FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN.
Day 86 – 32 degrees again this morning & a little icy out when Rob took his walk. No clouds, sunny, beautiful day. We heard this morning that there are now huge fires in Ventura, and due to the annual Santa Ana winds, they are out of control. This is crazy.
Rob walked up to the ranger station to pay for another two nights here. He took a trail from there & ended up on the boardwalk around Lake Cleone. He couldn’t get at it yesterday due to the mud & water which flooded the entrance. He walked it until the boardwalk was no longer walkable, found it to be unsafe & falling apart in places. He took a few bird pictures.
Least Sandpipers, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
Least Sandipers, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
Surfbird (yellow legs), Ruddy Turnstone (orange legs), MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
This afternoon we saw that the Day Use Area had been opened back up, so we went down to see what we’d find there. Really, really nice. First, on the way in, we saw where the road had flooded at the place where the Ocean waves had gone over the dunes and over the road into the lake. Now that the water had left the road, people could drive through and get to the large parking lot & picnic area near the cliff overlooking the Ocean. We’d intended to set up our chairs on the cliff, but we found that there was a wonderful, well-maintained boardwalk & we walked the whole trail. It went through the Cypress trees & along the cliff and out over the Ocean in several places. Then it continued through a large marsh and back out to sea again. We encountered lots of birds, some hunting for & catching an early dinner. Lots of critters running around in the marsh, too.
Black Oystercatcher and crab, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
Raven, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
These talons mean business! Raven, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
Brewer’s Blackbird, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
Great Egret hunting, MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
Great Egret eating a large mouse! MacKerricher State Park, Cleone, CA
The high today here did not get over 50 degrees. It seemed lots warmer though because the sun was so bright. The kitties love all the sunlight. We told them they’d be seeing lots more of that as we head further south. But with all the smoke, maybe there won’t be sunlight?