Cuyamaca Hike

Yesterday four of us (Debbie, myself, Jim Barnick, and his girlfriend Michelle) took a short hike up the maintenance road from Paso Picacho campground toward Cuyamaca Peak. We didn’t make it all the way up — this was our first hike of the season, and we weren’t quite up to an 1,700 foot elevation change. Also, as we got closer to the top the conditions got icier and snowier (although the air temperature was quite pleasant); we met people coming down bundled up like Arctic explorers, using ski poles to help them stay upright. And we could see footprints of people wearing ice cleats — not a good sign.

We also had Miki the wonder-puppy along for the hike, and he had a wonderful time. He especially enjoyed the snow and ice along the road. There was a puppy “ah ha!” moment along the trail when he figured out that he could eat snow; after that he was happily munching snow and licking the ice all along the trail. And at one point he was carrying around a small snowball on his back. My theory is that the squirrels threw a snowball at him, but I don’t think anyone else was buying that… We saw deer prints in the snow, and we saw deer several places around the mountain — the very first time since the Cedar Fire in October 2003. We’re hoping that this portends a return of the wildlife to Cuyamaca, especially the mountain lions and bobcats (we still haven’t seen any of them since the fire). This past year, and on this trip, we have seen many very healthy-looking hawks — so the rodents must be back in force. It looks like the wildlife is returning…

So we made it up almost to the “saddle", just below the final 500' or so push to the peak, just at the edge of the area where most of the trees were saved from the Cedar Fire (just over three years ago now). The area we walked through was nearly devoid of living trees — it had been an almost pure conifer forest, and except for a few cedars whose tops have survived, they are all burned. On this walk, you’re in a tree graveyard, with skeletons of dead trees still poking into the sky all around. A few seem to have fallen on their own as they decompose; many more have been cut down. The cut trees are being chipped, or harvested for fencing or firewood. If you like forests and trees, it’s a very somber and sad sight…

Jim and Michelle have been “an item” for just a few months now, but they act like they’ve been together for a hundred years. It’s very nice to see our old friend so happy in a relationship, and nicer yet for being so completely unexpected. Michelle basically dropped into his life from outer space; the apparently committed bachelor Jim suddenly has a “serious” girlfriend. They were very cute on the trail, holding hands and smooching…

Miki Report

Miki is almost a year old — still very much a puppy, but also starting to mature into a “real” dog. He’s developing a very sweet personality, too.

Yesterday we took him along on a hike we took (more on that in a subsequent post). He had a wonderful time with all the new smells, and playing in the snow and ice. Whenever there was an icy patch in the road we were walking on (a frequent occurrence!), he’d head for it — apparently to delight in the sensation of slipping and sliding. Something we’ve noticed about Miki is that he seems to really, really hate losing his balance or being flipped over. Our other dogs all treat this as part of playing, but not Miki — he’ll resist any attempt to knock him over, and very effectively, too. This makes his delight in the ice all the more mysterious.

As you can see in the photos, he is developing into a very nice specimen of a field spaniel. About the only “ding” we can see is that his ears are shorter than most field spaniels (a breed noted for its long, droopy ears, accentuated by long, curly hair on them). Other than that, he’s just about perfect…

Ice in Jamul

Debbie came running into my office at daybreak yesterday, telling me that I absolutely had to come see something. I went into the living room and she just pointed outside. A small Italian Stone Pine (pinus pinea) in our yard was covered with ice!

This isn’t quite as crazy as it might appear at first blush. First, what I didn’t show you in the photos is that the ice is very localized to just the bottom branches. Second, what you most likely don’t know is that I have a sprinkler set up to put water on this plant every morning at 4 am. In our hot, dry summer heat, the early morning hours are the best time to sprinkle water. In the winter, however, on those rare mornings when we have a below-freezing temperature, it’s not such a smart thing!

I’ve turned the sprinklers off for the winter…