Hint of Rain

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I was still in view of the Rock Spring parking lot when a coyote surprised me as I headed down Cataract Trail this morning. She was on the edge of the meadow to my left and quickly turned around to head back into the woods as I passed, looking over her shoulder at me a couple of times before she disappeared.

Checking up on the trail camera, I found (after viewing the images back home) that I'd only captured one animal all week, back on Thursday morning. But the animal was a bobcat, and he scent-marked a spot, so maybe I'll see more of him.

There was a hint of rain, just barely enough to warrant opening the big golf umbrella I use when hiking with camera gear. I wasn't looking for anything in particular to photograph, so I picked a small area I liked the feel of and just poked around looking for inspiration in the patterns and textures of my immediate surroundings.

As I quietly moved through the woods, a half-dozen wild turkeys crossed my trail. There were lots of acorns on the ground, but I couldn't see for sure what the turkeys were pecking at. Mostly they stopped to preen, then one of them chortled a few little companion calls to a pair of turkeys farther down the hill before they all moved on.

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Still waiting....

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Nice to see some morning clouds in the sky on a day with rain in the forecast.

I set up the trail camera in a new place and hung out in the woods for a spell to get some inspiration.

Still no rain by the time I left, but at least the sunny skies were done.

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October Tam Cam

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Tam Cam - October 2015 from John W. Wall on Vimeo.

Sculptured Beach

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I never got around to either Palomarin Beach or Sculptured Beach during my recently finished year of photographing Point Reyes, but I finally checked out Palomarin over the summer, and with a significant low tide due on Monday the 26th of October, I took a day off work to check out Sculptured Beach, about an hour's walk south of Limantour. The fog was so thick when I left the southernmost parking lot that I memorized landmarks on the beach so I'd be able to find the trail through the dunes on my way back. Even with the fog pretty much burned off by the time I got back, it was still tricky to find the exact spot where the trail comes out.

Santa Maria Creek, not making it to the ocean.

Heermann's, mew and western gulls hung out to bathe in the freshwater creek.

The reef at Sculptured Beach had endlessly interesting forms, and I easily spent four hours exploring a fairly small area, leaving only when my belly insisted I head home for dinner.

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Waiting for Rain

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What sounded like rain in the woods was just the pitter-patter of fog 

dripping from the canopy onto a carpet of dry leaves.

Sometimes a Douglas fir's rat tails show loud and proud. 

Sticky patches of sap pool among the cone's scales.

Hardly a drop of water in this little arroyo seco off the Benstein Trail.

Spotted this crime scene at my feet as I knelt 

to explore a small pool of water in the ravine.

A California Giant Salamander, here a juvenile sporting about three inches 

of length, chills in the bottom of a pool.

An excited mob of acorn woodpeckers and steller's jays called out 

from the vicinity of this coast live oak bristling with nuts, 

stopping only when a cooper's hawk swooped in.

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Fallen

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All images made on Cataract Creek at Laurel Dell.

Trinkets

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Drove up the mountain this morning to check on the game camera, 

and picked up a few trinkets presented by the sunrise, including "god beam" crepuscular rays, while I was at it.

Sunrise Timelapse

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