Sunday was a beautiful day to get up on Mt. Tam and check my trail cams.
This morning my wife dropped me off with my ebike at the gate across from the closed Pantoll parking lot, and from there I rode up to Rock Spring, hiked out to the cams, then rode back home to San Francisco. I'd thought about trying to ride the whole round-trip, but I wasn't sure I'd have enough battery power to pull it off. I rode home trying to save power by using "battery off" mode on downhills and level ground and found I still used maybe 2/5 of the battery. Would 3/5 have gotten me up the mountain from home (about 22 miles each way)? I think it would have been pretty close. Something to try another day. I found several working electrical outlets near the Mountain Theater and thought I might use one next time to recharge the battery while I hike.
Bright-eyed foxes and other usual suspects. Still no Bigfoot appearance.
Here's that big dusky-footed wood rat again. He showed up quite a few times at this cam site. Nice ears.
Early morning light on a field of False Lupine.
I liked seeing how the weather changed on April 16. Here it's about 8:30 in the morning...
...and here it's ten hours later.
Lots of turkeys gobbling on the mountain today.
Serpentine Onion
(or sickle-leaf onion, Allium falcifolium)
This jackie must have been moving pretty quickly, tripping this cam at 8:30...
...then this one two seconds later....
No, not quite. I do reset the time on each cam when I change batteries, but they are not actually synchronized to the second.
I just love how perfect this fox's fur looks.
I also love how happy this coyote looks.
Phone shot of a mossy oak tree glistening with dew in the morning light.
Lots of spotted coral root taking over the native orchid duties from the calypsos.
Nice antlers coming in.
First fawn of the season.
Pretty great camouflage.
Had to stop and feast my soul on beautiful Bolinas Ridge one last time before heading home. Such a beautiful day, not too hot or cold, and not even too windy yet. The green is still refreshingly beautiful, but it's fading, and I won't be surprised if it's brown the next time I get up there. A whole spring is going to come and go while we're all taking shelter from the coronavirus, but with a little luck they'll open the mountain up soon.
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