Sierra Nevada Ramblings

Rhododendrons along the coast

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:52:00 +0000

Rhododendrons in bloom are wonderful to behold. In California, they grow in sunny places in the redwood forests of the coastal mountains. With deep green, glossy foliage and vivid pink blossoms, the California rhododendrons are a treat for the eyes.

These images were all taken at the Kruse Rhododendron State Reserve. Although the park information stated they bloom during spring, we were there during the summer and they were very pink with blossoms.

For more information:
Jepson Manual Entry on Rhododendrons

Kruse Rhododendron State Reserve is along the Sonoma County Coast, about an hour north of where the Russian River enters the sea.
Pacific Rhododendron
Western Azalea

Huntington Gardens, CA

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:40:00 +0000

First impressions are often lasting, and The Huntington was Impressive with a capital I. With inspiring views, aesthetically pleasing architecture, graceful statuary, impassioned design, and a plant inventory of immense size and beauty, the impressions will linger.

The scenery was lovely, beginning in the avocado grove parking lot and the entry foyer with tall columns, fountains, and glistening greenery covered with water droplets.

Upon walking through the entry breezeway, glimpses of other immense structures could be seen partially hidden behind screens of green, leading to a desire to explore up close the huge trees, the gigantic bamboo, and to follow the trails that disappeared in various directions. Stopping beneath an English Oak that towered overhead in a gently curving umbrella shape, a distant pillared building beckoned, as did the nearby wing of the expansive entry building, with its enticing stairs and naked statuary.

With instructor’s voices murmuring in the background, I wandered a bit when we stopped near a pillared building, observing the exotic plants and admiring a lizard that perched upon a brilliant orange fruit in the center of a ten foot wide palm bush. The group was just a few paces away, yet the scenery beckoned so I followed a small path that twisted around carefully laid out landscaping to another fountain whose centerpiece was a statue of a woman holding an infant, both stark naked like nymphs amidst the greenery, their nakedness a vivid contrast to the gray walls of the adjacent buildings.

Passing through another breezeway, the building extended in a long wing, with two stories and large windows, a rectangle of sorts with attractive details that showcased the architect’s sense of design and attention to detail. The view in the opposite direction framed a glimpse of the distant mountains between tall trees and a formal garden with a huge expanse of lawn leading to a distant fountain. Walking toward that fountain, the edges of the lawn were framed by flowering azaleas and camellias, and dozens of statues, some whimsical, some showing everyday people, others showing what appeared to be ancient gods from mythical times.

Pathways entered into the camellia garden and we followed one where I became “lost” amidst the beauty of this fragrant, colorful forest of greens and pinks, reds and whites, water droplets and aromas that intoxicated. The voices of the group grew fainter as I lingered, then finally faded away and the sounds of the garden itself prevailed, the perfumes and vivid colors filling the senses, and a sense of timeliness settled in. I slowly walked the winding pathways until voices became recognizable and with regret I caught up with the group as it went into the conservatory where an entirely different climate and vegetative type prevailed and again I became enchanted and wished I had such a place to call my own.

Additional wanderings through the Huntington’s grounds revealed exquisite forests of towering bamboo, cactus gardens packed with gorgeous specimens of incredible texture and form, and around just about every curve, a new view to delight the eyes and aromas that perfumed the air.

The variety of plants, the numbers of huge specimens, the variety of shape and form, all has left a lasting impact, a desire to see more, and visit the gardens again.

The Huntington Garden is in the city of San Marino, close to Pasadena, CA. It costs a bit to get in but the place is well worth visiting with your family. I wrote this essay as part of a class assignment, thus the references to things like instructors... it was a one unit weekend, college class that spent a day at this botanical garden.

Desert Tortoise

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:25:00 +0000

Imagine the effort it takes for a brand new baby tortoise to break out of its shell. With just a baby beak to poke and bite with, and baby claws to scratch with, the shell is broken open and a new tortoise is born.

When the deserts of western North America warm up during spring, the desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii, come out of hibernation. The tortoise ranges freely over the Mohave and Sonoran deserts. In Kern County, California, there is a small fenced preserve set aside specifically for the protection of these creatures. The Desert Tortoise Natural Area has a resident caretaker during spring, and there is a marked trail that meanders through tortoise habitat, with a number of burrows plainly visible from the path. A visit to this preserve during the very early morning might reward you with viewings of tortoises.

Due to various threats to their survival and reduced numbers, the desert tortoise has been listed as a Threatened Species under the Federal Endangered Species Act. There are a number of ongoing issues that threaten their survival including humans picking them up and taking them home, off road vehicles disturbing and destroying their habitat, an upper respiratory disease that infects them, and predation, especially by ravens. Raven populations have increased and continue to prosper due to human actions in desert regions. A number of energy production projects that are planned for desert locations will affect both tortoise and raven populations, and efforts are planned to mitigate this problem. A summary of the raven management plan can be read at energy.ca.gov

Additional information on the desert tortoise and links to a number of related sites can be found at Desert Tortoise.gov

A virtual "tour" of The Desert Tortoise Natural Area is also available via the web.

Storms and Rock slides

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 14:11:00 +0000

The rain came down. It poured for days. Creeks formed in new places. Rivers rose, the land got soggy. And the rain came down. Rocks came down too, from the steep hill cuts along windy mountain roads. Awed residents took drives to see the flooding, the streams overflowing their banks, the raging brown water in the rivers. And the rain still came down, six inches, eight inches in just a few days.

In areas that have annual precipitation amounts of 12”, half of that fell in a few days, inundating the land and bringing soggy excitement to the local citizens. The water fell as it always does and flowed downhill, filling creeks and rivers, flowing down, down, down as far as it could, then pooling where it couldn’t. Where people chose to build on flood plains, they got a bit soggier, or downright flooded. Where roads cut into steep terrain, the rocks did what they always do: they found a resting point. If the soggy ground slipped, the rocks did too, sometimes very big rocks, road shattering boulders. Mountain roads were closed, and the rains still fell.

Moisture laden storms come and go; it’s all part of the cycle of water. Every decade or so a super wet system arrives and drops tremendous amounts of water on the land. The water does what it has always done, it saturates the ground, it flows over hard surfaces, it moves downhill, it spreads out and then slowly disappears as the ground soaks it in, as it evaporates, as it travels further down hill. It is exciting to see and experience. For some folks, it is scary or downright dangerous. But it is all part of the natural way of things.

The storm system of December 17 – 25, 2010 brought one of those large, wet events to California, inundating parts of the state with a lot of rain and causing all sorts of havoc to human built structures.

The mountain valley where I live is accessed via a few windy mountain roads, with the main road cut through the Kern River Canyon, an extremely steep side gorge. This storm system brought enough rain (8” or so) to cause a massive number of massive rock slides, closing that road from Dec. 17, 2010 until past the date of this post. The county Sheriff’s dept. took a helicopter flight up that canyon and made a video of the mess, which is pretty awesome to watch. The link is at the end of this post.

We humans have not really figured out how to live with a lot of water. City streets are not engineered to take all that water away. Drains get plugged or simply are non-existent. Roads aren’t built high enough to stay out of the way of the water. Houses are built on historic floodplains. We’ve paved so much of the land in urban areas the water is forced to flow on top of the pavement and pool there. Entire cities are sometimes built on flood plains. We may channelize streams and rivers, but when the big storms arrive, flooding happens.

Pretty much any river has the potential to flood during huge storms, and those type storms come at intervals. There are ten year storms, fifty year storms, hundred year storms. The interval means that about every ten years, a storm system will bring enough water to cause flooding that pretty much can happen every ten years. Expect to be flooded if you live within a certain elevation of the river. The hundred year flood means every hundred years a gigantic flood will happen and if you happen to live within the hundred year floodplain, expect water, torrential amounts. The interval though, is not fixed. This year, the hundred year flood could happen, and it could happen again next year. On average though, it happens every one hundred years.

An historic account of such a one hundred year flood:
“The floods of December 1964 (water year 1965) resulted from meteorological conditions similar to those of the December 1955 floods. An arctic airmass moved into northern California on December 14, 1964, and precipitation on December 18-20 produced large quantities of snow (Waananen and others, 1971). Beginning on December 20, a storm track 500 miles wide extended from Hawaii to Oregon and northern California. Warm, moist air collided with the arctic air and resulted in turbulent storms that produced unprecedented rainfall on northern California and melted much of the snow from the previous storms. In the Mattole River basin, nearly 50 inches of rain was reported during December 19-23, with 15 inches observed in 24 hours. In most of the coastal mountains and many locations in the northern Sierra Nevada. the December 19-23 rainfall totals were 20-25 inches.” USGS Website.

Sheriff's video of hwy 178 rock slides, Dec. 22, 2010, will be here until the link disappears so view it soon!

Fire in the mountains

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:25:00 +0000

Fire is part of living in the mountains. The day in and out rumble of fire fighting aircraft is something those who live in the hills of California experience now and then. During the summer of 2010 the Kern River Valley had 2 fires and the noise of aircraft was pretty much relentless. Mid summer we had the Bull Run Fire, which burned through a little town on the Kern River. In September we had the Canyon Fire, which burned the hills south and east of the town of Lake Isabella.

Not all fires need put out, but they are managed. When they threaten towns, fire fighting aircraft rumbles into the sky and the rumble continues all day long, day after day. Helicopters and airplanes are set up to drop retardant or water, and they fly for hours, dropping their loads, refilling, dropping again and again. Everyday life continues for the residents of smokey mountain towns, at least for those whose property isn't threatened.

Sierra Nevada scenery

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:13:00 +0000

The Sierra Nevada mountains are impressive. They are tall, rising to 14,000 ft above sea level, and that rise begins just a little above sea level on the western side, with lots of foothills and a gradual rise as one moves east. On the eastern side, the valley next to the mountains is perhaps 5,000' but the mountains go straight up.

If you drive into the mountains from the west, in about an hour you'll reach the 6000' elevation where lots of conifers grow (pines, firs, sequoias), the air cools down and the air smells delicious. Depending on which roads you drive, the views vary immensely, but regardless of where, the views are fantastic.

Mountain roads can be windy or straight, it depends on location. This is a short stretch of straight road, that took many windy miles to reach.

These scenes are found in the southern Sierras, in the Kern River watershed, about 3 hours of driving from Bakersfield, perhaps 2 1/2 hours from Porterville, 1 hour from Kernville. Then a bit of hiking out to Baker Point. The view looks north and the rocky domes in the distance are The Needles. There is an old lookout tower on Baker Point, which someday soon may be restored (fundraising is soon to take place, hopefully). More scenes of the area and pics of the lookout tower itself can be found here.

California Bay Laurel

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:35:00 +0000

Needles Lookout Tower, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:13:00 +0000

The Needles Lookout Tower has an awe inspiring location, perched atop a granitic pinnacle in the heart of Sequoia National Forest, California.

Getting to the tower takes a bit of driving along windy mountain roads, including a couple miles of rugged dirt road that challenges low clearance vehicles to a game of chicken, at least this season. The chicken of course wimps out and saves their vehicle. The go-getter just barrels ahead and hopes the big rocks and washouts don't take the undercarriage of the vehicle with it. Those with high clearance do fine. Only a couple of spots in the dirt road are truly bad, the rest is sort of decent. (suggestion: take a vehicle with high clearance!) Where the road ends, the trail begins.

The road ends at a lovely little meadow. The trail is marked and it's 2.5 miles of hiking to get to the lookout tower. A sign at the trailhead states the tower is staffed Wed-Sunday, but don't take that as a for-sure thing. Stuff happens and the tower may not be open. That's what we found to be true when we hiked in on Sunday June 18, 2010. The trail travels through a mixed conifer forest, with lots of shade along the way. The trail is good, the hike is not hard, but the elevation is challenging to those not acclimated to 8,000' above sea level. The scenery is spectacular, with many miles of forested land all around, and views of the Sierra crest too.

Since the sign at the trailhead stated the tower should be open (Sunday), we were surprised to see that shutters were still on the tower when we finally got to where we could see the tower. Zooming in on the tower with the telephoto feature of my camera, I saw shutters, yet people were on the cat walk! A debate amongst fellow hikers, we discussed shutters and people and tossed around ideas of what might be going on. We thought perhaps that day was shutter-removal/tower-opening day only the staff got a very late start. Or maybe the tower was staffed but damage to windows kept the shutters on. Speculation on our part, totally inaccurate of course.

As we hiked the last bit of trail, the part that climbs the dome upon which the tower sits, we came upon another sign stating open hours for the tower. Looking up the stairs, we saw the gate was closed and locked. Sort of.

No wonder we saw people on the cat walk. As we were hiking the last bit of trail, at least 15 people came down from the tower, and another dozen passed us going up to the tower! The tower itself was tightly closed (well, from my spot at the bottom of the stairs, it looked pretty snug to me.) I called the USFS office the next day and asked them when the Needles is supposed to open up for the season. I was told July 3, 2010.

All closed up still.

Favorite Perch

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:58:00 +0000

The rock was a busy one. First one bird, then another used it as a perch. Gulls, blackbirds. The gray gull was first. It sat on the rock overlooking the sea, just another gull enjoying a moment on a rock, most likely hoping for a handout from this human. I ignored the bird and enjoyed the view, and the bird gave up and flew off.

Within seconds, another bird landed on that same rock. No handout, it flew off and then a succession of birds came and went. Finally I pulled out my camera and took few pictures as the birds just loved that rock. Some birds seemed leery of other birds. The gray gull came back (or another just like it), a crow too.

The top bird, a mostly white sea gull seemed to be the one that stayed. I took a photo of that gull, then glanced around and noticed that all the big rocks in that area had a similar gull perched on top. The gray gull was down on the ground, and the crow was gone.

Giant Sequoias in the Mist

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:09:00 +0000

Giant Sequoia trees in the fog are ethereal, almost there, until you walk next to one and physically feel the tree. If the fog is thick enough, even 20 feet away the trees become ghostly and seem to disappear, fading into the mist.

With snow on the ground and fog in the air, the experience becomes more dramatic, as the white snow and fog blend together. Seeing a huge tree with a diameter of 15 or 20 feet disappear into the mist is simply awe inspiring. Imagine, a tree, a couple of hundred feet high with deep reddish brown bark fading away.

A winter or spring visit to a giant sequoia grove is what it takes to experience this, as summers are just too hot and dry for fog to form. Since snow gets deep at the elevation where these big trees grow, a "walk" in the forest may mean snow shoes or skiis.

The Giant Sequoia's natural habitat is in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. You can readily find them in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Yosemite NP, and Sequoia National Forest/Monument. If you drive up the coast of California and southern Oregon, you can find a different type of sequoia, the Coast Redwood. Those trees are similar, but not the same species. They are often shrouded in fog, but without the snow.

Wind Wolves Nature Preserve

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sun, 30 May 2010 13:50:00 +0000

In the southernmost part of the San Joaquin Valley of central California lies a nature preserve that holds remnant grasslands and all sorts of foothill/grassland plants and animals. A visit to this little known preserve during spring, at the end of the wild flower season had me wondering why I'd never been there before, the place was a little oasis of grassland, wild flowers, and nicely developed day use areas.

We chose a trail that went up onto the top of a hill where we got a great view of the scenery. Wildflowers were past their peak, but we did see lots of lupine, phacelia, a few poppies and many acres of seed heads from spent flowers.

The Transverse Ranges are the mountains that go east to west across the southernmost part of the San Joaquin Valley, and those are the "hills" this nature preserve is tucked into, well the base of the mountains anyway. Old sediments with very rounded rocks and soft soil is what we walked upon, uplifted many hundreds of feet. Above us, in the higher mountains we could see bedrock, very twisted in places, showing the area has been involved in faulting. Indeed, the San Andreas Fault, the major fault that runs the length of California is adjacent to the preserve, just a few miles from where we were hiking.

The Wind Wolves Preserve is tucked into the hills that are at the southernmost end of the central valley, just a tad west of where Highway 5 climbs into the mountains south of Bakersfield. Take the Highway 33 exit off of 99 or 5, head west. Maybe 10 miles west of 5, there is a sign on the south side of 33, right next to an orchard of orange trees. Turn south and this road enters the preserve in a few miles.

When things burn

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Okay, I've been bad and have not added anything to this site in a long while. Bad me. I did not burn up, nor did my computer, although other places in my state have burned, and burned hotly. Husband has gone off on a fire or two, just little things compared to the big conflagration in southern California that burned 160,000+ acres. That fire, in Angeles National Forest has been in the news quite a lot the past few weeks. Hubby was sent a copy of this photo, and I just had to post it here.

Yes, the sign appears to be on fire.
If you've ever been in air as yellow/orange as what you see in the image, it is quite hard on the lungs. The Station Fire burnt approximately 160,000 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains which are on the east side of the Los Angeles basin. When that many acres of chaparral burns, it burns hot and puts out an awful lot of yuck into the air.

When I was a kid I lived in Sunland, which is one of the towns that butts up against the same area that burned in this fire. As a kid, I recall a huge fire that came from the mountains almost into town and saw huge flames on the hills that butt up against the town. This fire burned the same area, plus a heck of a lot more.

Chaparral is an interesting mix of plants that have evolved to survive fire. The plants will resprout after a fire, growing from stored reservoirs of energy that are in the plant roots. They have huge, bulb like swellings below ground level that store enough nutrients to allow regrowth. They are meant to burn. The plants grow very large and dense and every 30 to 50 years, fire burns things up. The roots remain, resprout, and the plants come back. Even oak trees that grow in chaparral tend to resprout.

I own a book on chaparral that discusses all sorts of interesting things about the chaparral plant community, including beetles that mate on burning branches! I never heard of these before reading it in the book. My fire-fighter husband never mentioned it at all, in all his years of working on wildland fires, until I brought it up. He said yes, there were such beetles and they come out enmasse during fires in the chaparral!

In pursuit of remote giant sequoia groves

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:25:00 +0000

I took a drive yesterday, thinking I'd visit the two southernmost groves of giant sequoia trees, and see what those groves looked like. One needs a forest map to figure out just where those groves are tucked away and one also needs a vehicle that can handle rugged dirt roads.

The three southernmost groves are found in Giant Sequoia National Monument, off of Mountain 50, the road that goes from California Hot Springs to Johnsondale. Without a map and watchful eyes, the dirt roads are very easy to miss. One needs to read the numbers on the roads to verify you found the right one. The southernmost grove, Deer Creek Grove, has a road that begins way down in the foothills, near the Hot Springs Ranger Station. That road is even marked with a sign stating the grove is 3 miles away, but unfortunately, the road is in horrible shape and is closed about one mile along. Huge ruts that looked pretty much impassable for my lightweight suv made me back up and turn around. I stopped in at the ranger station to ask about the road and learned it has been closed for two years. One can hike in, but I didn't feel like doing that in 90 degree heat and all alone, with a very steep ascent.

Next, I tried getting to the Starvation Creek Grove, and that road was almost hidden at the back of a large turnout, on a bend in the main road. The road was tolerable, and my urban suv did okay. Down near the creek bottom, the brush was scrapping the sides of the vehicle, and some of the ruts were pretty deep. A high clearance vehicle is a must on that road. The forest was very dense and overgrown, with so many small diameter trees one could not see much but dense growth. At one point, near the creek bottom, I caught a glimpse of one tall giant sequoia tree, with its upper third rising above the rest of the very dense forest. (tallest tree in the image below is the sequoia).

The road crossed the low point, and began to rise, leaving the conifers and entering a dry, oak covered area, where abruptly the road ended in a small clearing. Looking around, I saw nothing but super dense growth and no sequoia trees visible. No trail, just overgrown, incredibly thick vegetation. A fire hazard for sure, and not a place for a lone person to bushwhack. Hopped back in my car and drove back to the main road. So much for visiting the two southernmost groves.

This trip did not find me driving to the third most southern grove, Packsaddle Grove, but I did visit it a couple of years ago and it is quite nice. It is located on top of the ridge, and down the sides, with the terrain much gentler in slope so one can actually wander through portions of the grove with relative ease. There are two ways to access the road, with the higher dirt road that is off of Mountain 50 on the west side of the pass the better road by far. (the lower road, nearer Johnsondale, is in bad shape).

Peeing in the woods

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Every creature eats and eliminates, it's part of the way of life. But, of all the creatures on earth, it seems to be humans who are picky about when and where they go to leave their leavings, and humans who get sick if they aren't extremely careful with sanitation. Disease and death can result from lack of sanitation which humans have learned the old-fashioned way of trial and error. Now we know to be careful, but what about when in the woods? And what about when lots of people use those same woods and leave waste behind?

Have you hiked a lot? If you've spent a day out hiking, if you stayed hydrated, then you had to pee, or maybe more. Did you take care to bury things, or at least move off the trail and away from water?

Restrooms are seldom found along the trail. Even in parks like Yosemite National Park where so many visitors use the trails for day hikes and back packing, even then, there are no restrooms on the trails. I've hiked with many a male companion who never leaves the trail to take care of business. Well, unless it's messier business, then they hightail it into the woods. Makes one think twice about taking a rest right on the trail. Did someone else take a rest in that same spot, and pee right there? Move it off the trail boys.

Most females I've traveled with find a bush for privacy. Ah, but do they bury stuff? Not always. So much toilet paper is in the woods, sitting in plain site. Bury it, please. Six inches below ground at least. Under a rock or log if you can't dig. And those "feminine products"? If in the woods, don't use plastic. Take the plastic with you. Heck, if out for a day hike, carry a ziplock baggie and put all that non-biodegradable stuff in it. Bury things that will decompose, DEEP. Animals will dig up stuff.

Trails get lots of human traffic, and keeping those areas clean and free of fecal pathogens would be nice. Get off the trail and bury things. And don't pollute the waters either!

Visiting giant sequoia trees

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:48:00 +0000

Some groves of giant sequoia trees have good trails through them, and some even have paved trails, such as Trail of One Hundred Giants, in Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Walking amidst a grove of giant sequoias is not the same as walking through any old forest. In some groves, there are true giants, with trees over 15 feet in diameter. Then there are the incredibly huge trees that have trunks over 30 feet in diameter, although only a handful of such trees still exist today. Many were cut down during the logging haydays of the latter 1800s.

Trail of 100 giants has quite a few large trees, and the area was groomed and cleared of many smaller pines and firs a few years ago, then the trail was paved, making it easy to walk. The road to this grove takes a while to drive, as one must climb from the central valley of California up a very windy road to reach the area where sequoia trees live.

The rewards of taking such a drive are pretty amazing, with huge trees of such immense proportions and deep red color as to take the breath away. No matter how many times I have walked amidst a grove of these giants, their size and beauty still capture my attention and I return over and over again.

The images in this series were all taken along the Trail of 100 Giants, which winds about a portion of the Long Meadow Grove. And indeed, there are at least 100 very large giant sequoias in the area, and many of lesser size. A small meadow sits in the middle of the trailed area, with greenery and flowers during summer months.

The mountain road that takes you to this grove of giant sequoia trees is a good mountain road, although it is quite windy. Once the road reaches 6000' or so, it straightens out considerably and becomes very pleasant.

Fishing Bears

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

How do bears catch fish anyway? What is their technique. Think of how fast a fish moves, or "the big one that got away". Yet bears, huge and ponderous as they are, catch many fish. Are the fish they catch healthy and fast, or slow and worn out? Grizzly Bears thrive on salmon, with bears flocking to rivers during salmon runs, entering the rivers and somehow catching fish. Watch this video documentary to see some beautiful underwater bear fishing technique.

Fire in a Giant Sequoia tree

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Walk amidst a grove of giant sequoia trees and their size astounds the senses. Walk around a number of these behemoths and the fire scars that extend deep into the interior of the still living trees, astounds even further. Fire is part of the natural cycle, and for trees that reach immense age and size, sooner or later a fire will burn at the base of a tree. And sometimes, in the top of a tree. And sometimes, an entire tree will burn from the inside out.

Many giant sequoia trees have huge fire scars, yet the trees continue to live for centuries, not rotting, and not diseased, just burned and recovering. The chemical makeup of sequoias keeps disease and many insect pests away, allowing a damaged tree to recover and thrive. Indeed, old denizens of a giant sequoia grove almost all have burn scars.

Lightning often strikes trees, sometimes shattering a tree into thousands of pieces, other times knocking out the top half of the tree. I've encountered shattered pines (heard the thunderclap and went searching for the hit tree), I've seen trees with spiral burn scars where the lightning left a burned path twisting down and around the tree. And I've seen trees that have lost their tops due to storms, winds, fires.

Lightning storms often visit the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and at times, giant sequoia groves. Last week, such a storm brought lightning and a giant sequoia caught fire. The USFS issued a press release and photos of the burning tree which is in Evans Grove, in Giant Sequoia National Monument. According to the press release, the fire cannot be safely put out so the tree will burn as it will.

Giant sequoia trees thrive with fire. Their seeds disperse and sprout with fire. Seedlings successfully grow after fire. The behemoths need fire, without it no new fire scars would lend personality to the old trees.

Images are from the press release:

Recent Fire Discovered Burning in Giant Sequoia Tree

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST On Monday, June 1st Buck Rock Lookout reported seeing a fire in the Evans Giant Sequoia Grove on the Hume Lake Ranger District, Giant Sequoia National Monument. By noon firefighters were on scene to find a 12 foot diameter giant sequoia tree on fire with about a 10th of an acre ground fire smoldering around the tree. It is a hollow tree with fire burning inside from the base all the way to the top. Given the nature of the tree and its position on the landscape, the options of trying to put out the fire in the tree using aircraft or ground delivery water sources would be ineffective and unsafe for firefighters.

It was determined that about 60 feet of the top of the tree was knocked out when it was struck by lightning. There were several thunderstorms reported in the area the day prior with a significant amount of lightning and rain associated with those storms.

The “Burton Fire” is burning in a remote section of the Evans Grove and presently does not pose a threat to the general public or private property that is located in this area. A 5-person engine crew and 10 person handcrew as needed are assigned to the fire.

Forest officials have decided to suppress this fire using a confine/containment strategy based on fuel and weather conditions. By using natural barriers and openings, a containment line has been established that encompasses approximately 2 acres surrounding the tree. According to District Ranger John Exline, “If this fire had occurred later in the summer, the district may have chosen a different strategy and tactic based on weather, time of year, smoke dispersal, and burning conditions in relationship to resource benefit resulting in a larger confine/containment area.”

Weather forecasts are for continued thunderstorm activity and the possibility of precipitation, crews will continue to monitor this fire. For more information on the Burton Fire please contact the Hume Lake Ranger District 559-338-2251.

Fawn in the Road

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:03:00 +0000

So there I was, driving down the windy road to get to the big city when I round a bend in the road and lying there was a lifeless, tiny little fawn. Pulled over, walked back and lifted the little thing out of the road. Carried it off to the side. It was still warm and limp, just a bit of blood on its nose. Must have fallen from the extremely steep cliff above, or maybe the mom just chose a bad way to climb and the tiny thing simply couldn't climb the long expanse of steep granite, slipped and fell. It didn't look like a car hit it.

Perfect little body, with fluffy, soft fur. Couldn't have been but a week or two old it was so tiny. I hated the idea of cars smashing it, or of scavengers also dying trying to eat it, so I let the little thing roll down the steep slope off the road, down toward the river. I never touched a brand new fawn before this. Kind of a bitter sweet moment.

Native Plants

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:29:00 +0000

Native plants are what belong in any locale. Unfortunately, we humans tend to import species that aren't locals and with those introductions of plant species, import problems too, from plant disease to insect pests, to species that just are not suited to a given climate, or that perhaps require a lot of supplemental water in a drought stricken climate. What to do? Grow natives!

How to grow natives? Well, you could go to a nearby native plant nursery, and find plants there (just do research to make sure the plants you want to buy are LOCAL natives. Most plants are native to somewhere, but are they native to your specific area? In my state of California, we have poppies, but in my specific mountain valley, we have an endemic species of poppy too. If I just buy poppy seeds labeled "California Poppy", those could be collected from a variety that does not grow in my immediate area. If I toss those around and they interbreed with true local natives, what am I doing to the gene pool? Something to consider. If you have a green thumb and know how to grow things you might consider trying to grow true natives from cuttings, taken from new growth, during spring. Just make certain any cuttings you take are from lands where such behavior is allowed (or get permission from a local property owner). In my case, I volunteer with the USFS so the cuttings I take are for use on those very same lands.

I volunteer at a nearby land agency, and am in the process of growing all sorts of true, local natives to use in rehabilitating trails, campgrounds and other areas with human damage/impact. Restoring areas with native plants seems the right thing to do. We have a beautiful shade house that is about half full of native plants, mostly cuttings, to be used in restoration projects. The shade house is crucial in this sunny, hot climate.

Riparian tree cuttings seem to to well as cuttings. These are big cuttings, 4 feet or so long, and the idea is to have things to plant that make a visible impact so folks won't trample them once set in the field. Cottonwoods, willows, alders and a few shrubs are all in the shade house.

A number of shrubs have also been started from cuttings, things like manzanita, California lilac, buckwheat, and more.

Lots of oak trees have sprouted from acorns collected during late summer and early fall, when the acorns are ripe.

Native Plants

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:02:00 +0000

Have you ever collected seeds from native plants? Six to eight weeks after blooming, seed heads for many plant species are ripe. Here in the Sierras, the hills look very brown this time of year, although some flower species have yet to bloom. The grassy hills are mostly brown and you have to look for both flowers and seeds.

At first glance, this hilly area looks quite dried up, but hiding amidst all that brown are thousands of seed heads. The bright gold, tiny star like shapes in the foreground of the image below, are all flower heads of a tiny little plant, perhaps goldfields. Many seeds were already dropped the day I went seed collecting, but I was able to collect many in just 10 minutes.

A very widespread flower with thousands of still intact, large seed heads were found over many miles of area. To collect these seeds, I carried small paper bags and with a gloved hand, reached around each seed head and pulled slowly. For each seed head harvested, probably half the seeds went flying in the breeze (a good thing as I just want some seeds, and truly want most to replenish the hill sides).

Native bunch grasses have slowly been disappearing from much of this country, due to a number of factors, including domestic livestock grazing on the native plants, and the widespread takeover of exotic plant species which outcompete many natives. I've been collecting seeds from some of the tiny little bunch grasses that grow in the surrounding hills, and hope to get some of these natives growing in the empty lots in my neighborhood. My own yard had very few natives growing in it when we moved here, and I decided the best way to conserve water yet have a pretty yard is to stock the soil with native seeds. Next winter/spring, I'm hoping for a lot of native plants to sprout.

Modern day gardening and landscaping practices seem to involve growing whatever looks nice without much thought to whether the plant is a native, what its water and climate needs are, and whether the plant will become an invasive problem sometime in the future. Choosing to grow local natives seems to me to be the best way to pick plants that stand the best chances of survival in a particular locale, or if those species choices are quite limited, then to find natives that grow within a few hundred miles of your location. As for non-natives, landscaping with edible species such as fruit trees and berry bushes seems a smart way to add extra greenery that serves a dual purpose.

Hummingbird family

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Hummingbirds are adorably cute, no doubt about it. Feisty, fast, easy to entice with a nectar filled feeder. But seeing a hummingbird nest filled with young is a very elusive thing, something I've only encountered in a hummingbird house in a zoo. But, with the internet, and the diligence of folks around the globe, seeing such an site is possible, albeit it is via video someone has posted. Here is a wonderful video of a hummingbird family, found on the web. I take no credit for this...but am thankful to the person who took the time to set up their camera, film and share this.

Flowers in the Foothills

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:02:00 +0000

There are so many different types of flowers growing in the Sierra Nevada mountains during spring and summer, the senses are inundated with color and perfume. Beginning in January and February, the lowest elevations become colorful, with a succession of flowers blooming for months. By May, flowers are blooming at the 6,000' too. A few flowers found along the highway during May, between 1,000 and 2,000' above sea level:

1. not certain
2. brodea growing on a granite rock, in a crack, along with lots of moss
3. Blue Dicks
4. Western Wallflower
5. Sierra Daisy

desert flowers

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:19:00 +0000

Here are a few of the flowers I saw blooming about 6 weeks ago in the nearby desert.

Insects galore

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Not all flowers are created equal, at least from an insects point of view! Most plants have insects that frequent them, but some plants get inundated with insects. I have no idea what the plant is, it was only a foot high, but spread across a 12' span. It was covered with tiny white blossoms, and hundreds of insects. As I stood there, half a dozen different types of butterflies landed, dozens of honey bees crawled in and out of the flower heads, and countless other insects flitted about too.

There was one insect that was huge, perhaps 3 inches long with vivid orange wings and a bluish body. It crawled all over that plant, going into the depths of the plant in search of something. An insect so large looked very predatory to me, but I'm clueless what it is:

Elderberry in Bloom

noreply@blogger.com (zhakee) — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:43:00 +0000

Large bushes covered with tiny white blossoms and deep green leaves dot the hillsides along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada during the month of May. Some of the flowers are creamy white, others seem to be more yellow, but all form large umbrella like collections of flowers that span a foot or more in diameter. Once pollinated, the flowers begin to ripen into small berries, and by late summer, the bushes will be covered with purple elderberries.

The elderberry is edible, although they need to be fully ripe to allow sugars to develop. Elderberry jam and wine are two food items I've tried, and both are quite good--reminiscent of blackberry in flavor.