....to what's going on around you, anything can happen.
Consider today. In the Bay Area, we had two NFL teams finishing lost seasons, the games meaning nothing. As I sipped coffee watching the first quarter of the 49er game this afternoon, I figured that almost ANYTHING would be better than watching the game. I got out to the car and looked around - the rain had turned to the leaky - faucet type, drippy but not adding substantially to the water table. I headed out on a favorite drive, Mines Road south of Livermore. Once on this small, infrequently traveled back road, I could look around for 31 miles before deciding to turn east and down into the San Joaquin Valley, or continue south over Mt. Hamilton. But I get ahead of the story.
Every drive out Mines, as we call it, usually gives us a chance to see some new wildlife or wildlife behavior. This has been my experience for 30 years - it's an incredible drive, quiet, perhaps lonely if you can ascribe such an emotion to a certain topography. For me, it's alive. Water's flowing everywhere, creating miniature waterfalls and creeks in every low rivulet.
Within five miles of the start, I ran across two young eight point bucks, whitetails, it appeared. They were nonchalant even as I stopped to say hello while they grazed. It was a good sign. The inclement weather seems to have stirred the critters....
The drive always gives me time to think, too, maybe sort things out. I can stop almost anywhere and wait for deer to cruise through, or turkeys to forage while I watch from a mere few feet away. Heck, I bring a chair, and can sit for hours. It's amazing what wanders by as I stop to look around. Acorn woodpeckers, crows, flickers...all are well represented on Mines Road. Wood ducks? Yes, I know where they live. Coyotes, foxes, bobcats? Almost every time. All it takes to see them is to turn off the car, turn off all the noise we humans tend to make, and wait. Thank you, Ranger Patti Cole of LARPD for that timeless advice.
The special part of the day came just a few minutes after I pulled in to San Antonio Valley. Usually I make a left and roll down Del Puerto Canyon 30 miles to Patterson. For the first time in years, though, I decided to try Mt. Hamilton Road. I remembered it as a slow, winding morass of a road, especially difficult once past the summit at Lick Observatory and on the downslope to San Jose. Out here, Silicon Valley felt a thousand miles away. Choosing the Mt Hamilton Route would mean a slow, 38 mile drive from San Antonio Valley. It would be dark by the time I was heading down, but the views are fantastic from the Bay Area's highest point.
But back to San Antonio Valley. Moving south towards Mt. Hamilton, I noted several people with cameras or binoculars slowly walking along the road, looking for / at birds, it appeared. I didn't stop to ask, not wanting to disturb them. And since there was no traffic at all, I drove between 20 - 30 MPH toward the mountain while looking out the window.
Still in the valley, and surrounded by sparse woodland and open meadows, I pulled off at a gate when I saw somwthing that made my day. A dozen (I counted an even 12) tule elk were grazing about 250 yards south of the road. I KNEW they lived out here, but had never run across them. I got the chair out along with my small and completely inadequate camera and sidled up to the fence. I was of no concern to them as they slowly moved around to the freshest grass. I sat in a light rain for forty minutes watching these beautiful, huge animals that look to the casual observer like a cross between a mule deer and a draft horse. There was only one adult male (a dang good ratio if you ask me!) keeping a lookout over his girls. He stared me down but wasn't motivated to aggression due to the distance between us. But I was captivated. I'd added this day to my "Once In A Lifetime Mines Road Excursions", usually limited to wildflower season.
The point at which I spotted the elk was on private property just a few miles north of the Henry Coe State Park boundary. And in Silicon Valley, I'll have to explain tomorrow what a tule elk is. That gives me the opportunity to create another bizarre trail story, kinda like my flying rattlesnake and carnivorous butterfly stories...yes, they believe them. No, I don't always come clean and let them know I'm making them up. But I've still got them hooked on jackalope migrations each winter in N. Arizona...wonder where I can take this one? Tule elk...I've got some ideas, though.
After that stop, the ride over Mt Hamilton and into San Jose was anti - climactic. The road was as gnarly as I recalled, and several times I had to remind myself there can't really be any such thing as a 720 degree turn...but it sure seemed like it.
I'll post the photos I took if I can manage some compu - zoom so you can see their smilin' elk faces better. But January 2, 2011 will be remembered as a rare day, indeed - both the Niners and Raiders won, and 4wheelbob communed with elk on a drippy, delightful Sunday! See you out there soon, somewhere, on a trail!
No comments:
Post a Comment