Mariposa Lily

The Mariposa Lily is back...

Ft. Bragg Bio Blitz

After work today, I took a walk along the bluffs near glass beach in Ft. Bragg. After taking a picture of one of the wildflowers, I thought "Oh what the hell," and decided to see how many species I could find. So, after undertaking a mini wildflower bio blitz, the above collages are the result.

Sierra Difference (August/July)

On this stormy Saturday, I put together 3 collages that show the difference in the Sierra along the JMT in August compared to July. The upper row were taken in August 2009 and the lower row in July 2010. Some places were drastically different than others. (Click to enlarge. Double click to enlarge again!)

Montgomery Woods

I went for a hike in Montgomery Woods today. It's been a few months since I was last here, and it was good to be amongst the real big trees.

I'm kind of amazed how these Redwood Groves are almost like swamps. All of the ones I've been to are so saturated with water. I'm not sure if that's common, but it's been my experience so far.

I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary today. Just took it nice and slow.

Happy Memorial Day!

Mendocino (south)

I spent the night in Ft. Bragg last night in the hopes of exploring the coast a bit today, but I awoke to rain as a storm came in from the Pacific this morning. I was able to walk a bit more around Mendocino yesterday evening after work.

I saw a snake that quickly disappeared into the grass. Otherwise, just an enjoyable evening for walking...

Point Arena

It was a surprisingly nice day on the coast yesterday. Usually when it's cloudy inland, it's cloudy on the coast. Not this time, Once I reached the Pacific in my car, the skies opened up and blue skies and warm temperatures prevailed.

I took a hike along the bluffs in Point Arena near the lighthouse.

There was a lot of noise near the bluffs. It almost sounded like people yelling. I kept looking for signs of humans but did not see any.

As the yelling progressed, I continued walking and wondered what the people were so fired up about.

There were a few new wildflowers growing in the grass.

Eventually, I started to feel extremely hungry so I decided to turn around.

I never did find out what was making all that noise down below. There were a bunch of sea lions basking in the sun, and I think they may have been the culprits. Anyhow, it felt real good to get out and stretch the legs. On a side note, there were several bicyclists on the Pacific Coast Highway. May is bicycle month and there are many folks touring the western coastline this time of year it seems...

Ticks

I took a short hike up the Valley View Trail today under cool overcast skies. I had some flashbacks of some of those cold misty Washington days on the PCT, when the only thing to do to stay warm was to keep hiking. There were a lot of ticks on the trail today, and I picked several off my pants.

Larkspur making its appearance this week (above)

I saw many ticks just hanging out on the tips of the tall grasses, hooks outstretched, just waiting to grab a hold of some unfortunate passerby.

I took this picture a couple of days ago. They were growing alongside the road in Jackson State Forest (above).

I thought a lot about the AT today, and wondered if it would be possible for a 2012 attempt. It's been very hard to stay in the moment again the last few days, always wishing I was somewhere else.