Coyote Bluff Blog: July 2012

Sunday, July 22, 2012

South Fork Yuba River - July 2012

From Summer 2012

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Wildflower Hike with friends

Diane, Steve, Theo, and Tricia come visit and we take some hikes identifying all the wildflowers with Steve. Thank you Steve, for keying all these out.

Subsequently, my neighbor George ( http://onthesummit.net/ )reviewed our identifications and suggested some corrections. George uses the Calflora website for flower id http://www.calflora.org/ . It is really a great site when you have a name. George also uses the site wildflowers by color http://www.adampaul.com/wildflowers/colors.shtml which is limited but good when color is all you have.

From Summer 2012

Sierra Tiger or Alpine Lily - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilium_parvum

From Summer 2012

Sierra Stickseed

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=3992

Velcety Stickseed is very similar and ranges overlap -

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=3995

From Summer 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012

Independence Lake, CA - Tahoe Donner Land Trust

5 miles west of Rt. 89 north of Truckee lies a high alpine gem of public access property called Independence Lake. With a total of 3 motorized boats allowed - each under 10 HP, and at that only every other week, it is a paddlers dream. Free single and double sit-on top kayaks are available free of charge, no reservations, ready at the lake shore. You cannot bring your own boat. At 7,000 feet, the water is clear and very cold. Today we visited, but stayed off the water due to high winds. The hiking/biking trail along the shore is equally as enjoyable, and we will certainly return.

From Summer 2012

For more information and directions click on link below:
Nature Conservancy

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Bird Watching Van Norden Lake - July 2012

White Pelican resting on rocks near the spillway...

From Summer 2012

Canadian Geese in Flight

From Summer 2012

Entrapped rock in root ball

From Summer 2012

Cheerful bow paddler

From Summer 2012

White faced Ibis in flight

From Summer 2012

White Pelican in flight

From Summer 2012

White faced (adult, non-breeding) Ibis in flight

From Summer 2012

White faced Ibis on shore

From Summer 2012

White faced Ibis with goose

From Summer 2012

White faced Ibis on shore

From Summer 2012

Donner Lake Triathlon passes through Soda Springs

Riders completed their swim in Donner Lake, then jumped on bikes and rode up old 40 towards Kingvale. This is about 8 mile into the 24 mile ride as they passed through Soda Springs.

From Summer 2012

Here are the two men's leaders - they switched places between heading out to Kingvale and returning through Soda Springs on their way back over the summit and down to Donner Lake.

From Summer 2012

Heads down - pulling for the summit

From Summer 2012

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Made it to the Palisade Petroglyphs

Much better success today when my neighbor George led me and a small group of local hikers to the Petroglyphs near Palisade Creek just beyond the Royal Gorge property. The wildflowers were blooming all along the way, but especially in the boggy places. Scared some grouse up out of the grass into a high tree branch as we passed.

These petroglyphs are like none I have ever seen before. They have been drawn I am told about 1,300 years ago and are fading fast, as they are on almost horizontal exfoliating granite exposed to the brunt of winter freeze/thaw cycle. If you want to go, contact me for GPS coordinates and hiking directions.