Visiting Mount Shasta

I've been living in Northwestern California for about nine months now, and I feel like I've explored the coastal areas pretty well (beach, marsh, redwood forest, although of course there's always more to explore with these awesome places). And now, finally, I can add mountains to the list.

In mid-March, Paul and I drove a few hours east and north, through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and up to Mount Shasta, a 14,000 ft peak at the southern end of the Cascades. We narrowly skirted a big rain/snow storm (actually rescheduled our travel plans to avoid it) and spent three perfectly sun-filled days driving past breathtaking scenery and exploring a totally new environment for both of us.

One of the main things we wanted to do, of course, was get up onto the mountain. We were able to drive partway up Mount Shasta (up to about 7,000 ft) on a highway that's kept plowed through the winter. There was more mountain still to go, but this was plenty high enough for me. And it was definitely winter at this elevation. Look, a mountain!!
 

We walked for a bit along paths made by skiers and snowmobiles, heading a little further up the mountain, and surrounded by stately trees and blue skies and so much snow:

Given that we could see the very tops of signposts peeking out of the snow near our feet, we estimated we were walking on at least four feet of packed snow. Wow. Every once in a while we'd take a wrong step and sink down a foot or two.... But mostly the footing was stable. Aside from a few other people, some very happy dogs, and a passing snowmobile or two, the place was just immensely clean and quiet. I have missed snow very much, and mountains are incredible places. The view from this elevation was, unsurprisingly, amazing:
 

There were so many delightful things to see on the mountain. Despite the snow (or maybe because of all the moisture melting snow brings?) many of the trees were covered with this shockingly green lichen (also note at least one bright-green tree in the above picture):
 

Mountain Chickadees were flitting from tree to tree, mostly high above our heads, but at one point a couple of chickadees came down to forage in a shorter tree nearby, and I got to admire these wonderful little birds up close:
 

This chickadee seems to have been sipping from a little stream of sap that was dripping from this tree's trunk:

These little birds were constantly moving from branch to branch, picking up morsels of something or other from between needles:
 

I was so happy to get to hang out with these fancy chickadees:

And of course, I think any chickadees are adorable, even when they have scowling eyebrows:
 

I could have stayed up on the mountain much longer, but we hadn't anticipated how strong the sun would be up there (now I know!), and besides, there were plenty of other places to explore. So we headed down the mountain again.

In the woods and scrub around the mountain's base, we saw lizards (too stealthy and fast for me to get decent pictures of them) and birds and lots of other creatures. A little Douglas Squirrel sat huddled in a tree near the path:
 

Hundreds of little moths (I haven't been able to identify the species, but they were about 1/2 inch or smaller) flashed bright pink wings as they puddled on the paths and made little flurries in the air:

I got to admire the strangely red (presumably living) and gray (dead) portions of branches on abundant Manzanita bushes, which were also in full bloom:
 

A large Canada Goose sat near the edge of a cliff overlooking a gorge (with that white forehead, I believe this is a subspecies of Canada Goose I've not encountered before):

I also saw my first California Quail while in the town of Mount Shasta -- one male even ran across the road with his little head-doodad bobbing! No pictures, however, because it was a residential area. What must it be like to live in a place where quail wander into your yard?

On the drive back west, we stopped at Shasta Lake to visit the Lake Shasta Caverns, which were great. (Mountains and caves in one trip? Goodness!) I wasn't able to manage pictures inside the cave, but the outside scenery was no less amazing. Here's a view of the (man-made) lake:
 

And some particularly craggy cliffs nearby (a Peregrine Falcon pair had a nest near here):
 

One of my favorite parts of this stop, though, was the family of Acorn Woodpeckers that made a huge presence here. Is this bird actually real? What a weird woodpecker!
 

These woodpeckers were calling raucously to one another and flying up to snatch insects out of the air and stash them in crevices in the trees:
 

I knew Acorn Woodpeckers were famous for making stores of acorns in trees, but I had no idea they did the same for insects as well (allaboutbirds.org confirms this is so). A couple of Steller's Jays were joining in on the insect-snatching action as well, sometimes getting into tussles with the Acorn Woodpeckers when one of the birds got too close to the other:
 

I love every part of the Acorn Woodpeckers' weird outfit, but I especially enjoy the stripey-splotchy black pattern on its breast:
 

So yes, a trip to Mount Shasta and surrounding areas was definitely a good idea! Here's to sun and mountains and snow and woods and amazing new animals. And now I'm back in Humboldt County, making the most of my last few months in Northwestern California. I've fallen behind on local sights to share, so expect more posts soon!

Utah Vacation, Part 1: Into the Mountains

I spent the past week traveling with my family in Northeastern Utah, a part of the country that was completely new to me. I was excited to visit with my people and see new things, and this vacation definitely didn't disappoint!

We went on quite a few hikes while we were in the area, and encountered gorgeous scenery and cool wildlife with each trip. Our first extended visit was to Tony Grove Lake, a glacial lake up in the mountains near Logan (the town where we were staying), and something like 8,000 feet above sea level. (That's pretty high up!) Tony Grove Lake is apparently famed for its summer wildflower display, and we arrived right in the middle of the show. I have to say, it was pretty amazing:

The steep slopes around the lake were entirely carpeted with wildflowers in full bloom, and in an incredible variety. There was columbine, Indian paintbrush, larkspur, and dozens of flowers I still don't have names for -- if I'd actually tried to catalog and identify all the flowers in bloom, I'm sure it would've taken me all day! Even without knowing all their names, though, the total collections of flowers really were gorgeous:

The lake itself was fairly busy with people (it was a weekend, and there's a pretty popular campground here), but there were also plenty of animals to see. Several of these big dragonflies (which I haven't been able to identify to species) hovered over the water and stayed still long enough for me to take pictures -- I love how this creature has its legs tucked up delicately behind its head:

And a few birds flew down to pay us a visit, including this handsome male Red-naped Sapsucker:

From Tony Grove Lake, there are a few trails that lead up into the mountains, and I spent a good bit of time meandering along one of these. Away from the lake, there were hardly any other people, and as I climbed another few hundred feet, the terrain morphed into something rocky and beautiful:

Up here, there were even more flowers, including some that I didn't see around the lake. My favorite of these was Stonecrop (Sedum debile), with its golden blooms standing a few inches above the plant's weird, round, succulent leaves, which really do look like they're part of the surrounding rocks:

There were some awesome birds up here, too. Mountain Bluebirds and Steller's Jays reminded me of our own Eastern Bluebirds and Blue Jays, and the Mountain Chickadees sounded just like our Black-capped Chickadees (to my ears) and looked like them, too, except for the weird white eyebrows in their black caps:

The family of Northern Flickers that lived along this trail was also great fun to watch. These western birds have red in their wing and tail feathers ("red-shafted") where our eastern birds of the same species have yellow ("yellow-shafted"). I love our yellow-adorned birds, but these reddened Northern Flickers were very pretty indeed:

I even happened (magically) to snap a picture just as one of these flickers took flight -- I can't help thinking of this creature's feathers as flames... what an awesome bird!

Also remarkably flame-like, a male Western Tanager flitted across my path a few times -- you can't not stop to look at a bird like this!

Many of the birds I saw on this mountain had families in tow ('tis the season!), and the Western Tanager was one of these. The baby waits, and Dad obliges by bringing a meal:

This White-crowned Sparrow was another new bird for me, although the species is also an uncommon winter resident in Connecticut:

Next to birds, rodents were the most common and active creatures in these mountains. Chipmunks were particularly common -- I won't make a guess as to specific identification, since there are multiple similar-looking chipmunk species that live in this area -- foraging next to the trail and just basically being adorable (I love this one's bracelet of dripping yellow petals):

I think the elegant markings on these little creatures are just too pretty, and they're more intense than those on our Eastern Chipmunks back home. I took this next picture on another day in another section of the mountains (and it might not even be the same species of chipmunk), but I think it shows off these markings best:

I even saw a couple of chipmunks who were apparently part of a family group, following and climbing over each other as they explored a fallen branch:

Many rocks along the trail served as convenient look-out points for larger ground squirrels -- this one has again evaded my identification attempts, since there are two species it could be:

And although this final rodent has the body stripes of a chipmunk, it's actually another squirrel -- a Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel:

So while I didn't see any big mammals in the mountains (there are elk and moose in the area, among other creatures), I had a fantastic time with the birds, flowers, and small mammals, not to mention the scenery:

Yeah, Utah's pretty cool.

Coming up: an account of our trip to Antelope Island, where big mammals (and other creatures) abound!