I wasn't able to make it up to Mt. Tam when it snowed on Friday, February 24, but at least my trail cams were there, and thankfully some passing deer set them off. The lens on one of the cams had a big glop of snow obscuring much of the view, but even that was kind of fun to see.
What surprised me when I biked up there yesterday was the view toward the city, with snow still clinging to the peaks of the inner coast ranges, at least 65 miles away.
The one surprise on the cams was a couple of people who hiked through along the deer trail, coming from who-knows-where. There are no marked trails anywhere near there. I'd love to know where they started out and where they exited. They noticed both cams and the woman contemplated dancing for one of them, but the guy didn't seem into it. The one cam that picks up audio gave me a smile when it caught the guy looking at the tiny Foxelli cam and saying, "This doesn't exactly look official, does it?" I've seen a couple of the "official" cams, and he's right. Theirs were bigger, much more expensive, and were either out of reach or locked to something, or both.
City View with Snow on the Mountains (as seen from the H. Dana Bowers Memorial Vista Point north of the Golden Gate Bridge)
It's so rarely low tide when I pass this point going to and from the mountain that I couldn't resist stopping to snap a picture. The tide had been much higher when I rode by on my way up the mountain a few hours earlier. Compare with this scene from when I was there a little over a week ago. The black-necked stilts, American avocets, and wigeons were all still there, along with numerous gulls who were feeding on the Richardson Bay mud flats.
The Japanese-flagged Plumeria Leader, a vehicle carrier, sits anchored at low tide in San Francisco Bay, perhaps waiting for the tide to rise enough to continue its journey (view from Sausalito waterfront).
Blacktailed Jackrabbit (composite image)
Fresh Powder on Mt. Tam
A Little Later it Has Melted a Bit
Fox Captured in Beam of Foxelli Cam
Turkeys Heading Over the Hill as Coyote Appears
In this composite image showing the bobcat moving across the frame, it looks like the cat is moving directly toward the second cam. I couldn't believe it when I sorted through the more than 2,000 frames from that cam, many of which simply showed trees blowing in the wind, and could not find the expected pictures. I figure the cat either darted up the hill after leaving the Foxelli frame, or the second cam simply malfunctioned at a very inopportune moment.
