Smell: On the surface is the smell of dry grass, yet beneath is a dampness. There is a sour damp smell when on the left side of the pothole or on the floor. I associate the smell with that of a swamp. This place is an interplay of hot and cold, dry and damp. The smell reflects that. Dry grass is most pogent yet beneath it lies damp moss, and the shadows beneath dark rocks.

Sight: In our area there are three potholes – The walls of the largest are jagged, but with an unmistakable pattern. Directly in front of me is a hexagonal cliff face where, if you look from above, you can see the way the rocks cracked, creating jutting angles of rock from below. In many areas the rock has crumbled creating slopes by which we can descend. Plants and trees come alive here, vibrant from the surrounding landscape in their greens yellows and reds.

Taste: The rock reminds me of Mayan temples, how I imagine they would taste against my tongue. Deep, dark, cold stone, like dark bitter gravy without the salt. The grass tastes like – well – grass, threads pressed lengthwise like dry straw.

Sound: Yesterday it was quiet, here resides silence. No sound permeates to the bottom of this pothole, and I find myself tapping just to make noise. My ears instinctively make their own sound, a high whine that might not be my own ears but rather the little bugs – gnats I think –  common to this place. As we move in we bring our own sound. The clicking of cameras, voices calling across the circle, the shuffle of feet, a cough, a clap. At one point we heard a frog croaking from the marshes nearby.

Animals:
Darkling beetle (Gonopus tibialis)
Sparrows
Cows (in the form of cow pies) (Bos primigenius)
Gnats (Culex pipiens)
Ants (Formicidae)
Deer (Cervidae)
Coyote (scat) (Canis latrans)

In this area we also identified several patterns in the nature around us, including concentric, spiral, parallel, tessellate, and scatter patterns.

At the southern escarpment, it was windy and slightly rainy, which created the sound of rattlesnakes rustling in the grasses. There were some light clouds but mostly dark grey ones covered the sky. A rainbow appeared towards the north midway through the day. There were plentiful gnats and bees at lower elevations and between bluffs, but once we were on top of the bluffs they disappeared. There are signs of trauma in burned wood on the ground.

Orange, green, white crustose lichens

Basalt loose rocks and cliffs

Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)

Cheat grass (Bromus tectorum)

Cattails

Nettles

Wild Roses

Saddle fungus

Rotting Elf fungus

Algae

Animals:

Gnats

Bees

Wasps

Gardner snake

Bull snake
Rattlesnake skin

Hobo spider

Golden Eagle (Aguila chrysaetos)

Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)

Orange, green, white crustose lichens (Mycophycophyta)

Cheat grass (Bromus tectorum)

Animals:

Gnats (Culex pipiens)

Wasps (Vespula Spp.)

Bees (Apis mellifera)

Darkling beetle (Gonopus tibialis)

Deer (Cervidae)

Trash:

Fishing line

Cigarettes

Water bottle

Beer cans

Plastic bits

Stiff Sage Brush, Lichen on North faces of rock formations, Queen Ann’s Lace, Cheap Grass, Wheat Grass, Reeds, Purple Sage, Common Cattail, Wild Rose

Rocks: 

Basalt is the major rock type in the area. The loose rocks that litter the area range from a few inches to a few feet in diameter. There were no Granite erratics in the area that we could identify. The lakes are surrounded by a large cataract. A small cave can be seen to the east of the lake on the ridge at the bottom of the solid wall of the cataract just above the loose rocks. It seemed to have been inhabited by small animals, as scat covered the floor of the cave.

Animals:

Gardner Snake, Bull Snake, Raven, Bees, Flies

Coyote scat, Deer scat, Rabbit scat

Field Notes: 

The dried up lake bed of Green Lake was covered in calcium deposits, which was caked on top of the mud. As a result, the surface had become spongy in texture, and formed large cracks as the mud/calcium mixture began to dry. Sage brush was littered throughout the area, and tall Reeds had grown around the edge of the lake. Red Alkali Lake was about 200 feet north of Green Lake, and had almost identical features, except for it didn’t have the calcium layer on the lake bed. Red Alkali Lake was also surrounded by tall Reeds, which were accompanied by a few scattered Wild Roses.

• Deep Lake’s water is clear with algae in shallow areas along the shore
• areas around deep lake look like seasonal flood plains.  These areas are characterized by fine sediment, extremely arid sediment, and a lack of vegetation.

• Water lines are visible on parts of the shore and on nearby rocks indicating that deep lakes depth has varied over time.

Pothole

• The structure of the pothole is circular
• The Basalt walls of the pothole are heavily fractured.  One is able to remove pieces of basalt with bare hands.
• The pothole floor is littered with lichen covered rocks, with some moss present in the persistently shaded areas.
• Various trees and shrubs inhabit the pothole floor