(see Saturday 5/21) After my previous excursion at Catherine Creek, I felt a need to return and complete the hike to the top, envisioning a grassy hilltop with a view extending for miles in every direction. As it turned out, the grassy hilltop led to another hilltop and then another and so on with no end in sight particularly since the last hilltop was covered with oak trees.
Previously I had told Bob D. about hiking the park and he said he would be interested in hiking there should I return, so yesterday morning I called him and we took off for the area. An uneventful drive then the hike. We covered 7+ miles and gained 1900 feet -- a good day's work for us. And once again the hike was delightful.
We saw two deer-- a forked horn buck (in velvet) and a doe. Two loggerhead shrikes (something of a guess and if a birder wants to say bullshit, well, they're probably right). Lots of violets of some sort, some gentians and monkey flowers and lupines up the ying-yang. A robin eggshell, a coyote track (fresh), deer tracks (old), horse, bear, and coyote shit as well as cow flop. And early in the hike a whiff of skunk.
If the above description sounds like I was looking at the ground a lot, well, I was. Comparing the hike to a race, by the time I came into view the audience would have left, had a beer and a bump and finished their burgers. I was smoked -- Bob was a rocket (not that I kept track) But since I had kept the car keys I had nothing to worry about. I was not strong and fast yesterday. (I expected to be too stiff to move today, but I rode the bike to the gym and had a good workout -- very surprising). In spite of how slow I was moving, it was a really nice day even if I forgot my hat and got a bit of a sunburn.
(dw: "You forgot your hat?! How could you do that, you've got ten of them." DA: "Oh, I don't have ten hats" and went to the hat rack and counted them. "I knew it. I've only got seven hats." dw: "What about the study?" -- So, OK, I have fifteen hats, not counting the knit ones and the fisherman ones. But only two or four would have been appropriate for this hike and so I only forgot one out of two and that's not careless at all. Anyone might do that.)
Driving home we passed a semi tanker-truck. It had a big painted "Coffee" sign on the tanks. It clearly indicated that the tanks were full of coffee. -- really weird -- There have been occasions when I would have welcome a tanker full of coffee at my front door, but it just seems unlikely anyone would be shipping brewed coffee by the thousands of gallons. A mystery wrapped in a conundrum.
Books: "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow" (William Hensley) an Alaskan Inupiaq who grew up in a tar-paper shack and became an early and strong advocate for native Alaskans in particular, and northern people in general. The first part was interesting, the second part less so (to me). Of course the second part is the important part. And "What the Dog Saw" (Malcolm Gladwell) a collection of essays from the "New Yorker" -- Covering things from Ron Popeil (can sell space heaters in the Sahara) to FBI criminal profilers (about as useful and accurate as fortune tellers). An interesting collection. DA
If the above description sounds like I was looking at the ground a lot, well, I was. Comparing the hike to a race, by the time I came into view the audience would have left, had a beer and a bump and finished their burgers. I was smoked -- Bob was a rocket (not that I kept track) But since I had kept the car keys I had nothing to worry about. I was not strong and fast yesterday. (I expected to be too stiff to move today, but I rode the bike to the gym and had a good workout -- very surprising). In spite of how slow I was moving, it was a really nice day even if I forgot my hat and got a bit of a sunburn.
(dw: "You forgot your hat?! How could you do that, you've got ten of them." DA: "Oh, I don't have ten hats" and went to the hat rack and counted them. "I knew it. I've only got seven hats." dw: "What about the study?" -- So, OK, I have fifteen hats, not counting the knit ones and the fisherman ones. But only two or four would have been appropriate for this hike and so I only forgot one out of two and that's not careless at all. Anyone might do that.)
Driving home we passed a semi tanker-truck. It had a big painted "Coffee" sign on the tanks. It clearly indicated that the tanks were full of coffee. -- really weird -- There have been occasions when I would have welcome a tanker full of coffee at my front door, but it just seems unlikely anyone would be shipping brewed coffee by the thousands of gallons. A mystery wrapped in a conundrum.
Books: "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow" (William Hensley) an Alaskan Inupiaq who grew up in a tar-paper shack and became an early and strong advocate for native Alaskans in particular, and northern people in general. The first part was interesting, the second part less so (to me). Of course the second part is the important part. And "What the Dog Saw" (Malcolm Gladwell) a collection of essays from the "New Yorker" -- Covering things from Ron Popeil (can sell space heaters in the Sahara) to FBI criminal profilers (about as useful and accurate as fortune tellers). An interesting collection. DA
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