County Kerry Adventures, August/Sept. 2011

West Coast Scenes

Ireland is great in fall...no crowds, good weather and plenty of Guinness as always. From Ancient ring stones (left) to fresh seafood, colorful towns and Celtic music, there is lots to explore and experience. Aren't we lucky that we have a son and daughter-in-law living in Ballybunion? This time we explored the Beara and Iveragh Peninsulas using Kenmare as our headquarters. A highlight on the Beara Peninsula was the cable car journey of about 10 minutes over to Dursey Island. The car carries six people or one cow! There is a small village with perhaps 10 houses as well as acres of sheep and fine cattle. The one tarred road didn't have too much traffic, but then we were not walking during commute hour. The last cable car leaves the island at 4 p.m.

Son Glen found plenty of back roads for us to travel and we admired heather, St. Joseph's lilies and fuchsia bushes lining many of the roads. The sea is seldom far away on any West Coast road, so take time for a pub lunch of seafood chowder or mussels--always washed down with a Guinness, of course. Slainte!

New Adventures in Africa

Early September found us exploring wildlife and humanity in Zambia and Malawi. We spent time in the remarkable Wildlife Camp on the Luangwa River just outside of S. Luangwa National Park. For selected pictures of our adventures go to https://picasaweb.google.com/norma.wightman/SouthernAfrica2011 . Elephant, giraffe, zebra, numerous species of antelope and birds highlighted our visit. Big cats remained elusive. We loved the view across the river as the sun set and the hippo came out of the water for their evening grazing.

The elephants even came to visit us in our rustic chalet, one rubbing up against the roof thatch one night as it reached for succulent leaves in the tree next to our verandah. It was exciting to wake up to a large black sihouette visible through the netting. Then on our last morning in camp an elephant family visited the delicious bushes just behind our chalet (photo above).

The humanity story is less exciting. The women of Africa work harder than one can imagine. The load carried by this woman through the bush (photo above), miles from town, is indicative of how part of each day is spent gathering fuel and water. Deforestation is rampant in both Zambia and Malawi, as in much of Africa. As we drove to the park, sacks of charcoal awaited pick up along side the road. It is the only resource rural people can sell for a few kwatcha at the expense of the environment.

Record Snowfall at Crater Lake

Winter was a harsh one at Crater Lake National Park with more than 56 feet of snowfall. The rim drive is not fully open and the popular boat trip to Wizard Island only opens at the end of July. When we drove to the park on July 18 and arrived at an overlook at 8,000' the temperature was 39oF. Wooly caps and gloves were very welcome! Record snow assures that the lake will be at a good capacity this year.

Yosemite is Gushing

Father's Day was not the best time to visit Yosemite, but we were in Fresno and made a day trip to view the splendor of the falls. Yes, the crowds were bad in the valley, but Glacier Point provided a magnificent vantage point without being too crowded.

Down in the valley we tried to walk to Bridal Veil Falls, but got drenched on the way to its base so were content to admire it from afar. At Lower Yosemite Falls we got pretty wet crossing the bridge, but it was a warm day and kind of fun to get a shower from the terrific volume of water coming down. Looks like this year there will be falls well into autumn as there is still significant snow pack in the Sierras. Don't miss this marvelous spectacle!

Rattlesnake Dines in Montana de Oro State Park

Earlier this month Virginia Jensen and I took a morning hike along Rerservoir Flats Trail in Montana de Oro State Park. Fortunately Virginia had her camera with her as suddenly we came upon a rattlesnake very preoccupied with devouring a baby rabbit. We watched for 10-15 minutes and the snake didn't even blink, much less move a muscle. The bunny also was not moving. We lost patience and moved on so we can't even guess how long it took the snake to savor the entire bunny. An adventure with nature indeed!

Henry Coe State Park Splendid in Spring

April in Henry Coe State Park shows a stunning display of wildflowers. With four companion backpackers we counted about 80 flowering plants on a 6-day trip from the Coe headquarters to Coit Lake, Missippi Lake and back to the park entrance. This was new territory for me, but the 87,000 acres park provided a variety of ecosystems from grasslands, oak woodland, chapparal and many acres recovering from the 2007 Lick fire. Visibility was good enough to afford a distant view of the snow-capped Sierras. Pachecho Falls was stunning with multi-level cascades of water dropping into round emerald pools. Cougar prints in dried mud teased us, but wildlife viewing was restricted to an angry rattlesnake, rabbits, turkeys and a variety of song birds. Until our last night camping at Poverty Flats we saw very few people, even though this park is little more than an hour from San Jose. (photos by Bob Early)

Pinnacles National Monument Abloom

A mid-week trip to the Pinnacles was the highlight of spring blooms so far this year. While the Shooting Stars are virtually finished the Virgin's Bower was in its glory along with lots of belly flowers and the Indian Paint Brush was ablaze. An early Bitterroot is pictured. I have never seen it so green in the 12 years I have made my annual spring trek to this amazing park. Three condors were sighted (one adult and two juvenile) while hiking up Condor Gulch--how appropriate!

Anza Borrego Desert State Park in Bloom

I visited Anza Borrego for two days this past week and although the wildflowers were only rated a 4 out of 10 on the wildflower website, I thought it was splendid. I counted 30 flower species in bloom on a 3-hour hike to Maidenhair Falls. The treasure at the end was a display of stream orchids--who would have expected this in the desert! Spotted in bloom along Hellhole Canyon: Canterbury Bells, Bigelow's Monkey Flower, Fiesta Flower, Desert Lavender, Fiddleneck, Chuparosa, Ocotillo, Rock Daisy, Indigo Bush, Desert Dandelion, Sugar Bush, Wild Almond, Bladder pod, Apricot Mallow, Chia, Cheesebush, Brown-eyed Primrose, etc.,etc. This State Park is awesome.