Canyon Camp-Out

I've been out at Hopper Canyon the past two days. A very quiet two days. Literally and figuratively. Not a whole lot going down at the nest. Stared at the "front porch"for hours, agonizing over whether that dark shape was a condor resting in the medium-tall grass, or a shadow on the wall behind. It was a shadow, I discovered, when one of the parents materialized to the far right of the cave, stretching his wings to reveal the two red wing tags. Had he been there the whole time? Or had he just flown up, taking advantage of that distractingly ambiguous dark blob's hold on my attention.

I only once saw the chick, for a good two minutes as it waddled out into the cave entrance, unfurled its flimsy wings to sun, then promptly tucked itself back behind the entrance wall. Well, at least I know it exists.

Gopher snake

The next morning when I awoke after a blissfully deep and bear-free sleep, an ocean of fog had already marooned the mountaintops and drowned the canyon. I pulled out the battered copy of "Jurassic Park" I had borrowed from the Hopper House collection and began to read. I couldn't have picked a more perfect setting to read it as the fog crept higher in the sky and unseen creatures rustled the leaves around me. It wasn't hard to immerse myself in the world, to the point where a quail bursting from the bushes behind me caused me to jump and glance around for at least a velociraptor.  

Several hours later, I finished the book, and still the fog had not cleared. It was after noon before I could make out the cave's outline. And before long it was back to the ranch for me. 

A pressed and ancient ant from between the yellowing pages of the book. 

Can you spot the horny toad? 

Gone Campin'

On Thursday I set out for a two-night, three-day camping trip out at Hopper Canyon. My first solo mission.  The campsite out at Hopper Canyon is nice: set into low shrubs on a rocky outcropping, it's far from the nest, but close to the OP (yay, no 5 am hikes through rivers and up sheer rock faces!) Best we could do. Plus, we still get radio service, so it's not as daunting a stay as camping at Agua Blanca. I also happen to get amazing phone service at the OP which is awesome, although I was careful to conserve my phone battery. I needed it for Saturday.

My days out at Hopper Canyon were long and fairly uneventful. The hike in is all downhill (though I was dreading all along the hike back up). On Friday I did something stupid crazy like twelve-and-a-half hours of obs. At one point, I heard a noise which I thought was just a lizard cutting through my camp but which turned out to be a massive rattlesnake, coasting on past my chair, only maybe 3 or 4 feet away. I remained as calm as possible, moving slowly out of my chair to stand and observe the snake coming to a rest in the bush just behind my chair. Oh good. And then he went to sleep. And I went back to obs. And we peacefully coexisted until three hours later, after my lunch break, when I looked and he was gone.

I fell asleep at around 9:30, the calls of the common poor-wills drowning out any sounds of approaching bears, mountain lions or their ilk, but unfortunately not the sound of drilling from the 24-hour oil construction project going on on the other side of the mountain.

Sunrise on the second day.

A crazy caterpillar

Dad sunning himself in the cave's entrance

The morning of the third day, I awoke at dawn to see fog beginning to creep up the mountainsides. 

Ten minutes later, it looked as if I was adrift at sea. Half an hour later, the world went white.

The reason I had to conserve cell phone battery was that the morning of the third day also happened to be my birthday! I received calls from all my family and friends, which at least made me feel not quite so alone on this of all days.

How I spent my birthday. Got to say, though : easily 20 times better than my last one (some of you know to what I'm referring). 

On account of the fog, I couldn't see the nest most of the morning, so I stayed late until I could at least get a couple hours of obs in. Hiking back was not the most fun I've ever had, but I made it back to the ranch house in one piece, eager to relax and do a little celebrating on my own.

"Celebrating" amounted to making a delicious stir-fry, downing half a bottle of cheap white wine from Trader Joe's, and watching "Pulp Fiction" for the first time. So yeah, it was a pretty good birthday.