Tam Hike

 

Big Bay Laurel on Old Mine Trail

It was dark and dripping wet at home. Even the streets were wet. A check of the Mt. Tam Cam showed a mixed bag of fog, high clouds, and blue sky. We dressed for a cold hike with likely heavy fog-drip in the forested sections and dew in the tall grass along the trails, only to get there and find a beautiful day for a hike. Not too hot, and definitely not too cold. And not wet at all.

Cobwebby Thistle

Mix of Fog, High Clouds, and Blue Sky

Fence Lizard Weather

One View

Another View

Sprawling Oak

It's not often I get to see a red-tailed hawk out in the open on Mt. Tam.

And this one didn't like being watched either.

We saw some large, furry gray squirrels this morning, but this guy was as big as them, but with reddish fur. It was moving too fast to get a good picture, and it eventually disappeared into a hollow tree. There were two of them in close proximity along the Matt Davis Trail, so maybe they were nesting in that tree.

This was the view from the Coastal Trail down toward Stinson Beach. Moments later the fog cleared away and we could see far out over a calm Pacific Ocean.

Band-tailed Pigeon in a Douglas Fir

We encountered a black-tailed jackrabbit on the trail, and it immediately turned around and took off. We saw it again later, and again it took off running despite being quite far away.

It ducked under a big coyote brush on the hillside but didn't find it to its liking. This hare was getting its daily exercise, for sure.

A controlled burn of some slash piles was happening along West Ridgecrest Boulevard. Smelled like a campfire, which was kind of nice.

The meadow at Rock Spring was loaded with purple vetch, something I don't believe I've ever seen there before.

There was a lot of buzzing of bumblebees among the flowers.

April is a good month to see sky lupine. We saw a lot of sprinkles of them, but no dense patches.

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