Spare the Air

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I could have spared the air if I'd biked to work today, as usual, but I've taken the week off. Instead of giving the air a break, I drove out to Mt. Tam to see what nature was up to. I've been thinking about doing a post on Redwood Creek, which I consider the southern border of Mt. Tam, but I want to traverse the creek from Muir Beach to Muir Woods as the salmon do, and Muir Beach remains closed. They've even pushed off the date for re-opening from November 27 to December 14, so that post will have to wait. It's just as well, because we still haven't gotten enough rain for the salmon to start heading up the creek.

Another thing I'd planned to do was illustrate the change in temperature -- to photograph some of the first frost of the new season. I figured it would be coldest in the bottomland along Redwood Creek, but I didn't see any significant frost until I climbed 2,000 feet above sea level to arrive at Rock Spring. 

Hoarfrost on yarrow leaves.

When working on the ground in the presence of thistle, it is best not to steady oneself by extending one's arm  earthward and using a bare palm to hold one's weight.

Frost on the hedge nettles.

This pink checker mallow was a surprise. Its delicate blossoms were almost the only thing in the entire meadow that wasn't either a shade of brown or green.

I was worried the rising sun would eliminate all the frost before I could photograph it, but the shade lasts a long time this time of year. I was still finding frosty vegetation at 10 o'clock in the morning.

After my frost pursuit at Rock Spring I drove out along Bolinas Ridge since the gate had been opened early. I kept my eyes out for bobcats to no avail. I had one of my best bobcat sightings ever at about this time last year. Also at this time last year (and the year before), the fungi were fruiting in abundance. Almost three years ago to the day, I photographed the sunset that appears on the cover of my book, A Circumannuation of Mount Tam. (Riddle: If God can make a rock so big that He can't lift it, can Blurb made a book so expensive that no one can afford it?)

I set my camera trap in a new location near Set 1 to see what might turn up. Aside from a flock of wild turkeys in the Muir Woods parking lot and a couple of roadside deer, I saw very little wildlife on this trip. 

Very little fungi, too.

This time three years ago, Cataract Falls was going gangbusters. This year, not so much. I even hiked down to Laurel Dell to check it out. At this time eleven years ago, I was already photographing bubblegum slime mold. I was looking forward to getting some rain this week, but the last time I checked, the weather forecasters were "backing away" from their predictions of a good soaking.

I know Mother Nature wants to deliver rain to her children in the Bay Area, and I feel like I need some rain to get my own creative juices flowing again as well. Maybe I should have spared the air today, after all. Hope it's not too late.

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Alpine Lake -- Rocky Ridge Loop

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A pair of coyotes greeted us as we parked at the end of Bon Tempe Road. Unfortunately, although I got my point-n-shoot camera out in time to fire off a few frames, my camera was still set in manual exposure mode for a photo of the moon rising after sunset. Not even close for coyotes in daylight. I didn't realize the mistake until I was trying to get a shot of this Great Egret on top of an oak tree, with the East Peak fire look-out in the background.

There'd been frost in all the shaded areas on the way in, but the sun was bright and warm when we set out around 8:15 a.m. to cross Bon Tempe Dam. Once we reached the other side to hike out around the south side of Alpine Lake, it would be quite a while before we'd feel the sun's warmth again. 

Rocky Ridge Road goes up to the left. We went right to pick up the Kent Trail.

There were lots of ducks, coots and mergansers at this side of the reservoir, but we were surprised to spot three river otters. Judging by all the crunching sounds, they were finding plenty to eat.

The pump sits out in what I would guess is the deepest part of the reservoir. It sure seemed low, but the water district's total capacity (from all seven reservoirs) is only a little below average. It was interesting to note that per capita water consumption this year is much higher than in 2012. I guess when there's less water falling from the sky, people draw more from storage.

It's a beautiful hike out along the edge of Alpine Lake, now through meadow, then forest, then chaparral, and back into forest.

This was our first sunny spot since Bon Tempe Dam. I didn't take a picture of the junction of the Kent Trail and the Helen Markt Trail (which we'd already passed by this point), but it is well-signed and easy to see.

This is one of the biggest Douglas fir trees I've seen out here, and it has a crazy secondary trunk that's as big as a regular tree in its own right.

Once you leave the lake, it's pretty much all uphill on the Kent Trail.

This Doug fir was running with sap, not looking long for the world.

On the maps, this spot is named Foul Pool. They might as well have named it Dragon Swamp. It's no more "foul" than it is the lair of dragons. I'd never been here in the dry season before. Often the edge of the pool comes close to the trail, but it's receded so far at this point that there's nothing but deer-tracked mud quite a ways in. Deer have been browsing on the cattail leaves.

The trail ascends into a nice little redwood grove.

Not all the redwoods are "little", like this fire-hollowed champ with multiple shoots.

No, this is not a picture of Pam petting a triffid. I guess it's got to be a young Hericium erinaceus, or lion's mane fungus. It would be great to see this again in a couple of weeks since it will likely have become much bigger, its spines much longer. This was growing on top of a huge, downed bay laurel log. 

Numerous honey mushrooms were also growing on the log and on other decaying wood nearby. 

We left the Kent Trail, which heads up toward High Marsh, to join the Stocking Trail (named for Clayton Stocking, a long-time MMWD employee. (Link to info on other Mt. Tam place names here.)

This is Hidden Lake along the Stocking Trail. This will be a very different scene once the rains get going again.

I'd never hiked the Stocking Trail past Hidden Lake before, so it was interesting to see completely new territory, including the biggest redwood I've seen anywhere on the mountain outside of Muir Woods.

The woods were great, but it was nice to emerge into the sunny chaparral to continue our climb.

The Stocking Trail meets up with the Rocky Ridge Trail. For a shorter loop, you could simply turn left here and end up back down at Bon Tempe Dam.

We took a right turn instead and continued our ascent.

Rocky Ridge meets up with the Lagunitas-Rock Spring fire road which goes all the way down to Lake Lagunitas. That's Bon Tempe lake (and a toyon chockablock with red berries) behind me.

Pam adjusts her shoes where we leave the fire road for the Berry Trail down to Bon Tempe Lake.

Lovin' life on the Shadyside Trail.

Almost back to the dam, we enjoyed a short break at a nice open spot on the edge of the lake. Hiking at a leisurely pace, the 6.6-mile loop took us just under four hours.

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Bon Tempe Lake

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I guess there are limits to Photoshop's ability to stitch a panorama. I'm not sure if it's a D800 issue, operator error, or something to do with the fact that the clouds moved during the exposures (it was 41 degrees and windy up there on Azalea Hill). I ended up having to do some manual blending, but it worked out okay in the end.

This is a 16x24 crop from the 29x72 panorama.

Did I mention it was 41 degrees up there? And windy? My fingers froze, and I ducked behind rocks to get out of the wind when I wasn't taking pictures. My plan for the morning was to shoot the sunrise from up here at Azalea Hill, then circumambulate Bon Tempe Lake. After I finished with the sunrise (numerous coyotes yipping in the distance helped me forget about the cold), I started walking down the hill toward the lake, only to find that the trail appeared to loop back up the hill. Looking around for a bushwhack route, the way down appeared to involve some very steep descents that I didn't think I'd want to ascend later.

So I hiked back up the hill and photographed this beautifully shaped Coast Live oak as a consolation prize on the way to the Jeep.

Back at the Jeep, surrounded by guys preparing to head out on their mountain bikes, I stowed my gear and drove down to Sky Oaks Road. On the way I spied this handsome buck with gorgeous antlers by the side of the road. I continued a short distance to a parking area across from the Meadow Club golf course and walked back with my camera to photograph him.

Handsome devil.

This is the same buck on a hillside with a California buckeye in the background.

I paid my $8 entrance fee at the robot ranger station (sorry, iron rangers, but progress is progress). I fed eight dollar bills into the machine, one at a time, then drove down to the trailhead where the Sunnyside Trail meets the Shadyside Trail. I decided to hike a clockwise loop around the lake to keep the sun in a better position for photography, so I set out along the Sunnyside Trail.

Souvenir.

Lots of activity in a gorgeous madrone. The acorn woodpeckers were trying to peck holes, western bluebirds were preening in the high, sunnyside branches, and robins were plucking berries.

It's unusual to see a madrone all by itself like this.

A yellow-rumped warbler was eating the tiny bugs that live on the tree. It wasn't interested in the berries at all.

Right next to the madrone was this beautifully spread-out oak, with Bon Tempe Lake (one of the Marin Municipal Water District's reservoirs) in the background. I'd been wondering about the meaning of the lake's name. It's close to "good time" lake, but not quite right. According to the MMWD: "Bon Tempe is an 'Americanization' of the family name Bautunpi. The three Bautunpi brothers ran a ranch and dairy that was later removed to make way for Bon Tempe and Alpine reservoirs. Bon Tempe Reservoir was constructed in 1948."

Same tree, with East Peak in the distance.

The fisherman told a couple of kids who were looking for a fishing spot of their own that he'd seen a bald eagle last week. I later met a trail-runner who said he'd never seen a bald eagle there in 40 years and wondered if the fisherman had actually seen an osprey (which are not uncommon and even nest in the area).

The fisherman is facing Pine Point. Walking the trail that meanders through that section is almost like hiking in the Sierra -- but the pines actually came from the north coast. Again, from the water district's history page (linked above): "Between 1929 and 1934, 24,000 trees were purchased and brought down from the Fort Bragg area to reforest the watershed. Most of the trees were Bishop and Coulter Pine."

In several areas along the shore I found small, quarter-sized clamshells littering the beach. I'd never before seen the Mt. Tam Clam.

I met up with these two beach vultures about half-way through my hike around the lake. They drank a little water and pecked at the ground (to no useful effect that I could see, even with binoculars), and didn't seem too concerned about being close to hikers and fishers. I soon met up with the Shadyside Trail and hiked through redwoods as I watched common mergansers paddle around and dive for fish. I soon closed the loop at Bon Tempe Dam (made of earth fill and rock; only Alpine Dam is concrete), about an hour-and-a-half trip. 

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TamCam Set 4 (Cont'd)

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Set 4 was in such a good spot, with good cover and water, that I let it run for another week. It was another week of no rain, and there were even more deer photos this week than last. The little one-spike deer came to drink several times during the week.

The gray fox popped through, but jumped over the lazy stream so quickly that the camera barely caught it.

Another new species fell prey to the camera trap this week -- raccoons!

Just ambling right down the middle of the creek...

...followed by a pair of junior raccoons.

Several bucks used the watering hole, but I think this fella wins the award for largest antlers.

This deer, obviously quite accustomed to the camera by now, struck a cute pose.

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