Today’s photos come from a new contributor, Deborah Davis. Her comments are indented, and you can click on the photos to enlarge them.
These photos are from a road trip to the eastern Sierras last July. I drove down to San Diego to pick up my road trip partner (we do 2-3 of these kinds of trips per year), and then we spent 9 days living out of my truck and hiking the Sierras. Two of the photos are a couple of lakes along the Mosquito Flats trail, which was my favorite hike of the entire trip. The other lake photo is Convict Lake, named for a group of convicts who escaped from jail in Carson City NV, and were cornered by a local posse there. I love the different colored rock layers in the mountains in the background.
Mosquito Flats lakes:
Convict Lake:
The last photo is also from the Mosquito Flats trail, from a pile of rocks right along the trail. There’s a pika (Ochotona princeps, I think) in the rocks, so this is an extremely easy ‘spot the…’ photo. He’s worth the spot; he’s pretty cute.
Can you spot the pika?
Thanks for sharing those amazing photos. They have really lifted my midwinter, mid-lockdown spirits. Am longing to travel again, though I might give Mosquito Flats a miss, beautiful as they look, for obvious reasons.
Very nice Deborah! I am suitably envious of your time in the mountains! I can see the Pika is doing a good job of gathering her hay!
Where is Pikachu?
Great photos! That is awesome scenery there.
Beautiful! Looks like an incredible place to be. Cute Pika.
Did you hear the Pika? They have a very sharp call, much like a high pitched whistle.
I didn’t hear this particular pika – his mouth was full. I’ve seen them in other areas, like Glacier or the Uintahs. I nearly always hear them first because they are so well camouflaged against the rocks. They are pretty noisy. This is the first time I’ve been able to get a picture.
D Davis
Pikas used to come right into our tent (when we’re gone briefly) at Garibaldi in B.C.
Looks like very nice weather, excellent pics. Weather pretty reliable down there, I expect.
Joking, but hopefully not too many itchy mosquito bumps at Mosquito Flats.
Lovely pictures, lovely trail, Mosquito Flats. I’ve been there, although it looks like you got better weather than I did. It is a perfect hike when one hears/sees a pika, isn’t it?
Ah to be hiking in the mountains of the west!
Yes indeed. Beautiful. Granite peaks reflected in lakes, alpine meadows. I am an east coaster who had the wonderful experience of three weeks backpacking the pacific crest trail around sonora pass in july about 50 years ago. Your pictures brought back great memories of that perfect time. Thank you!
Ah to be hiking in the west❗️❗️❗️
Very beautiful. It’s easy to forget the beauty of the world sometimes.
Thanks, I love that part of the country and miss it.
Breathtaking photos, Deborah. The reflecting one of Convict Lake is particularly captivating!
Really beautiful – I’m often (pleasantly) surprised by photos in this section (like yours today) that there actually still exist some places in our country that aren’t ruined, polluted or in some way vandalized.
Superb.
D.A.
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2020/06/10/photos-of-readers-93/