KG, PB and I scouted for an upcoming night hike on 9/12/11. We haven’t done a night hike here since 2008, so I was curious to find out what we might see.
We left the lot at 5:45 p.m. I spotted something out of the corner of my eye: a snake skin, left coming out/going into a hole in the ground. Nearby, across from some buckwheat, something with orange, and dark eyes, fled into a hole. It backed up, so I didn’t get a look at it myself.
It was quiet, with no other people around. We got to the intersection at 6:15, and continued through to the chaparral area. We hadn’t decided on a dinner spot, so we checked out the grassy area to the right from the overlook. The grass was flattened, with rabbit and other scat around. We decided to go back to the left side, and eat on the trail that leads past the water tank, arriving there around 7:00.
View from he chaparral area
After dinner and watching the sunset, we headed across the ridge and down the steep trail back to the first intersection (8:00).
We reached the lake bridge at 8:30. We went up Fir Knoll. In the dark, it was a little difficult to navigate since parts of the trail were covered with leaf duff. We found a few scorpions on the trail banks, and heard various owls. We found a katydid and took photos. I decided after we took a few steps to go back and take a lateral view; then I noticed that it was ovipositing.
We spent half an hour there, which made it questionable to continue around the back side of the lake when we finished the loop. We decided to take the lakeside trail back since it was 9:55. We got back to the lot with some time to spare, so we checked out the hole that we’d found previously–no action, though.
Photos are here.
