I had forgotten about Winter. It seemed like a thing of the past, along with skiing, skating, sledding, cold noses and icy toes. Even as recently as New Years Day the forest was looking depressingly dry, with precipitation totals well below normal. But by late January cosmic forces began to realign themselves and aimed a great “atmospheric river” of moisture towards the west coast, and by the end of the month we were getting hosed and things were looking a lot wetter. But that was only the beginning! Continue reading “Snow Safari”
Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue.” John Muir
A perfect day at Cronan Ranch
Some may say John Muir never had allergies, but Lyssa and the rest of the pack and I agree with his assessment. The forest has been delicious this week; we’ve been savoring it. Continue reading “Yin & Yang”
Hiking for Rhinos Virtual Marathon Update #2 January, 2019
Wow, am I finding lots of great places to walk, and discovering many interesting and beautiful things that I never knew existed right here in El Dorado County! Here are some highlights from my second week of Hiking for Rhinos:
Lyssa generally has better judgement than I do.
Walking down the bike trail towards Shingle Springs one rainy afternoon the sky ahead of us was getting darker and darker. I was aiming to go another couple tenths of a mile down the tracks but Lyssa and Tina had other ideas. There was a faint thunderclap in the distance and Lyssa suddenly put on the brakes and did a U-turn and started tugging at the leash to go back to the car. I coaxed her to continue on another minute or so but then there was a second much louder thunderclap and both dogs turned on a dime and took off back up the trail, dragging me with them. We were still a half mile or so from the car when the storm caught up with us- hail, wind and torrential rain. Boy did I get some dirty looks from Lyssa! I had to confess, my dog is smarter than I am!
Fortunately Lyssa is as forgiving as she is smart and the next day she was very happy to lead me on an exploratory hike up the west ridge trail of Cronan Ranch. What a beautiful time to be out in the foothills! The rattlesnakes are lying low, green grass is beginning to blanket the land, and all of the foxtails and stickers are gone. The lichens, moss and ferns are painting lush glowing kaleidoscopes of green on every rock, branch and tree trunk.
Daffodil mushrooms
At the top of the west ridge we found a field of tiny yellow toadstools sprouting in the grass like a field of daffodils. It was pretty magical!
One day I joined Dr Chris hiking over on the Middle Fork of the American River near Foresthill. We hiked down a section of the Western States Trail into the canyon along the river. The trail wound down through several beautiful tributary creeks that had carved spectacular miniature gorges through the bedrock. The sculptured gorges were draped with branches dripping with thick green moss and lichen.
Mosaic with lichen & moss on bark
It was wonderful.
I’m convinced we don’t know how lucky we are to be living in this beautiful Sierra foothill country, or we would be doing even more to protect it. We have so much public land and the freedom to walk and explore. We share these lands with native wildlife, and we have sanctuaries for native plants. We have so much to appreciate, but we can’t appreciate what we don’t even know we have. So don’t just take my word for it! Go for a walk!
Not a rhinoceros, but still pretty special
Other countries and lands are not so lucky. I’m walking here, but I’m thinking of Africa (see The Art of Bathing in the Mud.)
If you are already a sponsor THANK YOU! If you would like to pitch in, it’s not hard and every penny-a- mile counts! Here’s the link: sponsor me!
Happy Trails,
Shirley & Co
A view down the Forebay Penstock to the South Fork. No, we didn’t go that way!I love MossWet forestFor Annie
I can hardly believe how many people have signed up to sponsor me to raise money for the Rhinoceros and their Rangers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy! As of today I’m earning 44 cents a mile! I’m so excited I even braved the winter weather to do the 7.5 mile loop at Fleming Meadows this afternoon. I have to admit there was a moment or two when I really wanted to stay home curled up by the woodstove reading a good book, but then I thought about how many millions of years there have been rhinoceroses evolving and roaming around on this planet, and how us humans have managed to pretty much wipe them out in less than a hundred years, and out we went. Besides with 16 sponsors and Lyssa and Pippi hiking along, how could I say no?
