After the Morning Routines: Sleep in, Breakfast, Village Shuttle to and fro.... and after noon about, hopped in Silver and actually went somewhere...thought had been all week to go to Tuolumne yesterday, and again this morning, but kept having second thoughts--too far, too hot, too sleepy!...but mostly I feel off somehow about driving long distances to take pics, and find myself wondering what I might see hereabout on a walkabout....here I've acquired a kinda local Critter lore....there, everything takes awhile to become familiar....not very well explained...anyway, parked Silver on the South Rim Road, and paddled out to Dewey Point...quiet...Juncos, Blue Jay, Flicker, Golden Mantle, and Chickaree, and after a huff and puff hike, I reached Dewey Point, and just before the View, sighted Blue Grouse, and lost sight of Blue Grouse in the Low Growing Bushes about four times...Grouse doesn't fly off and one can get close for pics, but if in a moment one loses sight, Grouse has a way of blending in and disappearing!...and that finally happened all together, and I left off amd went out to the View and had late Lunch...tuna, hersheys, gator aid....heard Falcon, I think, but couldn't sight...thought had been to see Falcon, but seeing Grouse is okay too....messed up on exposures...Grouse was for awhile in deep shade, and I set for that, and forgot to change when Grouse was in sunlight...was thinking too much about getting clips....and didn't do too well with those either!...anyway, quiet on the hike back too...met along the Trail twelve other hikers...report of Owl sighting in Vancouver!....busy Trail considering the time of year....sunny magnificent blue, a few clouds in the evening, warm....reached the Cabin in time for a paddle out to the Woods...thought to sit and wait for hoo hoos, but when I came out of the Trees at the Three Cedar Meadow Grasses, I sighted Owl perched beside the Ponderosa...pic and clip...and Owl sighted Owl, and both Owls flew to the Deer House, hoo hooing, and then Both Owls perched in the Giant Ponderosa by Chapel Bridge, hoo hooing...one Owl flew across the Merced, and second Owl flew to a Tall Ponderosa by the Path...pics up....Owls are Sentinel and Ponderosa, just dont know which is which!....think it's Sentinel by the Path...dark, and following Owl took me to Sentinel Shuttle stop...hopped on and dinner in Siberia, and talkabout with friend, and a curio lookup--The Winter Tioga Road Didn't Close...brb....(oh...reports of Bears...four seen today, three yesterday)...
Tioga Road History:
The Tioga Road; a History 1883-1961 (1961, 1980) by Keith A. Trexler
and, while Tioga Road doesn't appear to have been open all winter ever, in 1976 it was open for a record 263 days: http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.htm
brb...well, a real curio! In 1976 England suffered a record drought and heat wave...a google of that will bring up reports....and this page offers an explanation:
report claims 2003 was a bookend of 1976.....brb...Tioga only open 153 days in 2003....and 154 in 1975....and 156 in 2004...oh...so there appears to be no pattern, and the 1976 here, and there, a coincidence...of sorts!...hmmph...England is far away!
And Fossil Raindrops (a contribution to National Fossil Day!):
quote
When Mulch compared ancient raindrops in the clays with modern precipitation samples, he discovered a remarkable similarity: In both cases, deuterium levels gradually decreased from the lowest-elevation collection site to the highest—a strong indication the topography of the Sierra had changed little since the Eocene epoch. "With these data, we've been able to extend the record back and say, 'We think these mountains were high 40 to 50 million years ago and did not rise from sea level in the last 3 to 5 million years,"' Chamberlain said.
Ancient raindrops reveal the origins of California's Sierra Nevada range
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