More Photos

I'm falling behind on here again, so I thought I'd at least post a few photos from the last couple of weeks. The first few are from a hike that Willow and I did up to Mission Peak the weekend before the most recent one. The amazing thing is that she is the one who suggested the hike, which is a bit unusual for her, especially when one considers it involves a 2000 foot elevation change. The view from the top is spectacular though, and the day was beautiful.

On the way down, we saw a coyote running along the ridge line. It crossed the trail ahead of us and lounged in the grass awhile.

Near the peak, Willow almost stepped on a little Gopher snake. She did one of those little "avoid crushing the reptile" dances for a moment. I picked it up and the lady in front of us came back so she could take pictures of it. I switched to naturalist mode for a minute or two, then took my own pictures and let it go.

This is a picture showing the trail leading away from the peak. Yeah, it was kind of a pain in the butt to walk up it. Completely worth it though.

We never did get too close to the coyote, but it didn't seem to concerned by the nearby crowds.

There were lots of corvids riding the thermals, but not too many hawks or vultures.

It's a popular destination. The trail we took begins at Ohlone college, and most of the hikers seemed to be college students.

Willow, being a child of the 21st century, took lots of pictures with her iPod.

Of course, there are the obligatory "standing on top of the spire" photos, the taking of which usually entails waiting in line.

This was one of the last photos I took on the way down. It provides a nice contrast between the hills and the valley, and illustrates why I'd rather be in the hills.

At camp, there is a Gray fox who has incorporated visits to our compost buckets into its nightly routine. I set up the trail cam right outside my window one night, and got these photos.

Today, it is partially cloudy and there is a cool breeze. Our internet was out earlier, and had been since Saturday. This is a relatively common problem. Spring is definitely here though. The garden is full of green, and our artichoke plant could feed an army, if only because we fenced it off from the chickens.