Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

August 28, 2014

I spent the day on the Smith River and in the Stout Grove at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park with my brother and his family.  It was a beautiful sunny day, the perfect kind of day for swimming, kayaking and hiking in the big trees.   It was also a nice day to resume my battles to get a decent picture of the redwoods.

Smith River, Redwood National Park, CA

Yellow-legged Frog

Tiny frogs were all over the rocks on the shore of the river.  I'm pretty sure they were juvenile yellow-legged frogs.  We also saw some tadpoles.  The girls were good at catching the little frogs.

Yellow-legged Frog -- Smith River, Redwood National Park, CA

I did a lot of experimenting in the Stout Grove with camera settings, searching for a way to capture the essence of the redwood forest.  No such luck this time.  I got a few pictures that at best I don't hate, but nothing outright pleasing.

There's a bend in the river near the campground where the water runs deep and the current comes to a standstill.  There are some large boulders that are a short swim from the shore.  While my brother and his family spent the afternoon swimming, I paddled around in my kayak.

We had a hot dog pancake cook-off after dinner.  Sadly, mine was the least imaginative.  Cassy won with a Mrs. Butterworth's syrup-glazed fire-roasted bacon-wrapped hot dog pancake sushi roll.  How do you beat that?

Stout Grove, Redwood National Park, CA

Stout Grove, Redwood National Park, CA

Redwood National Park, CA

Whiskeytown and Redwood National Park

August 27, 2014

Soundtrack:

• Sonic Youth -- Daydream Nation
• The Band -- Live at the Academy of Music, 1971

My brother and his family were vacationing at Redwood National Park for a few days so I drove up to join them camping for a couple of nights.  Turns out, the end of August is a great time to visit the park.  I'll explain later in this post, but a lot of it has to do with something going on in the photo at the top of this post.

Whiskeytown Lake, CA

Whiskeytown Lake

The trip for me started after work on Tuesday night.  My plan was to drive North and camp at either Lassen National Park or Whiskeytown National Recreation Area depending on what time I got near Redding.  I ended up getting a late start and making a few extra stops, though, so by the time I hit Redding I was done driving for the night.  I found an RV Park with a bar near by and finished the evening in beer and bad karaoke.

My new plan was  to spend the day in Whiskeytown and camp there for the evening.  That plan didn't last long.  It was too stinkin' hot.  I'm used to fog and summer weather in the sixties and low seventies.  I needed to get back to the coast.  New plan.  I'd take my time driving out to the coast and meet up with Chad a day early.

Cool Drain Thingy, Whiskeytown Lake, CA

Osprey

Whiskeytown is a man-made lake.  Near the dam is a cool drain thingy.  I'd love to see this thing in action when waters get high enough.  I saw four or five osprey around the lake.  I actually saw at least one osprey on every day of the trip.  I was hoping for an eagle (bald or golden) on this trip but that didn't work out.  The osprey were a nice consolation prize, though.

Colombian Black-tailed Deer, Trinity River, CA

Colombian Black-tailed Deer

After leaving the lake, I took a detour and followed the Trinity upstream for a few miles.  I found a nice bend in the river to explore.  I was hoping to see some salmon, but if they were in the river they weren't visible.  I wasn't sure if it was too early in the season, anyway.  I bumped into a couple of deer, though.  They were beautiful but very nervous about me being around.  They ran off across a small field after having a good look at me.

Colombian Black-tailed Deer, Trinity River, CA

Colombian Black-tailed Deer, Trinity River, CA

Trinidad, CA

It took a few hours to get out to the coast.  I hit 101 just North of Eureka and took a right.  I stopped in Trinidad to gas up and have a look at their lighthouse.  It was a cute little thing.  The surrounding scenery was as picturesque as it comes.  It reminded me of Pacific Grove, how it seemed too pretty to be real.

Trinidad, CA

So, I don't actually remember the name of my next stop.  It might have been Dry Lagoon Beach.  Dunno.  It was wonderfully foggy with patches of sunlight blowing through.  My kind of place, whatever it was called.

Redwood National Park, CA

Redwood National Park, CA

Roosevelt Elk, Redwood National Park, CA

Roosevelt Elk

As usual, there was a herd of elk hanging out near Elk Meadow.  They always seem to be there, though I never seem to find them in the same exact place.  This time they were in some body's front yard.  I normally drive through this area in the off-season I guess, I'm used to having the herd all to myself.  On this trip the herd was surrounded by tourists.  I was a little uncomfortable with how close folks were getting to the elk, especially when the big bull stood up and moved in with the ladies, but I guess the elk didn't seem to mind.

Roosevelt Elk, Redwood National Park, CA

Roosevelt Elk

Things were really hopping at Klamath River.  This is why I noted earlier that late August is probably a good time to visit the park.  The salmon were running.  People were fishing in boats on the river.  The mouth of the river is quite small and was lined on both sides with fishermen.  Sea lions were hunting the salmon both in the ocean and in the river itself.  Osprey and other birds were also joinng in on the festivities.  It was very cool.

Klamath River, Redwood National Park, CA

Klamath River, Redwood National Park, CA

Klamath River, Redwood National Park, CA

Elegant Tern (?)

I didn't go down to the river's mouth.  The easiest access was from the South side, but by the time I'd figured that out and that there was something interesting going on I was already on the North side and I didn't feel like doubling back.  I wish I had.  my brother went down there a couple of days later and said it was the coolest thing he saw on the trip.  Instead, I headed to the campground.  I was a day early and when I checked with the ranger up front she said my brother wouldn't be in until the next night.  She had a late opening, though, so I took that spot and was starting to settle in when my sister-in-law drove up.  They had two separate reservations in different spots in the same campground over the two nights.  I moved to their site and we were off on the next leg of this adventure.  Well, we had dinner and went to sleep, then set out on the next leg the following day.

Lagoon Creek, Redwood National Park, CA

Metropolitan Golf Links

August 23, 2014

We went golfing yesterday at Metropolitan Golf Links.  It's a nice course with very few trees, a links style course.  It's my home course.  Well, technically the Chuck Corica Complex is a mile closer to my house, but Metro is where I go when I golf close to home.

Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

I got a handful of OK golf shots.  I threw most out, though.  I was struggling with focus.  I guess this is the first time I've taken this camera on a golf outing.

Red Fox -- Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

The highlight for me was our encounter with a red fox.  We first saw him from a distance on the ninth fairway.  He walked right up to us as we finished the tenth hole and sat down in front of the eleventh tee box forcing us to wait until he moved on.  I'm saying he but it could have just as easily been a lovely lady fox.

I was hoping for a wildlife sighting on this round.  It's not unusual to see critters on the course during late afternoon rounds.  I was hoping for a skunk sighting.  They're a lot more common out there, at least in my experience.  This is the second time I've seen a fox on the course.  I've also seen a few while playing Monarch Bay in San Leandro.  Sam says they're common at Chuck Corica, he worked there a while so he should know.

Red Fox -- Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

How'd the round go, you ask?  Sam had low score, of course.  Seems like he always does.  Jim and Joe tied for second, I think.  Me?  Ha.  I got some nice pictures of a fox.

Red Fox -- Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

Red Fox -- Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

Red Fox -- Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, CA

Point Reyes National Seashore

August 16, 2014

I took Pongo for a drive around Point Reyes today.  We walked around a bit, but mostly we drove through the ranches to see the cows.  He's really into cows these days.

Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Bulls too, obviously.

Drake's Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

It was a quiet day.  We saw a lot of vultures and crows.  We watched a northern harrier hunting for a while near Pierce Ranch.  We didn't see any elk and only a couple of deer.  We drove up Mount Vision Road and I thought I saw some mountain quail.  I guess not, though, they don't even show up as rarities on eBird.  Just california quail and wishful thinking, I guess.

Columbian Black-tailed Deer -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

August 3, 2014

Pongo and I took a drive out to San Luis National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday.  It's a nice place for a drive.  I wasn't going to be very mobile anyway, a hike was definitely out of the question.  Even in August, when the waterfowl are all up North and the marshes are dry, there is still plenty to see on the reserve, it just doesn't come as easily as it does in winter.

American Kestrel -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

American Kestrel

There are plenty of birds on the refuge in August.  A safe guess would be that I saw around two hundred individuals of at least thirteen species.  California Quail.  Great Blue Heron.  Great Egret.  Snowy Egret.  Red-tailed Hawk.  Mourning Dove.  Belted Kingfisher.  American Kestrel.  Black Phoebe.  Western Kingbird.  Western Scrub-Jay.  Barn Swallow.  Western Meadowlark.  There were also blackbirds (tri-colored or redwing, I couldn't tell which) and Crows.  There's nothing too surprising in that list.  The kingfisher, perhaps.  Kingfishers aren't exactly rare in California, but I also feel like it's a treat to see one.  They do seem to be camera shy, I have yet to get a decent photo of one.

Belted Kingfisher -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sheep

The birds weren't plentiful enough to grab Pongo's attention and they were also having little trouble staying far enough away from us to dash any hopes of getting good pictures.  We weren't really there for the birds, anyway.  I knew we'd see some elk, that's pretty much a given at San Luis.  They're contained in a very large enclosure, much bigger than a zoo pen but fenced in nonetheless.  We weren't here for the elk, either.  They'd be the consolation prize if we didn't see our true goal: coyotes.

Sheep -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We drove the entire waterfowl route without seeing any coyotes.  That was a disappointment.  I've seen a couple of coyotes at San Luis, always on or near the waterfowl road.  Toward the end of the road we ran into a herd of sheep.  They were hunkered down in the bushes trying to stay out of the heat.  There sky was overcast, but it was still quite warm.  I stopped the car and we watched them sitting around for quite a while.  Pongo loves big animals like this.  He recently discovered cows on a trip to Point Reyes and I think the bovines have replaced deer as his favorite animal.  He thought the sheep were pretty cool.

Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We saw our first coyote near the start of the elk tour, right before it splits with the waterfowl road.  He/she was a little guy/gal who ran off before I could get all but one not completely crappy shot.  I think it was still a puppy.

Coyote mama & pup -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We drove almost the entire elk road before seeing any elk.  Then all at once we bumped into them.  Not only were the elk there, a mother coyote and her puppy were hanging out as well.

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

The mother coyote stopped on a small mound while the pup ran into the grass behind her.  The elk were close by and not too crazy about having the coyote hanging around.  The dog posed no real threat, I'm sure, but I think the elk would have preferred her to move on.  she didn't.  She plopped right down for a nice rest in the sun on the mound.  We never saw the puppy come back from the grass.

Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA