Field Notes:

3^rd Location at Dry Falls: Longitudinal Grooves

Sunday, October 14th 2012

Audio:

Very quiet

Almost (but not quite) far enough from the highway not to hear it

Voices of other teams are heard but they are not in sight

Weather/Atmosphere:

Overcast, with slight rain, cold and windy

Measurement:

150 feet or less

15-20 feet deep

Composition:

Mostly light yellow dry grass inside groove

Rocks and stone dispursed

Mostly rock and ever-present shrubs outside of groove

Cattle feces

Fallen leaves and branches inside groove

Colors:

Red-purple, green-gold, yellow-white, gray-gold, brown, tan, pea green, bright yellow spores

Lots of dark brown

Yellow is a recurring theme

Texture and Shapes:

Rocks are generally rough and uneven

The area and the groove itself are not straight (more zig-zag)

Culture:

Cattle feces, no cattle in sight

Jeep tire marks

The ground is now dry but there are depressions in mud where cattle have walked, jeep has driven

As always, power line in the distance

Other notes:

Wind is more prominent here than on the bottom of the plateau

Rocks here currently look wet

Unlike the rocks, the grass growing here still looks very dry

We are now seemingly level with the museum building

The jeep lines almost accentuate the longitude of the groove

We spent a long time looking for this location: “Looking for longitudinal grooves…” was driven into my mind as a search object and now I am noticing lines in everything

Cattle feces in combination with the dry grass makes me feel like I am in the country, like a farm niche

Outside of the niche are the broken rock surfaces and sage shrubs to remind me of where we are

Very different places, outside and in

Smell of hay

The cows (judging from their hove marks) seem to have followed the already present jeep trail, just as we followed cattle and deer paths much of our way here

The presence of birds has diminished

Most barren, least active of the 3 locations

Measurements:

< 75 feet diameter

75 feet deep

Composition:

As throughout entire Dry Falls location, there are dry grass clusters and sage brush covering the outside land around the potholes

Semi-perminent talus makes up the hole’s walls, covered by moss and lichen

Lots of dead grass, mostly dry and yellow

The bottom is more or less flat and its area is about half of the total area of the pothole – the other half is rocky slopes.  These slopes consist of first ledges, then piles, and finally slopes of fist to head-sized rocks of basalt.  The rocks here are even more crumbly than at the Dry Falls Lake location and large piles of sediment and dormant lichens and mosses have collected everywhere.

Observations on soil:

Firm to ground or all clumped together

From a medium shade of brown to a dark brown

Culture:

Power lines visible in distance

Jeep trail, the trail we came on

Other Notes:

We are all sitting at the edge of the pothole facing it

A Redtailed Hawk flew out of the neighboring pothole

Concentration of Life within: bird activity within, plant-life within

Lots of deer scat and deer trails around

Signs of recent rainfall

Mostly reddish-brown, some gray rocks

No concrete evidence of what caused the cavitation tornado (perhaps disapeared over time)

Does not currently contain any water at the bottom, but does hold moisture

Unable to see the bottom because of the density of plant life

The vast open space of the general area lends to an awareness of what’s to come, a safe place for wildlife?

Cliff faces feel like walls of a place

Higher elevation (than camp and Dry falls lake)

Cliff faces seem to have more talus, potholes themselves have lots of talus. (Rocklayer less stable at higher elevation?)

Rocks are not smooth

Pothole is very circular

Trees are deciduous, small leaves, more shrublike, as if stunted

The trees must rely on the precious water and shelter this natural feature provides to grow at all in this region.  The only other place trees can survive in this region is directly adjacent to a substantial water source such as a lake or creek.

The trees are about twenty to thirty feet in height and are made up of thin, branched trunks with many, many branches waving and shooting up in wiry spires.  At this point in the season about half of the year’s leaves have fallen to the ground while the other half remain in the trees.  They are a variety of green, orange, yellow, and red.  Some of the bushes and trees have small berries all black and dark purple and shriveled up, but are gone, either eaten by the birds or fallen to the ground.

Many fallen leaves concentrated on the pothole floor, and vibrant moss

Most plants fall into the tan, light golden, or yellow shades of this arid region

The silence and therefor volume of any action makes this a very dramatic place, by contrast

There are many of bushes and shrubs at the bottom of the pothole.  Their colors range from deep, burnt orange to pale, guacamole green.

Field Notes:

1st Location: Dry Falls Lake

October 12th, 2012

Late morning

Weather/Atmosphere:

Mostly sunny

Warm with slight breeze

Overall composition:

Rocks, grass, shrubs, trees

Buttes, basins, lakes, boulders

Beetles, centipedes, birds, snakes

Old persons fishing

Us, observers

Deer, deer tracks, deer scat, coyote scat

Pebbles, crumbles, dust, rocks, ‘ball-bearings’, rock piles, rock hills, rock terrain

Sounds:

Ducks, geese, small birds, crows

Bees, flies

Highway 17

Boat motors

Occasional fishermen’s conversations

Observations on rocks:

Mostly different shades of brown

Lines of  light red or dark pink

Sections of white or grey rock among the mostly rusty brown surface

Perfect habitat in the high peaks for birds, though too unstable for humans.

Sections of green, lichen

All the rocks have some degree of growth on them.  Dry lichen or moss spreads over everything despite maintaining a reserved presence once established.

Five layers: 3 layers are right angled, fourth layer is sloped and slanted, a very thin strip of white rocks at the bottom

Generally rough edged, not smooth

Observations on soil:

Soil looks clumpy and grainy

A thick clay and sand mixture near the water

The clay-dirt soil is difficult to distinguish from crumbled basalt and it appears inevitable that the two are in a constant state of change: rocks to dust, mixing with the red, dry soil.  When the soil is rubbed between to fingers it has the consistency of flour – a fine, powdery substance.

Generally shades of light brown to dark rusty brown

Twigs and branches

Barely see actual dirt and soil in the areas closer to the rock formation, mostly gravel

Observations on lake:

Cold

Dark green, gray, very reflective

The white of the rocks once below the water, shows 2 things:  *the water is basic  *the water is significantly low, a dry season

Thicker brush and taller grasses around the water means more nutrients around the lake

Culture:

On the top of the cliff in the distance I see cars, contrails, power lines and buildings. Next to them I see trees of different varieties (Poplar) than are found anywhere in the nature of the Dry Falls landscape. Possibly a cultural influence.

Most cultural of the 3 locations

Other notes:

Most promenant color theme is yellow to golden brown

Not flat or open ground, high and low elevations

Grasses grow in most places, among the sage, between rocks, and, of course, over the great flat expanses . . .

A lot of geographic variation in a small area: some spots are cliff face to water, some are grass to swamp to water, some are cliff face to talus to water

Recognizing lots of geographical features we learned about on many scales, mostly miniature (weather or not they were formed by the same processes)

There are many dead trees and bushes

Some areas look very dried up

Found a praying mantis, Mantis religiosa (in Native American beliefs they are a symbol of stillness)

Blue Grama grass, Bouteloua gracilis

Found a pile, scattered across 5 feet, of clustered exoskeleton and fish bones.  Looked as though it could have been a feeding area for water birds, possibly herons since they feed socially.

The plants growing on the rocky areas look dry, unhealthy

Most life/culture of the 3 locations, present life as well as signs of life

Repetitive shape and forms are clusters and clumps, like the rocks, feces, bones and concentration of people

Most blossoms are yellow, seasonal?

Butterflies: Algais milberti, or Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Butterfly (common in all of western United States, feeds on thistle, is a sign of a wet area)