Early Snow!

Mountain Maple leaf on new-fallen snow

This past week we got 1.46" of rain over the weekend! Up around 6,000' in elevation, it got cold enough to snow and everything was blanketed in about 3" of newly fallen snow. Wow!!!  On Tuesday, my friend BJ drove us up the Saddleback Road to the Chimney Rock Trailhead! Although there was several inches of snow on the road, she was a fearless driver in her Jeep!  It was a beautiful blue-sky day and the air was super clear after all that rain.  The view was gorgeous!  This is the earliest I've ever seen it snow, in the 30 years that I've lived here!  

Black Bear tracks and young Fir trees in the snow

We hiked in the snow for many miles before we got to Chimney Rock.  It was incredibly beautiful!  There were lots of animal tracks in the snow, including Black Bear, mule deer, and squirrels.  The forest itself was hushed and quiet.  So peaceful!

On the ridge top we found wind-blasted snow on the tops of the trees, and a "cresting wave" of snow frozen in place!  The wind must have been howling over this ridge during the weekend storms!!!

view to the north from the Chimney Rock Trail

The view from the Chimney Rock Trail was spectacular!!!  To the north there were several rocky peaks and ridges dusted with snow.  We have never explored this area, but it definitely beckoned to us that morning!  

Friends at Chimney Rock (west side) 10/1/10

The area where Chimney Rock is located is full of spectacular basalt column formations (including Chimney Rock). I couldn't find exactly how old these formations are, but they were probably formed around 60,000-100,000 years ago! The following information is from https://blogs.agu.org/georneys, and explains how basalt columns are formed.

"Basalt is an igneous, volcanic rock. “Igneous” means that the rock formed from a melt and “volcanic” means that the melt erupted at the Earth’s surface as lava before it cooled to form the rock. After lava is erupted onto Earth’s surface, it cools. However, lava may take awhile to cool, and as it cools there may be a temperature gradient. Most commonly, the top of the lava flow will be cooler than the bottom of the lava flow.  

When the lava cools, it contracts. This is because hot things generally take up more space than cool things. When objects contract, they often crack or fracture. When contraction occurs at centers which are equally spaced, then a hexagonal fracture pattern will develop. If the contraction is not evenly spaced, then other geometries of fractures, such as 5-sided or 7-sided fractures, may occur. Contraction may not be equally spaced if, for example, the thickness or composition of the lava flow varies. The fracture pattern that forms at the cooling surface will tend to be propagated down the lava as it cools, forming long, geometric columns. Thus, as lava cools to form basalt, it may crack in a hexagonal (or other) shape and form columns. These columns form in a variety of sizes– some are fairly small, and some are wider and much taller than people!"

Chimney Rock - east side

By the time we left Chimney Rock and headed back to the jeep, a lot of the snow had already melted!  No more storms are predicted for the near future, so most of this snow will probably melt.  Once again, the danger of forest fire has been diminished by the wet weather in our area!  We are so lucky!!!

Fireweed gone to seed - Epilobium angustifolilum

Before the Storm

Prior to the weekend, I hiked with some friends up the Mt. Elwell trail to Maiden Lake, in the Lakes Basin.  We had the trail to ourselves and the weather was sunny and cool!  Fall color was just starting to show up, and many plants were going to seed.  Fireweed (above photo) is a luminous display when it's going to seed, a beautiful woven gossamer tangle!

Pennsylvania Yellowjacket Wasp - Bracken Fern

Vespula pennsylvanica - Pteridium aquilinum var. pubescens

We also came across a Yellowjacket Wasp nest right on the trail.  A bear had ripped it open and the wasps weren't happy!  A friend of mine got too close and was chased and stung by a wasp!  Luckily he was only stung once, and wasn't allergic to it!  When we were camping another friend was stung on the lip and tongue, and ended up going to see a doctor!   Watch where you walk in the woods!  Be careful!  Yellow jacket stings can be serious.  The following information on Yellow jackets is from http://naturemappingfoundation.org.

"Yellow jackets are social insects that live in large colonies.  In the spring, the Yellow jacket queen collects wood fiber to make her nest. The nest is constructed of paper-like material made from chewed wood fibers mixed with saliva.  This paper pulp is formed into multiple layers of paper cells that look like a honeybee's comb.  At first the queen constructs a small nest and begins raising sterile daughter offspring. These workers take over the duties of enlarging and maintaining the nest, foraging for food and caring for the offspring while the queen functions only to produce more eggs. The queen bee lays all of the eggs in a colony. The queen fertilizes each egg as it is being laid using stored sperm from the spermatheca. The queen occasionally will not fertilize an egg. These non-fertilized eggs, having only half as many genes as the queen or the workers, develop into male drones.  The male drones' main function is to be ready to fertilize a receptive queen.  The mature colony consists of a queen, 2,000 - 4,000 winged infertile female workers, brood (eggs, larvae and pupae) and, in late summer, males and reproductive females. Yellow jackets are carnivorous, primarily feeding on other insects like flies and bees. They also feed on picnic fare, fruits, carrion, and the nectar of flowers. Yellow jackets will forage for about 1 mile from their nest.

All social wasps are capable of producing a painful sting, but none leave the stinger embedded in the skin, as do honey bee workers. Most stings occur when the colony is disturbed. The objective is for the wasps to protect the nest site. Wasps are very protective of their colony and will attack if someone approaches within a few feet of the nest.  When a bee or wasp stings, it injects a venomous fluid under the skin of the victim. Yellow jackets have a smooth stinger, so they can sting more than once and the sting can be very painful.  Drones come from non-fertilized eggs. Since drones are males, they have no sting.  

Nests are built every year. The abandoned nest is often destroyed by birds searching for food.  Queens are the only members of the colony able to survive the winter."

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The Bracken Fern (above photo) was turning a beautiful golden yellow.  It will decompose over the winter and resprout from underground rhizomes in the spring.  Other species of ferns remain green over the winter by replacing the water in their cells with glucose, that acts like an anti-freeze.

Sandhill Cranes - Antigone canadensis

We also heard and saw hundreds of Sandhill Cranes flying west!  Such beauty!  I love to hear their loud rubbery calls in the Fall.  I am so grateful that these Cranes are thriving and continuing their migratory lifestyle.  Right now they are flying down from their breeding area that extends north from northern California to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia!  Thousands of them will overwinter in California's Central Valley!

Sandhill Cranes - Antigone canadensis

These beautiful birds can live for 35 years in the wild!  They mate for life and remain in small family groups throughout the year.  They feed on corn, roots, seeds, cultivated grains, berries, small mammals, insects, snails, reptiles and amphibians.  Most often they hunt on land during the day, and roost at night on ponds and wetlands.  How lucky we were to see and hear them!  Such joy!

Who's poop is this?

What birds are around?

Is anything blooming?

What's happening on the river?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!

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