Three Rivers Photos-Leapin' Lizards

Three Rivers Photos Leapin' Lizards

September 17 - September 19, 2004

What a glorious weekend! Fall is finally here. It was a little chilly in the morning, enough for us to need our jackets (about 58 degrees). But once the sun peeked over the hill (see the picture below), it quickly warmed up to the wonderful hiking temperature of about 74 degrees.
We also got an opportunity (again) to remember that we're in the wilderness. When we arrived, it became apparent that we had had visitors.... There were acorns stashed in every box, nook and cranny. Loretta hadn't latched the kitchen box, and half a roll of paper towels had been shredded - with all of the shreddings neatly placed in a spare ashtray that was also in the kitchen box. We also saw relatively fresh bear scat - another reminder than fall has arrived.
You may be wondering how this weekend got such an unusual name. Well, you'll have to ask Wesley in order to get all the details, but in short, we were on a short hike into the south side of the BLM (Bureau of Land Management), and we stopped to rest near a large tree. Suddenly, Wes saw and felt something rather large on the side of his face. In one motion, he grabbed his hat off his head, swiped at whatever-it-was, and a lizard leapt off his face, onto his shoulder, almost went down the back of his shirt, then regained his bearings and leapt up on the tree. Once it was all over with, we all had a good laugh, but it certainly was scary for Wes in the moment.
(As always, click on the picture to get a larger picture that you can see better)

We arrived to find the paper towels had been shredded, and the shreddings neatly placed in an empty ashtray.	We also found the ground squirrels had decided our 'facilities' were perfect for storing their acorns for the winter	Wes plays with a giant praying mantis and a giant black beetle	Hummingbirds visit us all day long
Expecting rainy weather any day, Rob built an 'add-on' to the bathroom to be a tool shed	Sunday morning in South Camp, looking up at the hills	Rob and Wes take an early morning hike down the road	View to the northeast from the homesite, early morning
View to the northwest from the homesite, now that the buckbrush is gone	Wes and Rob hike down to the meadow from the homesite	View of Old Camp from Old Camp road, now that it's empty	Wes and Loretta at Old Camp
This interesting fungus lived on a downed tree in our ravine.	View of the ranch through the trees from the homesite	Rob on the homesite road, going towards South Camp	Close-up of the barn, on the ranch across the valley. Rumor has it that the owner purchased the old barn elsewhere, and had it transported to his property.
These rocks were among many interesting rocks on our hike up into the southeast part of the BLM next to our property.	This view of the north half of our property shows our road fairly well... from the paved cul-de-sac, through the ravine, around the meadow, and up to the homesite.	Blossom Peak early in the morning.	Wes correctly identifies the bear scat found on our property very close to camp.
These plants have been coming up for the last several weeks. The leaves have a very pleasant, herbal aroma. If anyone knows what they are, please let us know.	Morning glory-type plant found near the river, just west of our property	On Sunday, we travelled west along the southern boundary of our property, and found that the South Fork river was pretty close to our southwest corner.
Close-up of part of the river near the property