My First Grey Pines Trail Hike

Today I took another vigorous hike on the west side/main section of Santa Margarita Lake Park with my hiking bros. I'm trying to get into a weekly routine of a 2-3 such hikes as I attempt to get back in physical fitness and lose weight. Below are some of the notable things I observed as I hiked the entirety of the Grey Pines Trail from Grey Pines Flat to Vaca Flat and back.

There are an abundance of interesting sedimentary rock formations.

This part of the lake is also where the Salinas River Channel used to run before being dam impounded by the Salinas Reservoir Dam.

The main trail skirting the north shore of the lake is visible across the lake from here.

I christened this the Penis Formation for obvious reasons.

All the rock formations in this area are Miocene sedimentary deposits that have been tectonically lifted at a uniform angle.

On the way back to the car we encountered these vultures sunning themselves on a tree overlook. They seemed utterly unconcerned with our close proximity. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Friendly Falcon

This afternoon into early this evening I worked the Sixth Annual Atascadero Lakeside Wine Festival at Atascadero Lake Park. While conducting alcohol control on the spillway approach to the park I noticed this falcon lingering around the edges of the crowd utterly unperturbed by human proximity and perhaps even somewhat drawn to it. I wonder if this animal was once rehabilitated at a facility for injured/abandoned wildlife. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Nocturnally Scintillating Noctiluca Scintillans

Somehow this magical 2015 outbreak of the plankton-like bioluminescent Noctiluca scintillans in Hobart, Tasmania in 2015 escaped my attention until I noticed THIS yesterday. It refers to an ongoing (as in March, 2017) outbreak occurring in Preservation Bay, Tasmania. While researching these two blooms, I noticed images of the same thing occurring in Maldives Islands as well. Apparently, the presence of this organism in this quantity can be a bad thing, but boy is it beautiful. I'd love to see a bloom of this organism but will have to settle for red tide along the California coast for now (something I have yet to witness). These images come from both Tasmanian outbreaks mentioned above. 

Photo by Paul Fleming (all rights reserved)

Photo by Dave Reynolds (all rights reserved)

Photo by Helen Wisby (all rights reserved)

Photo by Kev Morse (all rights reserved)

Photo by Lena Wisby (all rights reserved)

Photo by Lena Wisby (all rights reserved)

Photo by Ammonite (all rights reserved)

Photo by Leoni Williams (all rights reserved)

Photo by Leoni Williams (all rights reserved)

Photo by Jo Malcomson (all rights reserved)

Photo by Jonathan Esling (all rights reserved)

Photo credit unknown

Return To Oso Flaco Lake

Today one of my regular Cal Poly classes (History 424, a teaching methods class) was reconfigured to be a field trip to an effective teacher's classroom at Nipomo High School. Philip Deichler welcomed Dr. Joel Orth's 424 class for an hour-long presentation on how to teach social studies classes at any level, but particularly at the high school level. He was a gracious host and in the previous decade got his teaching credential at Cal Poly. My wingman Blake and I got down to Nipomo early enough to have time to burn so we headed out to Oso Flaco Lake located within the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. It was Blake's first visit ever and my first visit this decade and maybe even since sometime in the 1990s. The boardwalk was new to me not having been there the previous time I visited. I found it most impressive.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

This Ain't No Dumbo

My mother told me about this story of Kham Lha the protective protected elephant today which story had previously escaped my notice but has gone viral apparently... and with good reason.

Last Summer's Day At Kiler Canyon Farm

As with my previous visit to Kiler Canyon Farm last month which I covered HERE, I threw the adventure together kind of at the last minute last night by way of once again yelling over the fence into the backyard of the Chase Home next door and asking my lovely neighbors there (children or friends of children of the Chase Clan) if they thought I'd be welcome out at the farm the following Wednesday morning (Wednesday mornings are when the weekly harvest occurs). After receiving an encouraging exhortation from Claire and Noah, I headed out there this morning.

Once again today, the final day of summer, high clouds from the remnants of Hurricane Paine were drifting over the area from the east giving us what traditionally was and is called a "buttermilk" or "mackeral" sky, in today's case caused by altocumulus clouds.

I have come to love these people as an extension of my own ad-hoc, motley crew, adopted family which God has given me in light of my having hardly any remaining biological family of my own. It was nice to catch up with the fam and recharge the batteries before going back into the fray at Cal Poly for one more year starting this Friday. Following doing minimal work on the harvest itself as I was rather late showing up in the 8 a.m. hour, I helped as I could and broke bread with them.

Not wanting to arrive empty-handed and be a mooch, I stopped by a Mexican store (La Reyna) in Paso Robles on the way and picked up two pounds of fresh, local chorizo as a sort of breakfast potluck contribution. The Chases sent me home with a half-bushel basket of veggies. I reciprocated by picking up Quill's turquoise-colored stone order once I got back into town and Dan's ruby request for his child. Thanks, fam, for the food and veggies and fellowship!

The lower Chase House with the upper one being on a nearby ridge.

Hurricane Paine moisture streaming over the area this morning before the weather shift to autumn this evening.

Food and flowers are what this farm feeds.

The Barn exterior

The Barn interior showing filled and stacked and ready to go half-bushel baskets.

North view of the lower Chase House

South view of the lower Chase House.

"Scarlet Pimpernel" tomatoes as taxonomically designated by Dan this very morning for the first time.

Breakfast of champions

Communal-style dining that recalls to my mind eating at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, CA.

Right after breakfast word quickly ran through the farm of a rattlesnake in the garden that might have bitten a Chase cat. As it turns out, a Chase cat bit a gopher snake doing its darnedest to sound and look like a rattler.

I watched this cow get milked (and sampled said milk) at the potluck here in May, 2015.

Here Pig, Pig, Pig!!!

I LOVE this pizza/bread oven!

After hearing a tree cracking in the copse of oaks to the west of the lower Chase House, I headed off into said copse in hopes of watching something interesting. Instead, I found some interesting mechanical artifacts I was previously unaware were parked on this property.

This week's harvest being loaded up for delivery in Atascadero and Paso Robles, CA.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Bunch of Turkeys

This holiday afternoon I joined my brother by another mother, Mike, on a drive out to Pozo, CA. We hiked on the first couple of miles or so of the Blinn Trail on the eastern side of Santa Margarita Lake County Park accessible via River Road off of Pozo Road. Shortly after beginning the picturesque drive home, our progress was impeded by a flock of wild turkeys crossing River Road in front of us.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

High Energy Life Of Elephant Seals

After the Phi Alpha Theta Cal Poly contingent left Hearst Castle this afternoon it stopped by the elephant seal rookery near Point Piedras Blancas to see the latest social dramas unfolding on the beach there. What follows are the high points. To view images of our group's Hearst Castle tour go HERE.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).