mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2021-08-26 05:15 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2021-08-26 05:15 pm
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Pine Valley Ranch
Well, today was a waste. We didn't want to go anywhere, since it was the day they were coming to inspect the apartment. The notice we got said anytime between 9 and 5... and they got here at 4:06. :/
So we did NOTHING all damn day. (I got up early, hid the toad, did a little more neatening up. Alex ran an errand. I took a nap.) The inspection itself was opening and closing all the cabinets, testing the garbage disposal, and making sure the burners on the stove worked. There was a cursory look over everything else, but it took all of 90 seconds, so it was absolutely a waste to have waited around for.
BUT. Yesterday we *did* go on a hike. I'd wanted to do one of our farther away options... but then the dog was being slightly explosive when he went out in the morning. So we decided that we should go somewhere he could come with, so there wouldn't be an unpleasant surprise when we got back, and because usually that's a stress thing, and being home alone stresses him out. Unfortunately, that ruled out most of our options.
So we picked one of the county parks we hadn't been to before. It's a little farther into the mountains than we usually go: Pine Valley Ranch. We picked it because it has lots of water access, and Cy likes to wade.
The river as you cross the bridge to the trails.
A very cute bumblebee on some wildflowers. (Asters of some type, I think.)
Pine Valley Lake. The branch stretching out over the water had what we thought were turtles on it, but they were gone before we got closer. The picture isn't very clear, but I think the lumps on the log were actually birds - we saw four female mergansers just a bit later.
The water had tons of little minnows swimming in the shallows, and a bunch of crayfish of all sizes, ranging from less than an inch long to bigger than my hand. They're so funny to watch, the way they just pew shoot themselves backwards to get away.
They were pretty speedy, but I did reach in and scoop one up.
Crayfish! (It was let go right afterwards, with a weird alien-abduction story to tell its friends.)
Alex saw something running along the hill, but couldn't get a good look at it. He said it looked like a smallish, black animal, but he lost sight of it too quickly to really identify. It was gone by the time I turned around to look. Alex half-joked that maybe it was a small bear, because that was the sort of run it seemed to have.
...And then a few minutes later we ran into a couple coming the other way on the trail, who said someone else told them that there was a mother bear and cub in the area, and the adult had been heard back toward the river.
Welp.
(Animal control was there when we left an hour and a half later. I certainly hope it wasn't to do anything to the bears, because... I mean, it's a park in the middle of the mountains! Of course there will be bears! That's why we have signs warning you to be careful!)
We continued along the trail, just trying to keep a cautious eye out in case of further bear activity.
A picturesque rock formation.
Barrel cactus. It always surprises me, for some reason, to see cacti when we're way up in the mountains. It shouldn't, because I've been here my whole life, and am well used to it by now, yet every time...
Back down by the lake on the way back, we saw a couple of these enormous dragonflies.
And a little black squirrel. They look so different than the typical red squirrels we get down in the city.
So we did NOTHING all damn day. (I got up early, hid the toad, did a little more neatening up. Alex ran an errand. I took a nap.) The inspection itself was opening and closing all the cabinets, testing the garbage disposal, and making sure the burners on the stove worked. There was a cursory look over everything else, but it took all of 90 seconds, so it was absolutely a waste to have waited around for.
BUT. Yesterday we *did* go on a hike. I'd wanted to do one of our farther away options... but then the dog was being slightly explosive when he went out in the morning. So we decided that we should go somewhere he could come with, so there wouldn't be an unpleasant surprise when we got back, and because usually that's a stress thing, and being home alone stresses him out. Unfortunately, that ruled out most of our options.
So we picked one of the county parks we hadn't been to before. It's a little farther into the mountains than we usually go: Pine Valley Ranch. We picked it because it has lots of water access, and Cy likes to wade.
The river as you cross the bridge to the trails.
A very cute bumblebee on some wildflowers. (Asters of some type, I think.)
Pine Valley Lake. The branch stretching out over the water had what we thought were turtles on it, but they were gone before we got closer. The picture isn't very clear, but I think the lumps on the log were actually birds - we saw four female mergansers just a bit later.
The water had tons of little minnows swimming in the shallows, and a bunch of crayfish of all sizes, ranging from less than an inch long to bigger than my hand. They're so funny to watch, the way they just pew shoot themselves backwards to get away.
They were pretty speedy, but I did reach in and scoop one up.
Crayfish! (It was let go right afterwards, with a weird alien-abduction story to tell its friends.)
Alex saw something running along the hill, but couldn't get a good look at it. He said it looked like a smallish, black animal, but he lost sight of it too quickly to really identify. It was gone by the time I turned around to look. Alex half-joked that maybe it was a small bear, because that was the sort of run it seemed to have.
...And then a few minutes later we ran into a couple coming the other way on the trail, who said someone else told them that there was a mother bear and cub in the area, and the adult had been heard back toward the river.
Welp.
(Animal control was there when we left an hour and a half later. I certainly hope it wasn't to do anything to the bears, because... I mean, it's a park in the middle of the mountains! Of course there will be bears! That's why we have signs warning you to be careful!)
We continued along the trail, just trying to keep a cautious eye out in case of further bear activity.
A picturesque rock formation.
Barrel cactus. It always surprises me, for some reason, to see cacti when we're way up in the mountains. It shouldn't, because I've been here my whole life, and am well used to it by now, yet every time...
Back down by the lake on the way back, we saw a couple of these enormous dragonflies.
And a little black squirrel. They look so different than the typical red squirrels we get down in the city.
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I am also glad we avoided the bears! Especially with the dog, I am perfectly happy to keep our distance.
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Sorry you had to waste a day for the 90 second inspection.
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I am annoyed that we couldn't do anything while waiting for the inspection. I wish I'd at least tried to get more writing done, but I kept thinking they'd come soon, and I'd be interrupted, lol.
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