Saw a coyote at the ravine...he (or she) was actually at the paved part up by a rodent colony under some trees. Commando gave chase but gave up quickly.
Saw pelicans at the American River. We were walking along on the lower levee and I saw big birds and said, "Wow, those sure look like pelicans." They were just a little too far away. A few minutes later the were flying directly overhead...big white pelicans with the trailing edge of the wing black (or maybe it was the leading edge).
Monday, July 30, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Evening in the Ravine
Took Commando to the ravine for a long walk. Yesterday I was a bad dog owner and didn't take him for a walk because I wanted to finish Deathly Hallows (great end to the series!). So I knew he needed an excellent walk to make up for it.
I took my push scooter with me because I thought that if would be less painful on my foot, plus, I'd get some practice without traffic.
It was a beautiful night and the scooter did its job of protecting my foot. Commando was ecstatic and sniffed everything and then peed on it to make sure.
The little cotton tail bunnies were out, making dusty marks in the trail. Are they rolling in the dust? Scratching and marking the dust to mark territory? Not sure, it's just that about every 10 feet there was a little patch of disturbed dust in the hard, hard clay-like surface of the trail. Commando loved chasing the bunnies and they gave him a demonstration of what "fast" is.
A large bullfrog leapt into the pond when Commando waded in for a cooling drink.
There were at least 3 raptors flying along...a falcon, a grayish looking bird, and a red tail hawk. I also saw a flock of turkeys who were not amused by the interruption to their evening stroll. Commando missed them which was good, but I would have enjoyed watching it. Would he chase them as prey and would they flee as prey? Would they be just a little too big and would he approach with caution? Would he discover that sometimes prey turns around and beats the "predator" to a pulp? Maybe we'll encounter them next time.
Just as I was climbing out of the quarry, I looked to the side and an owl was floating by on its way to the rodent hunt.
Beautiful, beautiful walk!
I took my push scooter with me because I thought that if would be less painful on my foot, plus, I'd get some practice without traffic.
It was a beautiful night and the scooter did its job of protecting my foot. Commando was ecstatic and sniffed everything and then peed on it to make sure.
The little cotton tail bunnies were out, making dusty marks in the trail. Are they rolling in the dust? Scratching and marking the dust to mark territory? Not sure, it's just that about every 10 feet there was a little patch of disturbed dust in the hard, hard clay-like surface of the trail. Commando loved chasing the bunnies and they gave him a demonstration of what "fast" is.
A large bullfrog leapt into the pond when Commando waded in for a cooling drink.
There were at least 3 raptors flying along...a falcon, a grayish looking bird, and a red tail hawk. I also saw a flock of turkeys who were not amused by the interruption to their evening stroll. Commando missed them which was good, but I would have enjoyed watching it. Would he chase them as prey and would they flee as prey? Would they be just a little too big and would he approach with caution? Would he discover that sometimes prey turns around and beats the "predator" to a pulp? Maybe we'll encounter them next time.
Just as I was climbing out of the quarry, I looked to the side and an owl was floating by on its way to the rodent hunt.
Beautiful, beautiful walk!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Rockbound Trail
Went up late Sunday to try the Twin Lakes trail again. On the road, decided to try a different trail, so took the Rockbound Trail for about 1.5 miles. It was hot and I was feeling the altitude so it wasn't the best time. On the other hand, I always feel very good...nice and relaxed afterwards. Took my boots off and dipped my feet in Beauty Lake (1/2 mile from the trailhead) on the way back. Commando ran in the water and I reminded him how fun I was by flicking water in the air with my hat. He loved it and kept leaping up to chase the water drops. What a goof!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Black Rock Desert
This is not really recommended for just a two day trip from the Central Valley. Most of the day is spent driving, and that doesn't leave much time for hiking and relaxing.
We drove up 395 and tried to cross over to Nevada near Herlong based on a possibly wrong interpretation of a map. It looked like a road led into Gerlach. If there is such a road, we couldn't find it.
We ended up driving to Alturas, then Cedarville. We stopped for a few hours on 8A overlooking Nevada and ate sandwiches and tried to decide if we should camp here or not. Commando and I took a little stroll.
We decided not to camp so headed into the Black Rock Desert, High Rock Canyon, Emigrant Trails area. We camped at Steven's Camp. There's a spring, a cabin, a pit toilet and a trail through a canyon on the Applegate-Lassen cutoff national historic trail. This was one of the gold miner, covered wagon trails out west.
We had a nice camp down near the stream as the cabin was occupied. Commando caught some sleep, but spent a lot of time patrolling the campsite and protecting us from whatever. Strangely, he didn't respond when something in the bushes killed a rabbit (the guess based on the rustling and screaming).
We broke camp very early and headed east on the main "road." We were trying to reach High Rock canyon, but didn't have a very good map and missed it. We spent most of the time on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge trying to get to Summit Lake. We were stopped at the Summit Lake Indian Reservation...which is perhaps fortunate.
Commando and I did a little hike through a canyon following mustang tracks.
We saw a few pronghorn and several bands of mustangs. We also saw a few coyotes. The most interesting find was a flock of big game birds...grouse?
We drove back to Gerlach and were a little worried about gas. Fortunately, Gerlach was only about 70 miles from us and not the 90 claimed on the sign. We probably had enough gas to go the whole 90, but why risk it. We reached pavement about 20 miles outside of Gerlach and blew out a rear tire going over a cattle guard. Oops.
I was starting to put the spare on when a kind couple stopped...well, the guy did a U-turn to help us...and helped. May they and their descendants people the earth. They had been visiting some friends on one of the ranches.
We'll have to go in the late fall for more than a few days. It's fascinating country and well worth spending time there.
We drove up 395 and tried to cross over to Nevada near Herlong based on a possibly wrong interpretation of a map. It looked like a road led into Gerlach. If there is such a road, we couldn't find it.
We ended up driving to Alturas, then Cedarville. We stopped for a few hours on 8A overlooking Nevada and ate sandwiches and tried to decide if we should camp here or not. Commando and I took a little stroll.
We decided not to camp so headed into the Black Rock Desert, High Rock Canyon, Emigrant Trails area. We camped at Steven's Camp. There's a spring, a cabin, a pit toilet and a trail through a canyon on the Applegate-Lassen cutoff national historic trail. This was one of the gold miner, covered wagon trails out west.
We had a nice camp down near the stream as the cabin was occupied. Commando caught some sleep, but spent a lot of time patrolling the campsite and protecting us from whatever. Strangely, he didn't respond when something in the bushes killed a rabbit (the guess based on the rustling and screaming).
We broke camp very early and headed east on the main "road." We were trying to reach High Rock canyon, but didn't have a very good map and missed it. We spent most of the time on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge trying to get to Summit Lake. We were stopped at the Summit Lake Indian Reservation...which is perhaps fortunate.
Commando and I did a little hike through a canyon following mustang tracks.
We saw a few pronghorn and several bands of mustangs. We also saw a few coyotes. The most interesting find was a flock of big game birds...grouse?
We drove back to Gerlach and were a little worried about gas. Fortunately, Gerlach was only about 70 miles from us and not the 90 claimed on the sign. We probably had enough gas to go the whole 90, but why risk it. We reached pavement about 20 miles outside of Gerlach and blew out a rear tire going over a cattle guard. Oops.
I was starting to put the spare on when a kind couple stopped...well, the guy did a U-turn to help us...and helped. May they and their descendants people the earth. They had been visiting some friends on one of the ranches.
We'll have to go in the late fall for more than a few days. It's fascinating country and well worth spending time there.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Shealor Lake
Today was Mom's birthday so to celebrate we drove up the Mormon Emigrant Trail to 88 and then to the SL trailhead. Well, actually, I just wanted to hike. Mom says I'm out of the will because the parking area (she doesn't hike but likes to go on drives) had no bathroom and it was noisy.
This is a great hike around 7500 feet
and climbs up over a granite saddle with spectacular views before descending steeply to the lake. Shealor is small and intimate without being claustrophobic. There are plenty of places to swim and the water was warm. It's only a mile and 1/2 so the distance is good although the trail is steep!
I took the trip back slowly and stayed on the trail. On the way down I had taken a few shortcuts that didn't turn out to be as easy as they had looked. On the way up I had much less energy and really couldn't afford to take chances.
The trail was relatively easy with steep rocky spots mixed with level or slight upgrades for rest. I still managed to trip and fall but only skinned my knee and bruised my hand.
Rock cairns marked most of the path because granite just doesn't lend itself to mere bootprints. The different kinds of rock were interesting too -- granite,
huge chunks of raw volcanic rock, pink rock, quartz-y looking rock and red rocks. I'm not sure what type of formation this rock is, perhaps some sort of special volcanic action. (Joke)
This is a great hike around 7500 feet
and climbs up over a granite saddle with spectacular views before descending steeply to the lake. Shealor is small and intimate without being claustrophobic. There are plenty of places to swim and the water was warm. It's only a mile and 1/2 so the distance is good although the trail is steep!I took the trip back slowly and stayed on the trail. On the way down I had taken a few shortcuts that didn't turn out to be as easy as they had looked. On the way up I had much less energy and really couldn't afford to take chances.
The trail was relatively easy with steep rocky spots mixed with level or slight upgrades for rest. I still managed to trip and fall but only skinned my knee and bruised my hand.
Rock cairns marked most of the path because granite just doesn't lend itself to mere bootprints. The different kinds of rock were interesting too -- granite,
huge chunks of raw volcanic rock, pink rock, quartz-y looking rock and red rocks. I'm not sure what type of formation this rock is, perhaps some sort of special volcanic action. (Joke)
Saturday, July 07, 2007
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