Thanksgiving 2015: Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

November 22, 2015

For me, Thanksgiving means making the annual trek up to Oregon for a get together with with my extended family.  It's a large gathering.  This year there were sixty-five people or so.  That's maybe slightly above average, but only by a few people.  I think the largest we ever had was ninety folks.  It's not held in a house, it's in a church gymnasium.

Northern Pintail -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Northern Pintail

This year was a little different than usual.  Since Sam moved out a few years ago I've been taking the entire week off and making the drive up a cold-weather road trip.  I spend four or five days by myself camping and seeing the sites.  This year Pongo joined me.  It was the dog's longest trip to date.  Six days.  We had quite a nice adventure together.

Northern Pintail -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Our first stop on the drive up was at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.  It's one of our day trip destinations so we are both familiar with it.  There are a couple of trails we can walk on and the auto tour can be spectacular in the winter.  The weather was perfect, cool but not cold with enough clouds in the sky to make wide shots interesting.

Ring-billed Duck -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Snow Goose

This particular refuge can be a decent place for spotting mammals.  We've seen deer and raccoons and a lone coyote.  I'm always hoping to see an otter but have never seen one.  Truthfully, I'm not sure there even are otters at his location.  I've heard mountain lions are occasionally spotted at these Central Valley complexes.  Rarely, actually.  That would be awesome.  I don't know how Pongo would react.  He tried to jump out the window and chase the last raccoons we saw there.  Silly dog.  We didn't see any mammals on this trip.  Lotsa ducks and geese, though.

Snow Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Snow Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Red-tailed Hawk

Pongo's ears perk up whenever he hears a flock of geese.  He enjoys watching the big birds.  The auto tours in general are a lot of fun for him, I guess.  He likes to hang out the passenger window as we drive slowly around the gravel roads.  That door has a lot of light scratches on it now from Pongo's sightseeing.  That's OK, we never sell our cars anyway, we just drive them until they die.

Hawks and harriers are common sights at the refuge.  The hawks like to sit in the trees that ring the auto tour which is cool because it creates nice photo opportunities.  Harriers are tougher to photograph.  They land on the ground far from the road when they aren't flying around.  I've seen dozens of harriers here but I've never been able to get a decent photo of one at this location.

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Pongo

After the refuge we headed up to Lava Beds National Monument where we'd camp for the night.  It was cold!  The campgrounds were almost empty, so that was nice.  Normally Pongo and I sleep in the car.  It was a little extra crowded in there with Pongo's crate and pillow, so we slept in the tent instead.  It was Pongo's first night in a tent.  He did pretty well.  It took him a little while to get used to the sounds of the tent in the breeze but he settled in OK.

Mount Shasta, CA

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Soundtrack:

• Bruce Springsteen -- Darkness on the Edge of Town / Born to Run
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience -- Electric Ladyland