Two Weeks of Boden Canyon Trail Cam Videos

We hiked up to our trail cam this morning after leaving it out for two weeks.  Apparently, we picked a good location as we captured deer, turkey, bobcat, mountain lion, gray squirrel, gray fox, and striped skunk.  Unfortunately, partly because of placement and a possibly cheap camera, some of the animals had practically passed by before the camera started.  We re-positioned the camera in a different place so that animals will be in view longer next time - we hope!

The videos below are in the order taken.  Numbers 1, 11, and 12 are the most dramatic.

Mule Deer checks out camera

Wild Turkey

Western Gray Squirrel

Bobcat

Mule Deer

Gray Fox

Mule Deer

Gray Fox

Striped Skunk

Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion

Gray Fox

Stay tuned, the cam is still out there!

Cuyamaca State Park

Yesterday, Gail and I did an all day hike at Cuyamaca State Park. We took the Harvey Moore Trail about 4 miles to Granite Spring, looped around a little peak and then headed off to Dyer Spring to finish off a bigger loop. It was so untouched and beautiful back there, plus we saw no other humans on the whole hike.

Birch Leaf Mountain Mohagany, I think.

 Acorn Woodpeckers - always photogenic!

Phainopeplas make a distinctive "whup" whistle.

 Interesting Coyote scat that included a skull as well as fur.

 Mountain Lion track.

 In 2003, The Cedar Fire destroyed 95% of the park's 25,000 acres.  This area was lucky, as there are patches of  mature trees that survived.

 We detoured to a large rock that was topped with bird guano. At the bottom was part of a skeleton, which my best guess says Gray Fox.

 Top of skull.

Gail spotted this Blainville's Horned Lizard. Can you see it?  She makes the most incredible sightings of things I can't see when she is pointing right at them!

A better view.

We spotted 5 in about a half mile stretch.  There were millions of small grasshoppers in the area which they may have been feeding on.

A San Diego Tiger Whiptail, doing its Komodo Dragon impression.

 Granite Spring has a great shady rest spot where we had lunch.  The springs in the area are running, as well as Juaquapin Creek.

Burned tree and buckwheat.

 Kingbird

The End

Boden Canyon Again

We set the alarm for 4:00 AM this morning to hit the trail early, hoping to avoid the heat.  Our hike was up Boden Canyon again, to place the trail cam, and see what was moving around.  We saw several deer, loads of animal tracks, and no signs of recent human activity.  Here are a few pics we took along the way.

A baby Blainville's Horned Lizard.

 A Brown-headed Cowbird.

 One member of an Acorn Woodpecker colony that was catching insects.  From a distance, we first thought they were swallows!

 A California Sister butterfly.

There were immense swaths of California Buckwheat in bloom.  This is California's largest natural source of honey.

Dog Rescue!

This morning, we were doing an early morning hike at Calavera Preserve when we happened on a dog walking toward us without a human.  He was tired and hot, so we slowly walked him up to the trailhead, tried to give him water, and brought him home.

 At the house, we gave him cat food and water.

 We knew we had to make a good effort at finding his owners, but we were already falling in love with him, even naming him Curly.  He had an Oceanside Humane Society tag, but when we entered it in their database, the number came up as invalid.  Curly was well mannered, affectionate, and liked retrieving a ball and dropping it at our feet.  We both felt that this was a well cared for and loved pet.

We next started searching the internet for lost dogs, and Gail hit pay dirt on Craig's List.  It turned out that his name is Paco, and he lived in Oceanside, about 5 miles away from where we had found him. He somehow had crossed the I-5 and the 78!  The Craig's List notice wouldn't let us get a phone number, but did show the address.  We drove to the home with Paco who sweetly placed his head in Gail's lap.

 The happy reunion!  It was a pleasure to see how happy the family was to get Paco back.  We learned that Paco is a Spanish Water Dog. Someone had set off fireworks last evening (the 8th of July) and Paco freaked out and broke through the fence.  We had a nice visit and learned more about the Spanish Water Dog - the Lind's have two.

Isabel Lind is a portrait photographer and brought out her 1st place award shot of Paco, all coiffed and duded up.  She offered to do a free portrait of us sometime in the future.  We love happy endings!