Placerita hike
May. 4th, 2006 02:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furtechOn Monday Roz, Rondo and I took a hike down Placerita Canyon. Saw a woman panning for gold: she said that people have actually found nuggets there (to my surprise-- I'd heard it was all dust). Serious panner too: she had an impressive metal detector next to her.
The canyon was -very- green: the late rains have kept the area green later than I've ever seen it (everything's usually brown by now). Roz taught me the names of a number of interesting birds (that I promptly forgot); most interesting (for me) was a white-tailed kite that I saw hovering over the canyon.
We checked out Frog Point to see if Roz could find any dragonfly nymphs; only found a bunch of pacific treefrongs-- who were living up to their other name: Pacific chorus frogs. What a racket! I saw one of the bright green variations, but forgot to take a picture of him; I did get a shot of a more sedately colored fellow .
I got another reminder of how resilient nature can be: here are three different pictures taken of the same spot at three different times. The first frame was taken about February of 2004; the second shot was taken in November of 2004; the third shot was taken on this walk, May 2006. The asterisk marks the spot of a rock that has been there through all three photos. The second photo shows the 3+ feet of sand and silt that accumulated in the creek after the fires and torrential rains of 2004; no frogs at all. Now that silt is all gone and the frogs are back in force.
The winds do strange things to the dead brush
The canyon was -very- green: the late rains have kept the area green later than I've ever seen it (everything's usually brown by now). Roz taught me the names of a number of interesting birds (that I promptly forgot); most interesting (for me) was a white-tailed kite that I saw hovering over the canyon.
We checked out Frog Point to see if Roz could find any dragonfly nymphs; only found a bunch of pacific treefrongs-- who were living up to their other name: Pacific chorus frogs. What a racket! I saw one of the bright green variations, but forgot to take a picture of him; I did get a shot of a more sedately colored fellow .
I got another reminder of how resilient nature can be: here are three different pictures taken of the same spot at three different times. The first frame was taken about February of 2004; the second shot was taken in November of 2004; the third shot was taken on this walk, May 2006. The asterisk marks the spot of a rock that has been there through all three photos. The second photo shows the 3+ feet of sand and silt that accumulated in the creek after the fires and torrential rains of 2004; no frogs at all. Now that silt is all gone and the frogs are back in force.
The winds do strange things to the dead brush
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Date: 2006-05-04 10:29 am (UTC)I need to go hiking more often. Life doesn't afford many opportunities right now. :(
When Ms. Rissa our late Corgi used to go hiking with us in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, she carried a lightly-burdened Dog Pack. ^^ (She was only about 30 lbs, and carried her snacks & such.)
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Date: 2006-05-04 05:46 pm (UTC)Hikes around L.A. keep me sane.