The Rest of June at Emerald Bay and Beyond
Early morning, June 23, looking into Emerald Bay.
I love the early morning light!
Collared Momma
I encountered this bear in a campsite the morning of June 24 on my way back from my time at the Overlook in our Eagle Point Campground. She was very interested in the table and campsite of site 18, and the family had retreated to their vehicle. When I yelled at her and approached her she reluctantly went away and started up the hill away from the campsite. She was stalling so I was taking out my phone to call for a ranger, but when she continued up the hill I didn't make the call, and instead took this picture. A few seconds later some campers said, "There's another bear!" Sure enough a smaller bear came across the road trailing a ways behind this one. I figured it was this "Collared Momma's" year and a half old cub. Since this bear was wearing a collar, had an ear tag in her left ear indicating she's a female, and was being trailed by what I presume was her cub I named her "Collared Momma." The collar indicates she has been a problem bear and is being monitored.
Several days later Rob and I encountered her in another campsite where the campers were standing back making lots of noise. As Rob parked the Gator I approached yelling, "Go Bear," and she moved off behind the closed bear box while sniffing at a small ice chest on the ground. I asked the campers what was in it and they said, "Just ice." Ice and water are fine to leave in an ice chest outside the bear box, but nothing else. The bear stopped behind the bear box and looked at me and then at Rob who was on the other side using an air horn. Collared Momma bluff charged Rob and he dodged to the front of the bear box. I went to the other side and then she went around behind and she bluff charged me. Then she grabbed the ice chest in her mouth and ran into the woods as the campers were heard to say, "Oh, there is wine and milk in that ice chest." Rob followed the bear into the woods and watched from a safe distance while I called for a ranger, who showed up about an hour later and was able to shoot her with a bean bag.
Lessons learned from our encounter with Collared Momma: 1) Never believe a camper when they tell you that there is only ice in an ice chest that a bear shows interest in! 2) Don't use an air horn - it ticked her off! 3) Be careful around collared bears!
On the afternoon of June 24 Rob and I went to the Lake Tahoe Visitor Center at Taylor Creek to stroll along the beautiful Rainbow Trail when we encountered a family group running toward us saying there were bears on the trail. They must have thought us nuts when we continued in the direction of the bears. We sat down on a nearby bench to watch the mom and cub, but they quickly left.
A not very good picture of a Sapsucker at Taylor Creek.
Sunset, June 24, looking toward Heavenly Valley Ski Resort.
Smooth leaving Emerald Bay.
Look at all those babies!
Mt. Tallac as seen from my kayak near Baldwin Beach.
Mt. Tallac on the left, the two Maggie's Peaks in the center, mountains to the west of Emerald Bay to the right.
Kiva Beach, where I landed for my early morning quiet time.
A pesky flying machine flying above me.
These are really noisy!
How many babies can fit on her back?
Beautiful clouds over the mountains.
A formidable root structure in front of my spot.
Back at Camp - a bear getting food a camper left out while Camp host Steve tries to encourage it to leave.
Is it a whale?
June 26, along the Rubicon Trail between Vikingsholm and Boat Camp.
The "decorations" change, but there are always some depicting an open mouthed creature.
Beautiful flowers near Vikingsholm.
Completed puzzle.
Can you find the two missing pieces?
On June 30 we headed over the mountains to go to Colfax and stopped for a break and short walk at the West Bound Donner Summit rest area - beautiful wildflowers blooming!
- South toward Mexico on the Pacific Crest Trail
- North to Canada on the PCT
- Or straight ahead to the Donner Lake Rim Trail.
I crossed the PCT and headed out on the Rim Trail which I soon recognized as part of the Summit Lake Trail that I had hiked many times over the years.
A pretty rock garden.
A pretty creek on my way along the trail.
This rock wall was very familiar from past hikes here.
Beautiful pink Mountain Pride on the granite rocks.
More pretty pink up there.
Soft Cistanthe Monosperma.
I'll never remember that name!
Coyote Mint
Mariposa Tulip
Some Mountain Pride up close.
I call this my favorite high Sierra wild flower. The first time I remember seeing it was many years ago on the Tioga Pass Road in Yosemite National Park. It's striking contrast to the grey granite was stunning!
A peak at Castle Peak from my trail.
Helianthella Californica.
Lupine blooming in pretty grass.
A collection of pretties.
And some more.
Well placed stepping stones to cross the creek.
Returning along the wall.
It's always hard for me to turn around on a trail that keeps going.
Monday, July 1, on our way back up to Emerald Bay we took Highway 50 and finally stopped to hike at Pyramid Creek, a place I'd wanted to explore for a long time. When driving down Highway 50 from Tahoe you can't miss seeing Horsetail Falls on Pyramid Creek and I have wanted to stop there for a long time, so we finally did.
A view of Horsetail Falls from the trail.
This was not an easy trail, but when I promised Rob I didn't intend to go far he ventured out with me.
There were lots of pretty wildflowers.
Flowers amongst the burned trees from the 2021 Caldor Fire.
Fireweed and burned trees.
Pyramid Creek along the trail.
I say "trail" loosely because it soon became more of a granite slab scramble.
Walking back down the steep granite slab.
Jody encouraging Elsie and dogs Atlas and Ellie to get along.
I have been dragging about updating my blog, so will end here for now and publish this June (and July 1) edition before tackling July and August - need to get up to date before we leave Lake Tahoe and head to Europe to visit family in September!
Comments
Post a Comment