Trail Time With Nick

Yesterday, Nick and I did some hiking through Skyline Park. Hiking with Nick is a pleasure. He notices things that most people overlook and is always raising questions. We examine tiny tracks, pick through scat to see "what was at", marvel at the bark patterns on trees, and stop to smell and taste various leaves, nuts, and berries. Tiring of saying "I don't know", and having gotten caught in some half truths, my standard answer now is, "We'll have to Google that."

These tracks puzzled us, but upon seeing the photos with my glasses on, and researching the web, our best guess is opossum. It looks like a tail was dragging on the ground between the little footprints. There were smaller versions of this nearby which must have been babies.

We determined that poison oak has no enemies.

This old oak had a large hole right through its trunk. We wondered why some trees seem to carry on despite serious injury, and others just die or fall over for no apparent reason. Hmmm.

The berries on this bush reminded me of the neon colored salmon eggs I used to fish with as a kid.

Alas, the furrowed bark on this old valley oak started me pondering about dermatology. It is interesting, none the less, and also reminds me of an owl.