Category: Nature

A Wild Morning

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, WildlifeTagged , Leave a comment

This morning I rose early to hit the trail. The PG&E trail in Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. I needed a good hike since we didn’t do nearly as much hiking as I had  hoped to do last week-end.

Getting out in the country early in the morning is wonderful for so many reasons; it’s cool; there is usually no problem finding parking; there is hardly any one else around; and the wildlife is out and about. That was the case this morning;

Here’s what I saw this morning while on the way up to Vista Point.

A widdle wabbit!

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

A Junco surveying the land.

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

The flowers have changed and will soon be plump and juicy berries!

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

Oh, we startled each other. He was curious about my shutter clicks and would look at me each time I clicked. After 3 clicks he thought it was safe and began to munch on these leaves. I let him graze a bit then moved which scared him up the hillside.

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

Just after I rounded the bend in the trail I nearly stepped on this guy.

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

My sunny day companion…

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

Lilies…I saw only one other plant of these while going up today. I don’t think they fit here. Are they indigenous or not?

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac
Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

It was warm by 7:30a.m. I’m glad I got started early. Here’s Vista Point!

There isn’t much here, the power tower, a sign, and a bench you can’t see on the other side of the tower,  the view was hazy this morning too, but I made it here in my best time yet. 1h34m!

Photo by Deborah M. Zajac

The trip down was interesting and had wildlife too. A King Snake, and fawn and its Mother, and …well I’ll save that until next time.

Total miles hiked- 8.2

Total time – 3h5m

Total Elevation gain- 2.170ft

Related articles

A Sea of Orange

Posted in California, Flowers, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , Leave a comment

A Sea of Orange, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I spent a long week-end up in the Sonoma Coastal area with Naturalist Jon Menard and 6 other hikers this was one of the first places we stopped to visit. I enjoyed the garden so much I didn’t have a chance to go in the house! You know what that means don’t’ you? Right! I must go back.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 18-200mmVR @ 27mm| f8| 1/620 second| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod

For the Historians:
The famed horticulturist Luther Burbank made his home in Santa Rosa for more than fifty years. On this garden site and in nearby Sebastopol, Burbank conducted the plant-breeding experiments that brought him world renown. His objective was to improve the quality of plants and thereby increase the world’s food supply. In his working career Burbank introduced more than 800 new varieties of plants- including over 200 varieties of fruits, many vegetables, nuts and grains, and hundreds of ornamental flowers.

Tioga and Glacier Roads Plowing Update

Posted in California, NatureTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

There is still a lot of snow up there!

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm

 

Watch the crew as it plows near Olmstead Point

http://www.nps.gov/media/pwr/avElement/yose-olmstedplowing.mov

 

For the historians View a log of Tioga & Glacier Roads Closing/ Opening dates.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

Juvenile Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Nikon D90, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday afternoon I hiked up to Black Mt. starting from a new to me trail-head. On the way down he was sunbathing on the side of the trail. Heman nearly stepped on him! He was about 2ft long, not too fat, and only had 4 rings on his rattle. I didn’t get all that close to him. I stayed on the other side of the fire road/trail.
About 1/2 mile from the end of my hike I saw another smaller one sitting on the side of the trail.
Yesterday afternoon was the day for wildlife. I saw a deer, a rabbit, 2 rattlers, and a hawk eating something. I couldn’t tell what it was I was too far away.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 18-200mmVR @ 170mm| f10| 1/25 sec| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Hand-held
Hike details
Black Mt Trail via Rhus Ridge Trail
Total hike 10 miles
Total feet gained 2,549
Total time: 4h 33mins.
Average speed 2.2mph

Correction- Thanks to Correcamino for correctly Identifying this rattler for me!

Forenoon under the Dogwoods

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Nikon D90, PhotographyTagged , , , , 1 Comment

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

The Dogwoods are blooming in the mountains so a friend and I went on a day trip up to see and photograph them.

Our journey took us to Calaveras Big Trees California State Park. The ranger told us the North Grove was probably at peak bloom, and the South Grove was already showing signs it was past peak, so we went straight to the North Grove.

I hadn’t been to this park in many years. It’s a beautiful park with a lovely ancient Redwood forest with Giant Sequoia, and Coast Redwoods. There is a very famous tree stump here it’s as big a room. These colossal trees can reach up to 325ft tall, and have a diameter of 33ft! Some of these trees are thought to be 2,000 years old.

Growing all around these beautiful trees are Dogwoods. The forest floor is full of new Dogwoods with their slender trunks and delicate branches.

We didn’t find many low blossoms on the day we went. The blossoms were high in the canopy where the sunshine hits the trees first.

Our explorations took us up to the North Grove Overlook trail. We hiked up about a mile, and it was here we found some new blossoms which were low enough to photograph some close-ups.

There is a Christian legend about the Dogwood tree, author unknown, is as follows:

In Jesus’ time, the dogwood grew
To a stately size and a lovely hue.
‘Twas strong and firm it’s branches interwoven
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen.
Seeing the distress at this use of their wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
“Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so.
Slender and twisted, it shall be
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.
As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom’s center wears a thorny crown.
All who see it will remember Me
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.
Cherished and protected, this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony.


Additional Tree Facts:

The species of dogwood tree that is native to California is the Pacific or Western dogwood (C. nuttallii). It is one of the tallest of the dogwoods and one that produces the most blooms. Its natural habitat ranges from southern British Columbia in Canada to the southernmost parts of California and as far as 200 miles inland.

Features

The branches of the Western dogwood, which can grow horizontally as well and vertically, form a thick crown that can be round or cone-shaped. The tree can grow from 15 to 40 feet tall, or be trimmed to grow as a hedge. It produces white flowers that can have a touch of pink and are larger than the flowers of other dogwood species, and orange-red berries. The green leaves turn yellow/orange in the fall and then fall off.

Uses and Benefits

The California dogwood will attract birds and wildlife. It can be used as a standalone lawn plant, grown as a hedge or as part of a wind break.

Tree facts obtained from Sunset Garden Books

 

A Mother’s Day Hike

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged 3 Comments

Stepping up my game last week I added a longer trail to my training routine. I hiked up the PG&E trail in Rancho San Antonio Open Space Reserve in Santa Clara County.

This trail is called the PG&E trail because huge power-towers run up the canyon that the trail follows.   The last time I hiked up this trail was back in the 1990’s it was mid summer and hot. I was also very out of shape. I didn’t make it up 1 mile.  I hoped My Mother’s Day hike would be the opposite of that hike. My goal was to try to make it up to Vista Point at the top of the PG&E trail; a 4 mile hike. The day was perfect for hiking. It was overcast, and cool, with a breeze.

I made it to the first ridge after some steep climbing. The view up here is nice. The clouds were above the mountains and the breeze blew out the fog. I could see Hoover Tower at Stanford University, and in the far distance I could make out San Francisco’s skyline.

There were wildflowers lining the trail. I saw Wild Radish; Parsley, Thistle was everywhere, ivy, wild berries; Poison Oak; buttercups; bindweed; Monkey flower; and under the canopy there was wild Iris! It was the first time I’ve seen it anywhere this year.

Climbing higher Blue Dicks, and Clover were abundant.  This week was the week for a variety of wildflowers along this trail.  I’ve made it a lot farther than the last time I hiked here. Here I can see Vista Point. There’s no stopping me now the goal is in sight. There are the power-towers that the trail is named for. The last one is my goal.

I made it! 4 miles to this point in 2 hours. Here’s the view looking down the canyon, and out to the valley below. I was feeling really good.

Rather than turn around and head down the way I’d come up I followed the ridge on Upper Meadow trail where I saw more wildflowers then I turned down Upper Wildcat Canyon Trail then caught the Farm Bypass Trail then Canyon trail where I saw these sweet Globe Lilies.

…and a little further down I was following Permanente Creek, and had to stop to photograph this little spill over fall.

Finally I connected to the PG&E trail again and headed down to the parking lot. My legs were tired, but I felt great. Baby Girl treated me to lunch for Mother’s Day after this hike.  It’s not often I can say the day was perfect, but this Mother’s Day was.

Total hike 9.3 miles

Total elevation gain 1800 ft.

Total time 4 hours

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm lens, Induro C213 tripod

All photographs are Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved

A morning hike in Uvas Canyon

Posted in California, Flowers, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , 2 Comments

Myself and the Cheeky Monkey hiked in Uvas Canyon County Park this morning. To stretch out my legs, and continue training for a hike up to Cloud’s Rest in Yosemite this summer.

We picked the Alec Canyon Trail with a side trip up to Triple Falls.  The trail is steep in places, and there were a few fallen trees blocking the trail as we climbed higher. We had to crouch so low to get under one tree our backpacks got caught. I’ll feel that tomorrow in my quads I’m sure!

We saw a Common Star Lily about a mile up the trail. I don’t think it’s very common. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this wildflower!

Other wildflowers we spotted along the trail were; Wild lilac, Monkey Flower, Thistle, I think I spotted some Trillium, Miner’s lettuce, and Leafystem Coreopsis that a Variable Checkerspot was warming up on. I used my Canon 500 D close up filter to try and get a good shot of him. I really do need to spend some more time playing with this. It’s neat, but does require some practice. The Depth of Field is very shallow as you can see on the butterfly, but I did manage a good close up the Leafystem Coreopsis.

Up at Triple Falls I worked a couple of areas, and nearly ended up in the creek when I slid down the embankment while on my way down to the photograph closer to the creek. The soil was loser than I thought it was.Thankfully it was a soft landing.

There wasn’t much color down where I was so I pulled myself back up the embankment after taking several shots of a little fall and pool. I moved over to photograph Triple Falls. It doesn’t look that big at first, but then you get to the observation fence and Whoa! It’s pretty high. It must fall 35 feet at least, but I liked the base the best today and the way it cascaded down a huge boulder.

After we left Triple Falls we headed back up to the end of Alec Canyon Trail. There were groves of Redwood trees, and the sound of the water cascading down the mountain, and chirping bird were lovely.  I tried to mimic one bird. I can do a Finch fairly well. We hiked up past the end of the trail deep into the canopy and found ourselves right on the creek, and to our delight there were lots of beautiful moss covered rocks and little spill overs to photograph. We worked this area for quite a while. I chose to use my B+W 3 stop Neutral Density filter today because it wasn’t too bright under the canopy, and I knew with that light it would be enough to slow down the shutter speed to get the look I was going for.

It was the first time I’d been to these sections of the park. I am looking forward to returning to them again in the future.

The hike details:

Total miles 3.54

Elevation gain: 900 ft

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 17-35mm & Nikkor 80-200mm| Canon 500D close up filter| B+W 3 Stop ND filter| Handheld and Tripod

All Photos are Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.