Mom took me to point Reyes National Seashore.  This is a place filled with both human and natural history and lots of great places to hike.

Our first hike was the estero trail.  The first section goes through a grassland where we saw a variety of wildflowers.  Here I am checking out some blue eyed grass and coast lotus.

Douglas iris was common almost everywhere we went.

Sun cups.

The trail leaves the grassland and winds through an abandoned Christmas tree farm. 

When we reached the estero the tide was out and Mom liked the texture in the sediment as the retreating water left braided rivulets behind.

In this area we saw a variety of shrubs like this ceanothus, 

and this plant that Mom was unable to identify.

Finally we reached a place where we could see the open water of Drakes Bay and we turned around and retraced our steps.

Ranger Duckie goes to Death Valley part 3

 The next day began with a trip to Zabriskie Point

The view here is amazing, across the badlands and Death Valley to the Panamint range.

Mom hiked down into the the badlands

She saw few people on this quiet and other worldly trail.  There is a unique beauty in this rugged landscape, one sees the very bones of the earth.

In the afternoon we hiked up Golden Canyon

There had once been a road up the canyon and you can still see remnants of it here on the right.

Looking up a side canyon we saw more of the spectacular colors as we saw on Artists Drive.

Farther up the trail we get a good view of  the red cathedral formation

 Instead of going up to red cathedral we could have taken the trail up around Manly Beacon here and up to Zabriskie point.  Maybe another time.

We left Golden Canyon and the next day left Death Valley a day earlier than planned. Another strong winter storm was forecast and there was concern that the way home would be snowy and icy. 

Ranger Duckie goes to Death Valley part 2

After our visit to Badwater we took the Artists drive.  

The amazing colors here sent Mom to a geology book which said the formation owed its color to the presence of iron

Our next stop was Harmony Borax Works

The borax works only operated from 1884 to 1888 and produced 3 tons of borax daily except during the heat of summer.

Getting the borax out of the valley was no easy feat in those days and required the effort of teams of 20 mules hence the phrase "20 mule team borax"  Glad to see that much of the weight they pulled was water.

One of the reasons Mom wanted to visit here was that she was hoping to photograph star trails and this was said to be a great spot for night photography.  When we arrived at night we encountered two problems.  There were clouds to the north and a ranger was giving a star talk.  We enjoyed the talk but gave up on the photography.  Next time.

Mom has found that you can get decent star trails even in suburban Lincoln.

  We don't know what the artifact on the right is, perhaps a homemade rocked?  The trail fades as it rises so it went up rather than down like a meteor.

  We will continue to seek out dark skies.  The family is considering a trip to Zion in the fall, we'll see what happens.

Ranger Duckie goes to Death Valley: part 1

 Hi! I'm Ranger Duckie.  I'm kind of like a Junior Ranger except I'm a rubber duck.  Mom got me several years ago in Yosemite but she never took me traveling.  Recently she decided I would be good company and, besides, I am very photogenic and like all good rangers I'm adventurous.

It's a long drive from our home in Lincoln, CA and we drove through some much colder territory.  We stopped at the Mono Lake Overlook and looked over a very white scene.  Brr!

Our first stop was at the mesquite sand dunes.

 Later that day we went down to Bad Water.

Everywhere I looked, salt and the geologist say it is one to six feet thick.  That's a lot of salt!  The weather was pleasant, in the 60's when we were there but it can get up to 130 in the summer!  I might melt!

Well, that's it for now, next time Harmony Borax works, the badlands and Golden Canyon.

Emerald California

A wet winter has gowned California in emerald sprinkled with gems of many colors.  Before it could return to its "Golden State" of brown grasses we headed over to the coast and Point Reyes National Seashore.

Told that the Chimney Rock trail was a good place to see wildflowers, that was where we headed.  It didn't disappoint.

Blue gems were the Lupine, Douglas Iris and Blue eyed grass.

 

Among the yellows were, of course, plenty of California Poppies along with Mule Ears and Yellow Bush Lupine.

To represent the pinks we saw Checkerbloom, Cow Clover and Beach Morning Glory.

I mustn't forget the Indian Paintbrush.

This is a sampling of what we saw on one of several walks we took.  I'll show you more of Point Reyes in another post.

You can find other views of our wonderful world at .
Our World Tuesday

Which Way is Up?

We were back to our favorite place, Yosemite,  recently and I took my lensball to the bank of the Merced River.

The reflection of the trees in the river which would be upside down is now right side up.

When flipped in post processing the image is less confusing to the brain.  Which is right?  Whichever the viewer finds most pleasing.

In this view towards Half Dome the inverted view of that iconic rock seems a bit hard to pick out but the blurry image in the background can only be Half Dome.

 

When inverted the blurry image becomes just a shadow but Half Dome is obvious in the lensball.  I recall an experiment I once read about where subjects wore glasses that inverted the image.  Eventually their brains  accommodated and turned the image right side up.  I don't think I would like a topsy-turvy world but in photography it can be interesting.

The lensball is a fun addition to my camera bag but will never replace my Canon lenses.

You can find more reflections at Weekend Reflections.

Some Local Birds

It really isn't necessary for me to go out to the rice fields as I did for an earlier post.  We have wetlands right here in Sun City and Jules and I took a walk there to see who we could find.

Northern Flicker

Many birds were perched in the trees at the edge of the wetlands.

Don't know who this little guy is but it sure is cute.

I'm pretty sure this is a yellow-rumped warbler.

Nothing unusual about these two, robins and hawks can be found everywhere.

Blue Heron

It is the birds of the wetlands that I most enjoy.  Growing up in Los Angeles I had little contact with birds like these.

female bufflelhead

pied-billed grebe

It was a cloudy day and this group was on the far side of a pond so it was hard to get a good shot.  In addition to the ubiquitous mallards I spotted northern shovelers, American wigeons, and green-winged teals.

Green-winged Teal

Of all the birds I saw that day, the one below would be worth the walk even if I had seen nothing else

.

This green heron was hunting just a few feet from the path.  He slowly rotated allowing me several views.

Find more views of our amazing world at Our World Tuesday.
Find more birds at Wild Bird Wednesday.