Have I been too focused on weather? Fog, Fog, Fog, and then Rain. The sun was out today–all day! And it felt wonderful!
It was a chilly morning with frost. But it makes all the difference when the sun is out.
I moved the net fence (to the right in this photo) and let the sheep out to graze. In the last post I said that they were off the pasture while it was so wet, but today I thought that it had dried enough to minimize impact to the soil.
After chores and while I was still wearing all the layers I thought I’d take Ginny for a W-A-L-K (I have to spell it if she is near me) Across the Road. That’s Mt. Diablo in the distance (see the birthday hike post).
I’m always curious about what makes these patterns. Any suggestions?
Some of the patterns are from some kind of creature ON the soil. What about the others from a creature UNDER the soil?
Towards the end of the walk Ginny saw something across the canal that looked familiar. I could see that it was an osage orange fruit, and not a tennis ball, but she was sure focused. I suggested that she go “get it”. Do you see the “ball” at the far side of the water, just about center in the photo?
Ginny swam across the canal but was disappointed to find out that the yellow object was not a ball. That made me wonder about colors that dogs see. I didn’t think that they distinguish color. Here is what AI says: “Yes, dogs can see yellow, and it’s one of the primary colors they distinguish well, along with blue; they have dichromatic vision, meaning they see a spectrum dominated by blues and yellows, while reds and greens often appear as brownish or grayish shades. Their vision isn’t black and white, but it’s limited compared to humans, making yellow tennis balls stand out clearly against green grass for them.” Look at what you can learn when reading this blog.
Later in the morning, working in the sunny garden I spotted about 20 turkeys at the far end of the pasture. That’s the neighbor’s house in the background.
I always see Mt. Diablo when I walk Across the Road (unless there is too much haze or fog). I feel a sort of weird connection to it because of the road we live on, which prompted the name of our farm, Meridian Jacobs. I wanted to DO something on my birthday and fortunately the weather was perfect for a hike. We picked up my brother on the way and arrived at Mt. Diablo State Park a little after 8 a.m.
Wikipedia says: “The Mount Diablo Meridian, established in 1851, is a principal meridian extending north and south from its initial point atop Mount Diablo in California.”
I took a lot of photos but I have to narrow it down for a blog post. There are probably more in this post than there should be. It’s hard to portray the true essence of the hike in my photos.
I wanted to get to the summit. Not long after we started we spoke to someone who said the direction we were headed was very steep and suggested a different route.
We had a map that showed all the trails and decided to start on a different one than what we’d planned.
Double checking the location.
We’re still smiling!
One of several peaks on the way to our goal. The sign say elevation 2369. I thought about adding a 1 in front of the 2. That’s sort of how it felt since we live in the flatland and lately all the walking has been flat. This was about 10:30.
I took this photo around noon. That point on the mountain is our goal and Dave thought that we should get there by 1 p.m. to make sure we had plenty of time to get back before dark.
This is where that arrow points.
Pipestem Clematis
Not many flowers yet, but things are greening up and showing promise of a beautiful spring. We did see a lot of this vine that I recognize from other oak-woodland hikes.
There was a point where we had a choice to take a one-mile “short-cut” to the top (steep, we were warned by someone coming down) or another two miles with ups and downs. We split up here. Dan took a different route that Dave and I would follow later back down the mountain. Dave and I went to the top.
Since you may not be able to read the sign I’ll repeat it here: “Mount Diablo, sacred to Native Americans who lived and worshipped there for over 5000 years, became a critical reference point for Spanish explorers in the 18th century, and American trappers and early California settlers in the 19th. In 1851 Colonel Leander Ransome established the crossing of the Mount Diablo base and meridian lines from which most of California and Nevada are surveyed.”
In the days before electronic navigation the light on top of the rotunda (once on a 75-foot tower) served as a crucial route-finding aid. It was turned off after the attack on Pearl Harbor amid fears that it could guide the enemy to an attack on the mainland. It is now dark except when it is lit on December 7 as a memorial to those who died at Pearl Harbor.
This is inside the rotunda.
View north-northwest.
View to the north. If I can see this mountain from where I live it seems as though I should be able to see my house from the mountain. I guess not. It’s out there somewhere. You can make out the windmills that are south east of our farm and we think what you can barely see left of center under the horizon is Travis AFB.
This is the view of the rotunda on our way down the mountain.
View to the east.
We saw a little bit of fall color. I took few photos on the hike back down. It was the most challenging part of the day. We followed a dirt road that is used to access communication towers on another mountain top. Downhill and a road. Sounds easy, right? It was so steep in parts that if I hadn’t had a walking stick to brace against I would have been slipping the whole time on those parts. Even with the stick it seemed treacherous. I hadn’t thought to bring walking sticks, but Dan and Dave had. On the way down Dan had left one of his with me. Once I started hiking this road I realized that his trip would have been extra challenging with his new knee joint and using only one stick.
We got back to the car before dark.
I had turned on my Map My Walk app before starting (blue dot). Somehow it turned off not long after we started and only started up again when we were sitting on the top eating lunch. So these stats are only half of the hike. We think our hike was 13 to14 miles. A good day.
Meridian Jacobs' Blog 