Send ’em in, folks! I’m running a bit low. . .
Today’s photos come from Mayaan Levy, whose captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Pacific crest trail animals
All photos were taken by my husband Micah on his Pacific crest trail (PCT) thru-hike last summer. Thru-hiking means having a continuous footpath, and hiking the trail in one go, and he had dreamt of achieving this impressive feat for about 12 years. This was his third attempt – the first was cut short due to work constraints and the second due to knee injury. But third time’s the charm – he walked from Mexico to Canada. Here you can read more about the PCT for those of you who are interested: https://www.pcta.org/
This will probably be a first batch out of three: animals, plants and views from the PCT. All photos were taken with a pixel 7 smartphone. Several quick notes before we begin:
The trail is not only for 20-somethings, and Micah noted how many people in their 50s and 60s he met along the way and how fit and fast they were. Just sayin’ – if that’s your dream – go for it!
I did the species identification and some might be wrong – please contribute the correct ID if you know it.Captions and text are written by me but are paraphrased from Micah’s stories about the trail.
The desert
Looks barren, but is full of life. The air is clear and crisp at sunrise then turns dusty and hazy with some warm winds from the east and the day’s heat. At sunset, reds and pinks give way to deep purple as hikers go to sleep at a billion-star hotel.
Sun spider of some type (order Solifugae) – it’s not a scorpion! And also not a spider! To the best of my understanding they don’t have any venom.
Pacific gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer):
Long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii):
The Sierra Nevada
The mountains high in thin air, snow all around, gushing rivers and pine trees galore! The Sierras are considered the most difficult section of the PCT and also probably the most beautiful. I did the section too with Micah on his second attempt, including summiting Mt. Whitney on the summer solstice.
abiete coni figmentum imaginationis – some hikers having fun (and me getting to practice my Latin).
Sagebrush chekerspot (Chlosyne acastus):
Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventer) – marmots are hilarious. They tend to not be scared of people, and instead will try to get into your bag and steal your food. Sometimes they also like to pose for photos, and sometimes they tan on the rocks looking stoned:
Speaking of food thieves, in the Sierra hikers are required to carry bear canisters, which you can imagine as a bucket-size child (bear)-proof pill bottles. Information boards for hikers in Yosemite national park read: “if you have too much food and not all of it fits in the canister, stop! Sit and eat! Then try again.” In northern California most hikers ship their heavy bear canister back home. However, bears are clever animals and they have learned that food can be had at this location. Micah has set up his tent about 10 miles after shipping out his canister, only to have a bear circle his tent all night.
Another food thief, and the most dexterous one (I’ve seen them open zippers): the common raccoon (Procyon lotor), aka trash panda. They like to hang out around campgrounds, steal food and then act all innocent and go wash their hands:
Yes, there’s a lot of talk about food on trail – it’s probably the number one conversation topic.
Oregon and Washington
Yay Volcanos! The cascade range is magical in its deep, dark colors. And despite last year being extremely dry, you can tell that this environment is water-rich.
Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) – I think their skin is somewhat toxic to the touch, but I might be wrong:
This is a “find the animal” photo – there are actually two mammals here, sharing a habitat in the fog that’s so frequent in Washington’s mountains:
Pika (family Ochotonidea) – and the cutest animal on the PCT award goes to the pikas. They chirp (not sure that’s the right descriptor for their calls) saying “pet me!”, “adopt me!”. Unlike marmots which hibernate for the majority of the year, pikas run around in their rocky castles and continue to be cute throughout the winter:
Spruce grouse (Canachites Canadensis) spotted less than 10 miles from Canada:
Homo sapiens (I’m sure about this ID) – this is me in the photo. I joined Micah for Washington (Bridge of the Gods to the US-Canada border):
Great set!
I think the two dark spots are the mammals.
Marmot and pika. Saw them when at Glacier N.P.
Saw them in Waterton, the Canadian part of Glacier🥰
Amazing feat. Micah is a hero. My grad school lab-mate who hiked the Shenandoah Appalachian Trail with me in Virginia, hosted several of us in an introduction to California backpacking for two weeks on the Pacific Crest Trail in the Sonora Pass area near Yosemite. Yep, pines, fast running (after a day of sun) streams, bears!, but generally just delightful, peaceful trails even passing through small snowfields in August. With paper topo charts in 1970’s. Do not know if technology has changed orienteering, but the physical effort is surely unchanged. Thanks for the photos.
I was on the PCT above Sonora pass last June. So crazy beautiful Sierra scenery. And lots of snow!
I do not fully recall from so long ago but it seems that we had scattered snow fields and pools in general above 9000ft. It was enough along with the rivers that we did not have to carry water…a huge improvement on Appalachian Trail hiking. We saw a dozen or so other hikers on day one near a parking lot/campground where we left our car, one two people over the next couple of weeks, and then lots of hikers and even a mule train the last two days as we approached a pack station near a Marine winter training camp. The solitude on even such a main trail was surprising and incredibly wonderful. Much different from East coast backpacking.
Amazing hike! Great pictures.
So interesting, thank you.
Thanks for the photos!
I don’t think this is a Spruce Grouse, a species that tends to stick to dense forest. It is what used to be called a “Blue Grouse” up to a while back, when it was split into two species: Sooty Grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) and Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus). Unfortunately, “females of these two species are not reliably distinguishable by sight” according to the Sibley bird guide, and this is a female. Range might tell you which one it is, with Sooty in Western Washington and Oregon and Dusky in the eastern part of those states.
What sweet photos and what an epic trip!
Hanging around the southern Oregon sections of the PCT, I’m always amazed by the through-hikers – their loping strides, cheerfulness, and leanness. Giving them rides to/from Ashland is a fun way to hear great trail tales.
Really lovely photos and it looks like nice hiking.
My psychopathology leads me to wonder, if there was ever any formal agreement between Canachites canadensis and Mus musculus it might be called the Spruce Grouse House Mouse Truce.
Sorry.
That should be “if there were ever” not “was”, shouldn’t it?
I should know this for sure, since I’m a retired middle school English teacher, but I think your correction to “were” is correct. “Were” is the subjunctive mood in phrases like “if there were ever . . . ” indicating hypothetical situations.
“If I were a carpenter . . . . ”
“If wishes were horses . . . . “
Ah, yes! “If I were kind of the forest…” “If I were a rich man…”
Thanks!
Nice, enjoyed that. Thanks.