Up in the woods again...

I had been planning on going up to the Wemple Cabin area to ride my bike and look for mushrooms for the last several days but the weather has been less than ideal for bike riding until now. I parked my truck up by Wemple Cabin, rode down to Antelope Lake and back up the Boulder Creek road. It was a fairly nice day and I stopped often and looked for the illusive mushrooms but didn't find any.
I did find some really pretty snow plants though and I took this picture of one of them.

Yep, bike riding again!

There was a strange light in the sky this morning and it turned out to be something I haven't seen much of for the last week... sun. I got an early start and did a short (18 mile) bike ride up to Devil's Corral and back down through the Susanville Ranch Park. The recent rain has kept everything nice and lush and the flowers are still blooming like mad. It's nice to see splashes of color as you ride along and today they were everywhere. It turned cloudy after lunch and almost total overcast by 3:00. I was back from my ride by then so it didn't matter. Tomorrow more bike riding, this time up in the woods for the day.... Yep Pete, same 'ol, same 'ol.

Ahhh... Computers!

Personally I can't see my life these days without a computer or broadband Internet service. The technology side of my life really doesn't conflict with my love of the outdoors but I would have truly liked to be out in the woods riding my bike today.

I started out this morning on the phone helping my daughter with an adware program she had somehow gotten on her desktop computer. It was fairly easy to clean and that was a good start to the day.

I ended up over at my friend Tom's house to see if I could help him solve a little computer problem he had. One thing kinda led to another and before I knew it I had been to Linda's house as well as Elaine's to check out their computer issues too. I had my bike loaded in the back of my truck but I never had a chance to get on it... oh well. It wasn't a very nice day anyway, mostly overcast and not very warm... mid 50's.

The end result of all the computer shit today was somewhat positive, Linda's computer is good, Elaine's issues were more questions, and good old Tom... he always gives me a run for my money. It never fails to amaze me of the problems that happen to Tom. At the present time I'm not sure of the outcome of the last set of instructions I sent Tom to try to fix his problem. I'll be hearing from him soon, I'm sure. I just love computers! (I really do, you know)

Mushrooms

Well, with the rainy cold weather I figured why not go up and look for mushrooms. It appears that there were some good mushrooms last week, or the week before, as I found where someone had been picking them but the ones I found there were too old. My guess is that there might be some new ones coming up within the next few days so maybe day after tomorrow I'll go back up and look again.

I checked the burned areas around Antelope Lake today and there must be some sort of biking event going on up there. I saw lots of bikers riding by in their spandex and cute little helmets but none of them seemed to be wearing rain gear which should have been the uniform of the day since it was raining on and off the whole time I was there... go figure. I guess it's more important to look the part than it is to stay warm and dry. I'll take the warm and dry instead.

Rainy days and Friday's

Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer season. The temp today never got above the mid 50's and was in the high 40's for most of the day with some pretty good rain showers. The rain was good. The cold... not so good if you ask me.

The average temps this time of year are in the low 70's. I remember one year I was out at the Frenchman Lake station on Memorial Day weekend and it snowed on us, so this isn't all that unusual, but certainly not welcome after having a taste of low 90's already. Oh well, I spent the day indoors and that really chaps my hide... but what can you do? I know, ya gotta love it!

Snakes, flowers and Bass

Had lots of stuff to do today so I got them all done and then decided to take a little ride up into the Susanville Ranch park. The Bitterbrush is blooming and it has such a sweet smell, I just love it. As I was riding along enjoying the warm weather that is about to change, I saw this little guy laying in the trail. This is the first rattler I have seen so far this year and this one was not even aware of me for a while. I have seen much larger ones up there and this one had 4 buttons. It just laid there while I took pictures of it from both directions and then I got a little too close and it saw me and started warning me to stay away... which, of course, I did. The coloration of this snake was a little different than what I am used to seeing, maybe because it was a young one.

Big change from my fishing trip yesterday, which was awesome, I have to say. I caught 86 fish, many of them over a pound. They were slamming my rapala and I even got a couple of nice slabs that will be guests of honor at my dinner table. One of the best things about yesterday was that it was hot, and there were virtually no people. I had expected it to be busy as it sometimes is on Monday, but there were only 4 boat trailers in the parking lot when I got there. I got in the water to go swimming but the water is still a little nippy for me. Maybe after the weather warms up again.

Heat!!

I Love IT!! Yes, it's been quite warm for the last couple of days and I'm loving it. Since it's the weekend I didn't want to go up fishing with all the people at the lake so bike riding has been on tap.

Yesterday I rode out Wingfield road to Janesville and over to visit Tom and Helen. Along the way I noticed this creature in the ditch by the road and it didn't run away. I immediately identified the critter as a bobcat but it was acting funny. I have worked in the woods all of my adult life and have seen lots of these guys but they are always moving at a high rate of speed so this one was one to be wary of. It jumped up on the bank and sat there looking at me so I got my camera out and took this picture. This was the only one I got before he did what they usually do and ran away.

So today I decide to drive up into the forest and ride out in the Squaw Queen Creek area and over 15 Minute Hill. It was a wonderfully hot day and it wasn't bad due to a pretty stiff breeze most of the time. The meadows up there are so nice and lush this time of year and there were lots of pretty flowers. Some of the yellow ones growing in the road are dandelions. I was surprised that not only did an ATV come by on the trail I was following, but there were many vehicles out in Squaw Valley. At the top of 15 Minute Hill I stopped and talked to a couple of old guys who had lawn chairs and were just hanging out. They were a little surprised to see me and they didn't hear me coming.

So, way more people than I usually run into. My normal up there is to either not see anyone in a day of bike riding, or occasionally I'll see one vehicle. My ride yesterday was 35 miles and today only 16. Tomorrow I'm thinking fishing...