As predicted, it started raining last Saturday night and continued into Wednesday! Yahoo!!! Our total rainfall during that time was 1.75"!!! It was fabulous! It was mainly scattered showers, but several downpours were torrential! The petrichor fragrance was heavenly! Ahhh! What a miracle!
Rain bejeweled grasses
The rain also washed the smoke out of the sky, and dampened down the fire!
It is JUST what we needed! Sure hope the storms keep coming!
Forested slope near Helgramite Lakes
Before the Smoke
Just before the smoke from the Mosquito Fire engulfed our area, I went on two beautiful hikes in the Lakes Basin. The fall colors were just starting to come out, the air was clear, and the temperature was in the mid-90's.
Huckleberry Oak - Quercus vaccinifolia
As we hiked along the trail my friend Diane and I kept smelling a lovely floral fragrance everywhere we went. The only flowers that were blooming were a few asters and buckwheats but they didn't have any fragrance at all. I finally smelled the leaves of a Huckleberry Oak bush and discovered that they were the source of the fragrance! What a surprise! They weren't in bloom, it was the heated leaves that had a scent! They had a light gardenia-like perfume! Only the bushes that were in the HOT sun had an aroma. The shaded bushes didn't. Huckleberry Oak grows everywhere in the Lakes Basin and often forms large, dense thickets. It has often been our nemesis when trying to bushwhack cross-country! This is the first time I've ever noticed that they have a scent! What a pleasant surprise!
In the wet meadows we came across a few late-blooming wildflowers, most notably Grass of Parnassus! These beautiful one-inch-wide, white flowers have four fancy fringed staminodes with glistening yellow drops on their tips. Most flowers don't have these infertile staminodes. Their purpose may be to attract insects. We examined them with our hand lenses and they were stunning to see! These flowers always bloom late in the season in wet areas.
Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus sp.
One of my favorite areas to explore in the Lakes Basin is up by the Helgramite Lakes. Two days before the smoke came in I was hiking up there and saw two Mule Deer Bucks, a Doe, and her fawn! What a surprise!
Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus sp.
The fawn still had some of its spots, and looked like it was beginning to shed its summer coat. I only got to see them briefly before they bolted up the forested hillside.
Hairy Woodpecker (male) - Yellow Warbler (male) - Red-breasted Sapsucker (juvenile)
Dryobates villosus - Dendroica petechia - Sphyrapicus ruber
In the same area as the Mule Deer I came across a flock of Yellow Warblers feeding on the Alpine Knotweed seeds! It was so fun to watch and listen to these little beauties! What a treat! They were probably on their way to their winter habitat in Central America or northern South America!
On the same day, in another area, I luckily spotted a juvenile Red-breasted Sapsucker that was making its "mewing" call, and a Hairy Woodpecker that was hammering away on a branch. The Hairy Woodpecker will probably stay in the area over the winter, or drop down to lower elevations in California. The Red-breasted Sapsucker will migrate down to the central valley or coastal areas of Cailfornia for the winter.
Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii
Later that same day I got a great viewing of a juvenile Cooper's Hawk! WOW!!! I only see these gorgeous raptors rarely. These hawks are incredible forest hunters. They are relentless pursuers of their prey, which is usually medium size birds such as quail, as well as rabbits, squirrels, mice, and reptiles. With their short wings and rudder-like long tails they can "turn-on-a-dime" and maneuver easily through forests and dense thickets! It's a rare event that a Cooper's Hawk doesn't catch its prey, unless a tree intervenes! Almost one fourth of the Cooper's Hawks that have been examined, have breastbones that have healed fractures! Unlike falcons who kill by biting their prey, Cooper's Hawks squeeze their prey to death with their feet! Wow!!!
Fall color along Long Lake
One day before the smoke came, Diane and I hiked up to Long Lake in the heat to go for a swim. The water was perfect, and the lake was filled with sparkles. Along the shore, a bit of fall color was starting to show. It was heavenly! It turned out to be our last swim for the season, as the cooler temperatures since then have chilled the lakes!
Upper Tamarack Lake
In the Rain!
Last Tuesday, I hiked up to the Tamarack Lakes with my friends Nancy and BJ. It was cold, gray, and cloudy and we LOVED it! Dark clouds filled the sky as we traveled cross-country to the lakes. No one else was there and it was quiet and peaceful! Just beautiful! The Fall colors are only just starting to show, but a lot of the bushes were still green. It really felt like Fall! We didn't see any waterfowl on the lakes, but nuthatches were calling from the trees.
Fall color in the Tamarack Lakes basin
After several hours of exploring the area, it got quite cold and looked like it was going to start raining so we headed back down to our car. It was only around 3:00 and we were reluctant to leave the Lakes Basin, so we drove over to Salmon Creek Campground and explored the beautiful wet meadows in that area.
Sierra Buttes - 9/20/22
There's a lovely view of the Sierra Buttes from the campground. Lots of the plants had gone to seed, and the meadows were dry and golden, but the aspens and cottonwoods were still green. We had only been out in the meadows for ten minutes when it started to RAIN! We hurried back to our car and headed for home in the POURING RAIN!!! Surprisingly it POURED the whole way home!!!
When I got home I sat in the car and enjoyed the sight and sound of the drenching rain! How lucky we were to get this early rainstorm! I hope more storms arrive soon!
Raindrop ripples on the North Yuba River
Damp Earth Art
The 1.75" of rain that we got this week was a miracle! Hopefully more will come soon! Please join me in my continuing hope for precipitation! Perhaps our collective efforts may help it happen.
I'm going to keep posting rain inspired writings, art, etc. on my blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com. Any submissions would be greatly appreciated.
This is obviously a volcanic rock formation,
but I can't say much more about it!
What's happening in our Garden?
Has Fall arrived?
Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!
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