Friday, July 17, 2020

Lassen in July



Lake Helen (compare with June).



Bumpass Hell



Cinder Cone & Painted Dunes



Buckwheat in the Painted Dunes



Variegated Meadowhawk



Dot-tailed Whiteface



Rock Wren



Lewis's Monkey Flower



Aster



Lupine



Lemmon's Paintbrush

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Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Klamath Basin



About twenty years ago this month, a group of farmers in the Klamath Basin opened a sluice gate to protest water being used for the benefit of wildlife. They were soon shut down by federal marshals. The image above seems like a nice reminder that nature deserves water rights too. These are some photos from a July 2007 trip to see the Klamath Basin in the summer.



Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) with Chicks.



White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi)



Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)



Eight-spotted Skimmer (Libellula forensis)



Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)



I don't recall what the actual air temperature was, but I remember being instantly drenched in sweat when I stepped out of my air-conditioned car to check out this marsh. I'd never experienced such a humid heat in California before.

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Monday, July 13, 2020

Past & Future



In contrast to the North Coast greenery of the previous post, here are a couple of high desert views looking toward the Mono Craters in July of 2006, scanned from Fuji Velvia.



I used to make a lot of quick trips to distant places until somewhere along the line I began to get sick of all that driving. The nail in the coffin was having to relinquish my four-day workweek to go back to five days. With all due respect to the Eternal Now, I get wistful looking back at all the interesting places I used to photograph so many years ago, and I look forward to having the time in another couple of years or so to re-acquaint myself with the natural beauty of California, and in a more leisurely way than I could in the past.

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Thursday, July 9, 2020

North Coast Dash



We managed to snag a two-night stay at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park campground--the only openings that were available all month.



It was a heck of a lot of driving for such a short stay, but I needed to refresh my memory of how excellent the redwoods up in Humboldt and Del Norte counties are.



We visited the Stout Grove up near Crescent City and the Lady Bird Johnson Grove to the south, both of which were truly awe-inspiring, but the trails right around the campground were also excellent.



I brought a trail cam in case Bigfoot would make an appearance, but we settled for a gray fox that traipsed through around midnight.



The Elk Prairie for which the campground is named had a dozen bulls in residence.



Fern Canyon was a hugely popular spot, with lots of cars parked at the end of the dusty road. I was last there in 2008 when I spent a night camping at Gold Bluffs Beach. I didn't recall there being any more than a couple of cars there at the time. Fortunately, the trail itself wasn't all that crowded, so we were able to maintain "social distancing," and most people wore face masks.

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Sunday, July 5, 2020

Potential



I moved the cams back to an area I've used during the dry season before. Right now there's still a fair amount of water everywhere, but soon pools like this will be rare patches of Eden for the local wildlife. I like this spot for its potential. I can just imagine a nice wildcat coming here to drink, and in my dreams maybe even a puma.



A second cam is pointing down the length of the log that you see in the background of the top image. I'd love to see a weasel go across it, but I'm not sure weasels come up this high on the mountain. Way back in the '90s I found a dead weasel just lying on a log across Redwood Creek. I took it over to the rangers at Muir Woods because I didn't know what kind of animal it was. I left it with them in case they wanted to preserve it for an exhibit, but I've never remembered to check back to see if they did.



Which reminds me, I passed a road-killed squirrel on the way up to Rock Spring Saturday morning, then went back to move it off the road so scavengers can make use of it without getting run over themselves, or having the carcass too flattened to hold much promise of gustatory delight.



Just the usual suspects so far: deer, raccoons, robins, juncos, a flycatcher, and several band-tailed pigeons.



Here's a deer's-eye view of the cam.



It was a beautiful day for a ride up the mountain. When all I want to do is check the cams and just experience the mountain for an hour or so I'm grateful to be able to bike up instead of having to drive. The round-trip distance of 44 miles is pretty close to the limit of what I'd want to do on a weekly basis in hilly terrain, though, even with an e-bike.

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Saturday, July 4, 2020

Pt. Reyes in July



Lizard Tail & Friends, North Beach



Lone Hiker, Drake's Beach



Bear Valley Meadow



Hilton's Nudibranch, Palomarin Beach



Bat Star Crossing Constellation of Coralline Algae



San Diego Dorid



Feather-veined Red Seaweed, Surfgrass & Mermaid Coin



Lined Shore Crab



Opalescent Nudibranch 



Anemones Colonizing a Rift



White Pelicans, Abbott's Lagoon



Sun & Wind, Drake's Bay



Brants on the Shore of Drake's Estero



Feast for Scavengers, Drake's Beach



Islands, McClure's Beach



Dawn at McClure's Beach



California Beach Hopper



Cliff with Orange Trentepohlia, Shell Beach


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