Last week I joined Senior Saunters again (I wrote about them here); this time we went to Tolay Lake Regional Park. This is a park that has been open to the public for about ten years now; before that it was only open for the fall festival on two weekends in October of every year, but otherwise the public didn't have access. I have to admit that I hadn't been there since the opening to the public because it is a bit of a trek there. But this time, two friends of mine, who hadn't been there either, and I carpooled down there.
First of all, there was no lake, despite its name. Well, let me rephrase that, there was no lake now. It's a seasonal lake, the season being winter of course, but since we had such a dry March without a single day of rain, the lake was mostly gone. It was still pretty "marshy" and there were a few "canals", but that was pretty much it. However, I think if you're there early in the morning you will see a lot of birds. We saw mainly Red-winged Blackbirds and Violet-green Swallows.
And guess what? There were also dead trees - hurray!
We sauntered along this trail. It's a lovely park, but it almost completely lacks any shade. Last week was perfect weather for our walk, on the cooler side with a rather chilly wind.
There was a lot of teasel by the side of the trail. I love teasel and I couldn't help it, I took tons of pictures of it.
The trees in the background I found rather attractive. I love solitary trees.
We had just passed them and were walking a little bit farther when we saw at the foot of the hill two coyotes. They were too far away for taking pictures, and we simply enjoyed standing there and watching them until they slowly moved away. They certainly weren't in any rush. This was the second time this year that we saw coyotes during our sauntering.
Eventually, we turned around and walked back to the parking lot. I noticed the cows looking for shade under the tree to the left. I hadn't seen them when we came up that way. There are some parks in our county where cows are grazing - another way of wildfire mitigation. They're not quite as ferocious eaters as goats who, beside sheep, are also kept in the parks and other wooded areas for the same purpose.
5 comments:
That was a beautiful saunter. Spring is here!
A very interesting (marsh?) area.
I wonder why you were pleased to see dead trees. I love trees and I would be upset to see trees that had died.
I really like trees because they teach us.
I wrote about them once in my blog, and there I mentioned that lonely trees speak about the challenges of being alone. Those living next to each other, about living together. People also know both forms of life.
We need understanding ears and seeing eyes to learn from them.
I don’t know what it’s called, but I like that brown and prickly plant. You brought a lot of pictures of them. We have them here too, and I often stop by them.
Thank you for the walk, and I wish you more like it.
Éva
...Carola, thanks for the tour of this wonderful landscape. Nature is ever changing throughout the seasons.
Good morning what a lovely park to browse in nature
I'm on my way to the eye doctor, but had to tell you how much I love this place and would like to explore all the wonders there. Thank you for sharing.
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