 |
| Nearing the bottom of the gorge, Cataract Creek closes in on Alpine Lake. |
I hadn't been around to the north side of Mt. Tam for a long time, so I thought I'd go have a look this morning. Everything was pretty much as I expected, except that Fairfax-Bolinas Road has been degraded quite a bit by winter storms. There are now three places where the usual two lanes are squeezed down to one.
My first stop was the Lily Pond, which was soggy and boggy from all the wonderful rain we've been getting. I was a little surprised that the fetid adder's tongue was just beginning to come on. I've already seen it starting higher up the mountain and figured the Lily Pond plants would have matured more at their lower elevation.
Next stop was Cataract Creek, which of course was going gangbusters. Alpine Lake reservoir was about as full as it could be. Despite my stop at the Lily Pond I arrived at the trailhead with just a couple of cars already parked there. I'd prepared myself for more of a crowd. I'd also been prepared for bright sunshine but was glad some fog had built up over the canyon to keep the light more even. On my way back down the trail, I passed a few hikers going up in ones and twos, then a large group near the bottom. Lots of cars were parked along the road by then (around 10 a.m.?), almost like a weekend.
When I reached the top of the drive at Bolinas Ridge, my phone started pinging with messages. Both my wife and PG&E were letting me know there was a power outage back at home. I was glad to get the news, and instead of heading right home I poked around a little bit to take in the views and scour the hillsides for wildlife. Although I saw deer and a red-tailed hawk, I left slightly disappointed that no bobcats showed themselves.
In my rush to get out this morning (making my own coffee and breakfast, then cleaning the cat's litter box and getting her fed so we could administer a twice-daily antibiotic to treat a recent infection) I forgot to bring replacement SD cards for my trail cams, so I couldn't stop to swap them out. I was half-way to Mt. Tam before I realized my mistake.
The power was still off when I got home, but it suddenly came back on after about 15 minutes. Had it remained out until 8 p.m. (one of PG&E's estimates), I'd be reading a book right now instead of knocking out a blog post.
 |
| Fairfax-Bolinas Road, near the Lily Pond. |
 |
| Roadside Forest |
 |
| Several patches of this nice little club fungus (Clavulinopsis fusiformis) were growing along the trail down to the Lily Pond. |
 |
| Unfortunately, it looked quite beaten up by exposure to all the rain. |
 |
| Lily Pond |
 |
Lily Pads
(I heard only one chorus frog in the area and was disappointed that none were hanging out on the lily pads.) |
 |
| This is about the size of all the fetid adder's tongue plants I found around the Lily Pond this morning. The leaves will get much bigger, and more flowers will likely sprout within each plant. |
 |
| Fetid Adder's Tongue |
 |
| Here's a close crop of the flower from the previous image. |
 |
| Sprouting from a Douglas fir cone, the majestic Ear Pick Fungus.... |
 |
| A closer crop of Auriscalpium vulgare. |
 |
Red Waxy Cap
(Hygrocybe punicea) |
 |
| Although there are numerous waterfalls in the canyon, this one probably makes it to Instagram quite a bit more than the others. |
 |
| This is the same falls, shot with a 105mm lens. |
 |
| Note the nurse log straddling the creek and supporting a growing redwood tree. I first photographed it in March 2000, and even then it looked like the nurse log wasn't going to be able to support all that weight much longer. Where are the living tree's roots?! |
 |
| Billowing Fog Over Bolinas Ridge |
* * *
