Well, I *somehow* managed to survive today. (Way to be overdramatic, Angela). Hey, some of my worries were not completely unwarranted. I did sort of lose my way through the river early in the morning. I didn't actually get there by sunrise: I kept glancing behind me at the rock wall opposite with apprehension as the golden glow of sunlight painted an ever-advancing swath down the mountain. Only halfway up to the OP, I could see the line was nearly at the smiley face caves, in whose mouth this particular condor pair had nested. By the time I reached my clandestine bush, it had ten minutes since illuminated the cavernous grin.

Smile for the camera!

Not only was the hike itself a beast but I don't think I got more than 45 minutes of uninterrupted sleep last night. It may have been nerves--knowing I had to get up at 5 am and not knowing if either of my two alarms would work--it may have been the hourly beeping of my watch, or it may have been the unfamiliar sounds of animals scurrying around in the surrounding leaf litter, and the fear that each one may be the approaching footsteps of a bear, come to investigate my cucumber-scented toiletries.

Let's hope tomorrow morning proves to be more successful.

Once I was up at the OP, I traded one set of stresses for another. It may not seem hard but trying to accurately capture the condors' behavior to the second, your eye glued to a scope, is not the easiest thing. My notes from today are, correspondingly, a disaster. Again: better luck tomorrow.

I was joined midway through the day by Santa Barbara Zoo girls Molly and Ria. They proved to be excellent company. Ria proceeded to tell us riddles and stories throughout the afternoon, one of whose punchlines ("Better Nate than Lever") still makes me giggle just thinking about it. They were up there to observe Joseph's nest entry, which was terrifying to watch. But seeing him up there, a giant in the tiny cave, while the male eyed him threateningly from a few feet away, I have to admit I was a little envious of his vantage point.

Towards the end of the afternoon, once Molly and Ria had left, my brain started to go just a little crazy, what with all the eye-to-scoping. The male condor, for example, started to look like he was wearing sunglasses. Yeah. I was tired. Luckily, Geoff came up to relieve me, and I hiked back down to camp.

Joe Condor

Now it's like 8 pm and I'm tucking into bed, for lack of anything better to do. Sweet dreams to me ...

... Please!