Pink Sand

Biological Crust

Mythical Quicksand

Courthouse Wash and Quicksand

Temporary Worlds

Potholes and Shrimp

An Upheaval in Scientific Thought

Upheaval Dome

Cliff Dwellers

Violet-green Swallows, White-throated Swifts

Water, Plants and Cowboys

The Plants of Cave Spring

Sagebrush Landscape

Big Sagebrush

Cold War Legacy

Atlas Mill Tailings

Dried Up Springs

Neck Spring and Drought

A Grand View

Weathering and Landscapes

Bibliography

About the Author

Dark Angel

List of IDs

Utah serviceberry

Narrowleaf yucca

Globemallow

Striped whipsnake

Indian-wheat

Two-needle pinyon pine

Golden eagle

Colorado chipmunk

Blue-gray gnatcatcher

Utah juniper

Wire rush

Blue grosbeak

Dwarf Mountain mahogany

Eaton’s penstemon

Cliff-rose

Northern whiptail lizard

Violet-green swallow

White-throated swift

Rufous-sided towhee

Sacred datura

Sagebrush lizard

Purple sage

Uranium

Black willow

Birchleaf buckthorn

Alcove columbine

Wingate sandstone

White Rim sandstone

Preface

Why did I write this book? My purpose goes beyond wanting to merely describe the natural history of these two desert parks. I want to tell stories that will fill in some gaps. I want to explain, first to myself, then to my readers, how this land fits together. Stories are hidden among the scenic wonders of these two beautiful parks. Many are stories of adaptations and relationships knitting together the natural history of these parks.

This book is meant to enhance a visit to the desert. In my day job, I am a teacher, and therefore, can’t help but use terms like learn. Through my stories, I hope the reader will enjoy my descriptions of hikes and sights in these parks. Perhaps the reader will also learn about these environments. Most important, I hope this book adds to their appreciation of the Utah desert.

This is the second book in a series, beginning with Beeplants and Whiptails: the Plants and Animals of Zion National Park. The idea for these books came from what I saw as a lack of information. Area bookstores offer several scholarly books on plants and animals, but each covers only one specific subject. Bookstores also offer several guide books containing only the briefest of descriptions of area plants and animals. The only other available source of information is the simplified (dummified) handouts offered by the Park Service. My hope is this book will fill a niche by providing information not available from these sources. Hopefully, this book will also lead the reader into more detailed sources where they can learn more about natural history subjects interesting them. My basic goal, however, is a book that proves to be a good read.

Aztec Butte

Introduction

As Cindy and I step from our pickup, the colors before us seem fairly simple. Aztec Butte’s sandstone sides are dark red while the sand piled around its base is pink. The area between us and the butte is dotted with the occasional dark green junipers and darker blackbrush. This is all beneath a blue dome of bright sky. But distance fades color detail and soon after we begin walking, details begin coming into view; details sporting a myriad of colors.

Cindy and I chose Aztec Butte for this morning’s hike because of the view from its top. In less than one hundred yards from the trailhead, I am hiking alone. Cindy is my wife of many years and we make good hiking partners, but in a strange way. She is destination-driven, bent on getting there, and my frequent stops drive her nuts. She is quickly out ahead, walking steadily toward the goal. I, on the other hand, am more process-driven. My favorite part of the hike is examining what I find along the way. So the first time I stop to examine the tiny yellow flowers of ricegrass, I am left behind. I know Cindy will be waiting on top of the butte, and if anyone else is up there, I will find them in conversation.

After the ricegrass, I find prickly pear cactus in bloom. A clump of cactus on one side of the trail has faint yellow flowers nestled among the many spines, while on the other side of the trail is a cactus clump bearing purple flowers. Both colors have flower petals so fragile, they seem to have been formed from tissue paper. Bent over the cactus are tall stems of larkspur. Their flower petals are light purple while the spur part of the flower is much darker.

What at first seem to be leaves scattered across the loose sand prove to be desert trumpet. Above the sets of round leaves are thin, hard to see, stems. They are bright greens and repeatedly branch into two smaller stems. Directly below each joint, the stem is bulged, with the widest inflations those lowest on the stems. Tiny, yellow flowers cluster at the tip of each stem.

Nearby is a thick mass of green, leafless stems. The only leaves on Mormon tea are small scales near joints in the stems. Among these scales are the plant’s reproductive cones, looking much like tiny pine cones.

Mixed in with these plants are tall stems crowned with bouquets of flowers having bright orange petals and yellow masses of stamens. In May, globemallow offers an orange tint to all of Canyonlands National Park and it is just as common here.

As I wander farther, the trail winds around a shorter butte. As it does, the trail surface changes from soft sand to slickrock. Rain running off the nearby rock has swept away all loose sand, leaving a trail that is much easier walking.

The ground next to the rock offers higher moisture content, and several Fremont’s mahonia crowd the rock face. These shrubs carry spiked leaves looking somewhat like holly. As I brush past the shrubs bearing yellow flowers, a pleasant fragrance envelopes me.

Having circled behind the first butte, the trail turns toward Aztec Butte. The ground is still slickrock, but the rock is a series of thin layers. Each layer’s edge is an intricate, elaborate pattern. The layers look as if a person has ripped several sheets of paper and then stacked the sheets, so each torn edge protrudes slightly from the sheet above it.

As I climb the side of Aztec Butte, more of Island in the Sky Mesa comes into view. Standing at the trailhead, I couldn’t see any way of climbing the butte’s steep sides but now I see the answer. The trail uses an angling line of debris as a natural staircase. It is a steep climb because the debris’s angle is also steep.

Near the top, there is much less debris. However, this part of the mesa’s