Waiting in Texas

I'm in Texas waiting for the birth of a granddaughter. My daughter and SIL live in the Texas Hill Country and this is some of what I see on my walks in the early morning and evening.This is the road to the kids' house.I saw three of these when I turned out of the driveway early this morning and at first I thought it wouldn't be a very long walk. They eventually meandered through the fence.  Lots of deer in the area. I don't know what this bird is but it has a distinctive long tail. I need to google "bird with long tail in Texas hill country". At Katie's bird feeder there are a lot of cardinals and a very colorful painted bunting.  I want to look this plant up also. It was full of butterflies and some giant bees the last time I walked by. MamaLu cooling off after a walk when Katie went with me. View from the kid's kitchen window. This is a Black Buck, native to Africa. There is a herd in the area. What do you do when the baby is a week overdue? Let's go wash the horses. Libby is the horse that Katie got when she was in junior high. Libby moved with Katie to Cal Poly, to TX, to VT, and back to TX.  Libby is not too crazy about baths, but her companion, Slim, loves the hose.  View through the oak trees.  Views from this morning's walk before going to the hospital where we are waiting for a baby.

 

Road Trip - Day 7 - West to Oregon

The plan for this day was to end up near Pendleton, Oregon because I wanted to go on a tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mill on Monday morning, This was another early morning with no dawdling around camp. No rain or snow, no moths or mosquitos (see earlier posts), but it was cold and we had places to go. Before we left Yellowstone we checked on a couple of sites that we hadn't seen during the previous two days. Boiling mud at Artists' Paintpots There are no photos, but we were struck by the crass commercialization of  the town of West Yellowstone, just outside the West entrance to the Yellowstone. It made us very appreciative of the Rockefeller Parkway, that preserves 24,000 acres connecting Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone. Some of this land was purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to prevent commercialization and ensure preservation of the Yellowstone Basin ecosystem. It is now administered by the National Park System.  Once on the road we didn't stop very much so many of my photos are from the highway. I was continually amazed by the huge pivot systems up to 1/4 mile long which means they are irrigating circles of 1/2 mile in diameter. We were entertained by following our map books. We started out with California and Nevada. I think we picked up Idaho somewhere on the way. Later we found Montana and Wyoming in a used bookstore in Jackson, WY. Eventually we found Oregon in a bookstore in Pendleton. We found these books to be a way to keep the travel interesting even in the broad stretches of "nothing" in the high desert landscapes. There are always geological formations, land features, mines or mountain-tops with names and the books offer much more detail as far as land ownership and dirt roads than regular road maps. The books came in particularly useful when we wanted to camp along the way and find roads into Forest Service land. (Yes, I also have an iPhone and I use it, but there is not always service and sometimes it's just easier to see the whole thing on one page.)On Day 2 we got interested in the fact that our route followed the California Trail used by the pioneers in the 1800's. Now we were following the Oregon Trail. These map books also indicated these trails and all the interpretive centers along the way.  We stopped at Glenn's Ferry and spent about an hour at their historical center.This is called Three Island Crossing (those larger trees are on islands in the middle of the river) and is where the covered wagons crossed the Snake River. The river was much different before it was dammed and the crossings were dangerous.

While traveling in Idaho I discovered this very cool  Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide of the Oregon Trail as it follows the Snake River in Idaho. This guide includes info about the trail, the events that occurred at specific sites along it, and excerpts from pioneer diaries. I'm not much of  a history buff but this was a fun way to learn more about this part of our history and it is much more meaningful when you are seeing the landscape--rivers, mountains, deserts in much the same way that those pioneers saw them, but of course with much different perspective. I highly recommend traveling with the map book open on the lap while reading the info on the iPhone. We made it to Oregon by late afternoon.Wide open spaces.

There is a what looked like a very cool interpretive center near Baker City, Oregon but we were there too late in the day. This marker indicates... …the remnants of the actual trail.

Even without the aid of the Oregon map book (which we didn't buy until the next day) we found a place to spend the night. We think this was Forest Service land, but maybe not. Dan received Father's Day greetings from the kids. We wondered a short distance from camp and enjoyed the greenery of the forest after driving through the desert. This area is part of the Blue Mountain Range which was a formidable obstacle for the pioneers.  But it was close to dark when we stopped so once again we didn't linger over dinner. I don't even remember what it was--I think we were using up what was left…crackers, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt, carrots. We needed to get on the road fairly early to make sure we got to Pendleton in time for the 9:00 mill tour. 

Next up: A day of travel that includes wool and sheep.

Road Trip - Day 6 - Another Day at Yellowstone

In the last post did I say how cold it was when we went to bed the first night in Yellowstone? The cold plus the bison in the campground make me wish that I didn't have that middle-of-the-night call of nature. However, maybe that's a good thing because it was starting to rain and I shut the tailgate and the camper window. When everything is shut up it is warmer inside, but it is also stuffy and the windows get wet with condensation. There are trade-offs and stuffiness is probably better than feet in a wet sleeping bag especially when the temperature dips into the 20's. The green truck is too old to show the temp but that's what my iPhone said when I asked. So instead of rain we had snow during the night. Not a lot, but nevertheless, snow. Once again we didn't linger over our breakfast of instant oatmeal but got in the truck and turned the heater on. I chose way too many photos for this day's blog and I should cut some out, but I probably won't. I like blogs that are mostly photos...

Our plan for this day was to drive the northern loop starting with Mammoth Hot Springs and ending with the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.Not far from the campground we saw our first grizzly bears - from the safety of our truck. (Even though I have been told by blog readers that the bear we saw in Grand Teton was a grizzly bear and not a black bear we thought it was a black bear at the time and I prefer to think that we were hiking with black bears, not grizzlies.) The one on the left was eating a carcass of something and was wearing a collar. They were being watched by a park biologist. I wonder if the park personnel always keep track of bears that are collared and monitor them when they show up near a road? One thing that we learned quickly is that being a Park Ranger in Yellowstone means Wildlife Traffic Patrol. Do you know an easy way to spot wildlife?Just look for parked cars and people walking along the road.It didn't take long to find more bison... …and more bears. This one wasn't alone. I know, the sagebrush is more in focus than the bears, but that may be my last grizzly bear photo.

It was still early and when we got to Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces the weather was not looking good. It was cold and windy and during our walk along the boardwalk trails it started snowing. But the changing conditions only made the views more dramatic. 

  We didn't hike any long trails on this day but there were many shorter hikes. There were people stopped on the road watching a black bear when we got out of the truck to take a half mile trail to see Wraith Falls. Dan was trying to decide if the bear was still entertaining people on the road or had retreated in our direction. Note bear spray with orange cap in the backpack pocket.

There are several one-way roads that you can use to get off the main road. Blacktail Plateau Drive is one of them and the scenery is majestic. To my surprise Dan asked if I wanted to stop and take flower photos. I am usually teased about this habit. This one is wild flax. Phlox.

I wish I knew what this flower is. From a distance it looks like single blue flowers. It's only when you get up close that you see that it is lots of little tiny flowers.We stopped at another waterfall trailhead and Dan took this photo of a 1936 touring van that he had just read about. These were canvas topped vehicles used in many of the national parks. They seated 14 people and in cold weather (at least in the northern parks) they provided Pendleton wool blankets for the passengers. At least some of the vehicles were used into the 1990's when they were just too old to keep running. The Park Service replaced the old vehicles with modern Dodge vans but the visitors wanted the old touring vans. So they are on the road again but Ford kept just the top part and replaced the chassis (and all the important things like brakes) with new parts. 

Speaking of vehicles it seemed as though each of the parking lots at the main attractions had it's own sentry. This one was eating crackers.

It was getting late in the day by the time we got to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There are several access points and trails on both the north and south sides. We knew that we didn't have time to hike all the trails, but we went to  all the overlooks and walked a few of the trails. We took Uncle Tom's trail to a viewing spot of the Lower Falls. Writing this blog I'm in a tank top and shorts with the fan on and it's hard to remember that just 10 days ago I was bundled in two layers of wool, my Carhartt jacket, wool hat, and gloves. Originally this trail had over 500 steps and rope ladders. Now it has only 328 steps and no ladders. The trail no longer takes you all the way to the bottom but you still hear and feel the power of the water cascading over the rocks. I love the green color of the water here. This is a scene of the canyon and the river taken from another viewing area. Simply majestic. I don't think that I would have spotted this osprey nest except that some other people were looking with binoculars. See what I mean? The top photo is a close-up of this one.Another beautiful evening. Again we got back to camp at dusk, ate a couple of cans of beans and went to bed.

Next post: On the road to Oregon

Road Trip - Day 5 - Yellowstone

The mosquito situation in camp was no better than the night before so we didn't linger in camp on our fourth morning. We took just enough time to get our food out of the bear box and for Dan to make his coffee and we got on the road. There are plenty more trails to explore in the Tetons and I hope to make it back there some day. But this was our next stop and we had two days to see as much of it as we could. Not far into the park we saw our first bison. Initially we didn't stop for much  because we needed to find a campsite in one of the non-reservation campgrounds. After we secured a spot we were free to plan the day. There are two main loop roads in Yellowstone and we spent the first day exploring the southern one.  This is the Norris Geyser Basin, not far from our campground. That steam on the left was rising out of the ground with the sound of a roaring a furnace. The trail traverses this valley and there are steamy, boiling, gurgling features everywhere. I took Geology my first quarter of college and decided that I would not be a geologist. I am definitely more of a life sciences type, but I can be awed by these spectacles even if I don't know the physical science behind them. This landscape is all about color, patterns, bubbles, steam, explosions.    Bison footprints.    Then there is the wildlife.On the way south towards Upper Geyser Basin (where Old Faithful is) traffic was stopped on the road. Going around a turn we saw the cause. Bison were walking alongside and on the road. Why not? It was certainly the easiest way to get from one meadow area to another, especially where this canyon narrowed. Passengers scurried ahead of their cars (leaving drivers) to get a better look.Eventually it was our turn to pass the three dozen or more bison as they turned from the road and moved into the forest.  Osprey over the Upper Geyser Basin. We got to the Visitor Center and Old Faithful just minutes before Old Faithful was due to erupt. After watching we faced a furious wind as we walked a couple of miles along the boardwalks and trails that traverse the Basin, seeing more of this amazing landscape.  It was getting later in the day as we completed the loop road to get back to camp. The road crosses the Continental Divide a couple of times in this area. Living on the West Coast we always think of all water ending up in the Pacific, but crossing the Divide twice in a short distance made me think about it.  We had been following two major waterways, but they end up in different places, the Snake River flowing westward and the Yellowstone River flowing east. As dusk falls even more animals are visible, although not easy to photograph. It was dark by the time we got back to camp for dinner. I walked up the hill to the bathroom and a woman who was waiting while her cell phone charged pointed out to me what looked like … nothing…well maybe more black than the rest of the dark. There were two bison munching on grass right next to an RV. In the dark it was as though there was a Black Hole. I would never have known they were there. The woman told me that the bison had just walked around the bathroom and stopped to graze there. At that point I decided that the weak batteries in my headlamp were not adequate for the task of walking around Yellowstone at night. 

No moths or mosquitoes at this campsite, but it was dark when we got back, we were out of firewood and it was cold. We quickly cooked our spaghetti and some hot chocolate and went to bed.

Stay tuned for Day 6.

Road Trip - Day 3 - Grand Tetons

Morning of the third day.This is the Snake River near where we camped. We were on the road to Primary Destination #1, Grand Teton National Park.  Moose is the headquarters and main visitor center for the Park. We found a campsite and chose a place to hike.We purchased the necessary supplies. That's Bear Spray on the right. Yikes! These warnings were everywhere you look - at trailheads, in restrooms, on brochures. OK. I believe...But it won't happen to me? Right? (Read the fine print on this--that's scary.) We chose the Hermitage Point trail, about 9.5 miles. Here's a view across Jackson Lake. The hardest thing about writing this blog is choosing only a few photos.The stunning Arrowleaf Balsamroot was everywhere.On the trail.I don't think National Geographic will be calling me anytime soon, but it was fun to try and get wildlife photos. I think I do better with flowers because I can get closer and they don't move. But maybe this isn't bad considering that my longest lens is only 135 mm. Ruffed grouse, according to my bird book. These tent caterpillars were everywhere. They eat all the leaves in the area of their tents and can be quite devastating when in large quantities.  I didn't see any swans in Swan Lake, but there were plenty of geese... ...and a sandhill crane.   We were less than a mile from the end of our hike and nearing dusk when we came upon this in the trail.OK. Time for 2 photos and then retreat. This is an enhanced closeup of the photo above. The signs all say that the bear is supposed to go away. She didn't. We backed up and Dan fumbled with the bear spray. I had read the instructions while he was driving but I don't think he paid attention. "Flip off the orange safety catch with your thumb and then position it in spray position. No, point it at the bear, not us…" Did you know that you have only 4 seconds of spray in one of those cans? Not like the wasp spray we have around here. The bear approached a little more and we retreated more. We were less than a mile to the end of the trail and I really didn't want to go back. Then we saw other people coming up the trail towards us. These were 3 kids (well, college age) who we had seen on the trail before. It turns out that they didn't have a map with them and had taken a wrong turn to a dead-end trail, backtracked, and were running to make up time back to headquarters. They were thankful that we stopped them or they would have been running straight at the bear. When we saw a cub come out from behind a log and it was evident that this mama bear was not going to retreat we turned around and started walking the other way. It added only about another two miles to the hike for an 11.5 mile day. (Is this over-dramatic to those of you who live in bear country? I'm sure that I have hiked in bear country before, but I've never seen them. The difference is that these animals are not as wary of people as they would be other places--which is great if you want a deer or grouse photo, but not so much an animal with big teeth and claws.) Sunset over Jackson Lake.

Pinnacles National Park, Part 2

Does a 2-day camping trip warrant 2 blog posts? For me it does because we don't do this very often. And I took lots of photos. We discovered that we did sleep relatively all right in the truck, although I was told that I had more than my share of the "mattress". Huh!

The next morning we checked the map and chose the hike for the day. This was the first leg of a 5.5 mile hike. Notice the word Condor. I took my binoculars on this hike, determined to identify a condor this day. Pinnacles is one of the few remaining areas where the endangered California Condors live and nest.

This trail winds up the mountain and behind those peaks in the distance.Getting closer to the peaks. At this point we talked to a wildlife biologist who was using an antennae to try and pick up a signal of the condors who are banded with transponders. She said that they do nest in these cliffs but today she hadn't found any. They don't always stay in the park area. We saw plenty of soaring birds but they kept turning out to be buzzards.  More of the trail.   This is coming around the west side of those peaks. The vegetation was somewhat different than that of yesterday's hike except for one plant.There was plenty of poison oak, although these trails are wider than those on our Stebbins Cold Canyon hike so it's easier to avoid. I was struck by the beautiful shades of green in the poison oak. Color abounds.

 This was an interesting trail. Notice that railing under the overhanging rock.The Park Service (or maybe it was the CCC years ago) thoughtfully provided steps (and, thankfully, railings) so that hikers could get over these rocks. The views are worth the climb.What would a hike for me be without a few flower photos? Believe me, I took many more than this even though, due to the dry conditions in Northern California, there was not the abundance of wildflowers that I think there would normally be at this time of year. I think I have identified this as a patch of California Gilia (Gilia achilleifolia).  I think that this plant is Wild Cucumber or California Manroot (Marah macrocarpa). What we noticed on this hike is that the spiralling tendrils that look like a telephone cord (yes, that dates me) start out straight. When the straight tendril touches something it coils and hangs on. Amazing. 

As usual I tried my hand at wildlife photography. Those bee photos are the only ones I'll show. The bunny, the crow, and the lizard weren't all that great. The condor look-alike perched on a branch turned out to be a buzzard when I looked at the photo close-up. 

This looks like condor country to me……but this was the closest I got to a condor.  Good trip anyway.

Pinnacles National Park

Last week was Dan's spring break and we took two days to go camping while my son was in charge of all the sheep including the last few ewes left to lamb. We got to Pinnacles in the middle of the afternoon, secured a campsite, and went on a hike. We didn't have a plan other than to start with the trail that goes through one of the caves at the park.

These caves are sometimes closed when the bats are raising babies, but they were open at this time. This cave is not one big chamber but a series of smaller chambers connected by narrow passages under overhanging rocks, following waterways, or up stairs.

This is the exit of the cave. These photos don't do justice to the scenery. In fact I was disappointed in my photos from this trip because they all seem so washed out. I think I'm regressing as an amateur photographer. (You'll be glad that I didn't include my wildlife photos in this blog! I don't think National Geographic will be calling me anytime soon.)

This view is that exit but looking back down the stairs. We came out of the cave to this small lake.

We looked at the map and decided to hike the trail that went southwest to North Chalone Peak. It was getting late in the day but since we were camping there it didn't matter when we got back as long as it was still light. This is the view from part way up the trail looking back down to where the cave entrance. Do you see that small lake at the bottom center of the photo?

 We didn't know what to expect at the end of the trail until we came around another corner and saw what looked like a fire lookout in the distance.

 Here is what it is like close up.And this is one of the views from the peak.  This turned out to be an 8.5 mile hike so we both felt glad to get back to camp and put our feet up. We used this one-night camping trip as a trial run to see how we liked sleeping in the old green truck because we are thinking about a road trip during the summer. It wasn't like home, but was much better than sleeping in the back of the Explorer at the Grand Canyon a few years ago.

To be continued...