Back From the Sierra

Yolo Audubon organizes a trip to the high Sierra Nevada and Sierra Valley each year. We decided to go along for day one of the trip and spend the night up at Yuba Pass, just under 7000 ft in elevation. We were joined by Richard and Karen, both of whom had been on the Salton Sea trip a couple of weeks ago.

There were no amenities in the campsite at all-not even water-but we came prepared and had a wonderful time. It’s been a while since we’ve been camping and I’d forgotten just how much I love it. More to come, I hope, this summer! There’s nothing like waking up to the sound of a hermit warbler and—sorry Linda—Hammond’s flycatcher while you contemplate whether it’s warm enough to get up and make tea yet.

Richard is getting good at whipping out his camera and stuffing its lens into his Leica telescope eyepiece; see here for the first round of birds from yesterday [the second day’s photos are here].

Above is a sketch I made just as we were about to join highway 49 from Gold Lake. I did all the driving this trip so I couldn’t sketch as much as Numenius did but I certainly enjoyed what little I was able to get in.