Dancer on Cerro Alto

Cerro Alto located west of Atascadero Ca. with an elevation gain of 1600 ft. Today , 3-30-2011, I met a most interesting hiker at the top of Cerro alto . I was at the top when I observed below a hiker climbing at a very fast pace and when she arrived at the top I was surprised to see her very composed in warm weather wearing dance clothes and shoes , with no gear . Her water supply in her purse were in small square bottles . Great lady in superb physical shape . I complemented her on same and asked what else she did to keep in shape she said she was a Tango Dance . Anyway she made an interesting hiker !

Cerro Alto Spring 2011

Cerro Alto west of Atascadero Ca. between Atascadero and Morro Bay Ca. March

27 , 2011 , the record setting rains have stopped and the sun is shinning , the temp is in the 60s and all is fresh . The trail reveals beauty in all places , flowers , water , and most of all beautiful people enjoying a healthy sport of hiking , The couple reaching the top were from Berkley , traveling and backpacking . i shared some trail info for their travels . The young lady taking photos at the top of Cerro alto is Ashley , she was with 5 others , all were in super shape ,and enjoying the mountain . We discussed the view of the sierras and other mountains within view from this location . I love seeing Youth of this age getting physical and enjoying the the wilderness ! I hope to see them again . a special thanks to my model Ashley !

Turkey Season open

March 25 , 2001 -- Saturday , at the Rinconada trail in Pozo ( e/o ) Santa Margarita Ca. A rainy day , Jim and I are about to hike when we were advised by Fish and Game officer of hunting in the area . We heard many gun shots . this officers heads up was welcome ! The officer identified himself as Togazzini ( I hope I spelled it right ). a couple of weeks ago we met turkey hunters exploring the area's turkey potential . This game warden upon learning of our interest in wild life on the trail was kind enough to show us a turkey confiscated today for an illegal hunt on private property .He explained how to identify a legal tom turkey see the beard on the neck -- close up photo. Good work Fish and Game ! Thanks for being an important part of wilderness trail life !

Back Packing Training 3-19-11

Saturday hike in Pozo , on the Rinconada Trail ( east of Santa Margarita Ca. ) brought me in contact with father and son team Dave and Nathan training for a week long back packing adventure to New Mexico with the Boy Scouts . It was pouring down rain and I found the umbrella a interesting piece of equipment . It warms my heart to see a dad teaching his son to love the wilderness !
Best of luck to you both , hope to see you again !

Pozo Turkey Hunter

Jim and I were hiking the Rinconada Trail when we met the turkey hunter wearing his trophies (turkey spurs ) !He claimed he had hiked 7 miles and saw no sign of turkeys . As we left the area we saw about 30 turkeys . Too bad for the hunter . Oh well that's the way luck is ?

Junipero Serra and Bear Mt.

A rare view of Junipero Serra and Bear mountain on the right . This view was Sunday February 27 Th , 2011 This photo was taken with a 400 mm lens on a Canon SLR . The mountains are approx. 50 miles away ( as the crow fly )and usually covered with clouds when there is snow on the ground . Junipero is 5,862 feet high .

Cerro Alto is located in the Los Padres National Forrest on hwy 41 west of Atascadero.

Tuolumne River

Posted here are a few photos from my backpacking adventure to the grand canyon of the Tuolumne River last year . My intended adventure was to be a 70 mile loop , starting and finishing at the Tuolumne Meadows ( located above Yosemite Valley ) . However due to injuries I was not able to complete same . Anyway I hope that you enjoy these photos made during the two days of this trip . We passed several water falls that made the trail very loud and spectacular . The water fall with the blue pool at the base of same in Glenn Aulin located about 6 miles from the Tuolumne Meadows . We camped at the frost covered meadow located another 6 miles past Glenn Aulin . The girl in the swim wear was swimming in the ice cold waters of the water falls . I included two photos that need more explanation . One is my partner Wayne building a fire as I think he an expert at making a fire on the trail under any circumstances , note how small the fire is started , He takes pride in using only one match ! The other photo is the horse back rider , he is a ranger . Great job if you can get it !! For more information on this hike see the Yosemite High Country Trail Map from Tom Harrison Maps .

Cerro Alto -- pretty images

Haven't posted in a while so I am posting some interesting and pretty images om Cerro Alto ( located on hwy 41 west of Atascadero Ca. ) . All are self explainable except the tracks in the rain . It is raining season now and I love hiking in the rain and so do the wild life . I met a man hiking in the rain , we were the only two on the mountain , we met traveling opposite directions we said hello and continued on our way . It was pouring and I was enjoying his foot tracks on the ground ( my thought was our the only tracks because of the heavy rain ) a few yards after passing him I saw these cat tracks on top of his foot prints . All washed away within a hour or so . They were completely gone upon my return down the mountain . I find this really fascinating as I have come upon a situation like this several times in the past while hiking in the rain ! Note that there are two images of these tracks -- one is a close up image . The planes I found interesting because they were so low and large I am told that they are C130 and used for carrying troops and tanks etc.

night animal shots

I taught you might enjoy some night photos I took with a infra red camera in the Pozo Area . The quality is very poor but fun . The cougar shots were all far away from the camera and the jack rabbit , coyote , grey fox are close to the camera . Since I had to crop in all photos , size is deceptive . The cougars were really far from the camera but this cat is a mature animal with his back approximately 2 and 1/2 ft. high , it weighs approx . 165 lbs . I know this because I took some measurements of items in this are for comparison and used Adobe photo shop grid method to establish size .I have now seen several cougars both dead and alive in the field and now have a pretty good working knowledge of them . I have also photographed and measured dozens of cat tracks , both cougar and bob cat . The fox is a Grey Fox and is much larger than the red fox . The Coyote is large in this area about the size of a large dog .The jack rabbits are of average size and I was surprised to see them in this area as I have never seen them in the daylight here . ???? Note Golden Eagles abound in this area !!