We didn't roll the dice and decided to do last weeks hike today. That meant getting a reasonably early start to head up to Bear Valley Visitors Center. We walked out on the Bear Valley Trail to Meadow and back down Mt. Wittenberg. A quick 2 hour hike, roughly 5 miles. So many calls of the mysterious varied thrush but didn't manage to see nary a one. Also stood for a long time looking at rustlings and soil moving. Clearly just under the surface of composting leaf matter. We think it was a mole.
Such an inviting trail.Green grass under green treesCalifornia Bay Trees kissing overhead and they weren't even leaning over a body of water it was just for fun.Love love love the golden California hills off in the distance.Unidentified as yet butterfly there were literally hundreds. The closed wing look is nearly totally dark black.
Update: It's a "California Tortoiseshell" https://www.ptreyeslight.com/article/nature-notebook-july-5-2018
This is the place a bobcat stood moments before. We were taking photos of the butterflies and a good sized bobcat trotted by at the crossroads.Come with me on any trail surrounded by a green and gold skirt and dance to the whispers of trees and the song of birds.Tawnia on the TrailYou'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold (Sting - Fields of Gold)What we saw on this hike includes but is not limited to:
