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| Bush Lupines & Mt. Tamalpais |
In the last couple of weeks the camera traps have picked up more fox, coyote, and bobcat than they did in the previous couple of months. If I was a little disappointed to have so little action for so long, I'm now a little embarrassed by the riches. I used to be sure to keyword "bobcat" in my trail cam images so I could easily find the needles in the haystack, but I quit doing that half-way through this last batch. It felt almost as silly as keywording "deer" which, next to empty frames, account for most of the triggers. (Besides wind-blown grass and tree branches, a fox, bird, or insect flitting across the scene can trigger the sensors, but by the time the camera starts recording there's nothing there anymore.)
As I was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on my way to the mountain I noticed a work truck and couple of guys doing repairs on the southbound lane right next to the barrier, and my first thought was that it seemed like a supremely unsafe place to be. Since the barriers have gone in, people routinely drive 60 mph in that lane. These guys hadn't even set up orange safety cones. Then about a second later I realized there were no other cars in the southbound lanes. By the time I reached the other end of the bridge, the backed-up traffic was just being released.
Speaking of traffic, I need to figure out how to make a safety recommendation for CA-1, the Shoreline Highway. A lot of tourists from out of state use that route, and they are usually the ones who give me a close shave when they pass. They obviously don't know the law about leaving three feet of distance when passing a cyclist, and street signs about the law might help get the word out.
As I got close to Bootjack I spotted a bush full of the tubular white flowers of pitcher sage growing next to a blue California lilac also in full bloom. Meanwhile, I was surprised to see that the calypso orchids at the top end of the Bootjack parking lot were still going strong. The sky lupines have finally come out in large numbers, but for the most part are obscured by grasses that were tall enough in places to see wind-waves rippling through.
As I rode out West Ridgecrest Road to check out the same vista point I reached on my last trip, I got a flat tire. Oh good, now I get to see if my new pump really works. I'd also bought some new pre-glued tube patches to try out. Oddly, the tube was punctured on the rim-facing surface. Nothing had punctured the tire to reach the tube. I noticed that the rim tape had gotten all bunched up and pushed aside in that area, and couldn't be straightened out. Bummer, since who carries spare rim tape? I patched the tube and pumped up the tire, only to curse the new pump until I realized the problem was the pre-glued patch. Air was leaking out as fast as I could pump it in. Next I just installed a new tube, and after about 200 pump-strokes had the tire inflated enough for the ride home, with my fingers crossed the whole way that the rim tape issue wouldn't give me another flat.
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| Two Lanes, No Bridge |
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| I'm wondering how long this overhang of the forest floor along Panoramic Highway is going to hold before a whole bunch of these small redwoods topples into the road. |
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| Wildflowers on Bolinas Ridge |
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| You can just make out the purple lupines on this hillside, but the grass is a little too tall for them to really stand out. |
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| Flat Repair Shop With A View |
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| Bobcat Seeks Gopher Opportunity |
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| King of the Hill Coyote |
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| Travels of The Night Fox |
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