Took a hike at Spenceville yesterday

I took a hike down at Spenceville Wildlife Area yesterday. I thought I'd share some of my pictures.

A large portion of Spenceville is grassland, with a smattering of scraggly oak trees in the areas where ranchers graze their cattle. The WA is also used for dog field trials, hunting, and horseback riding.

Beaver dam across a small stream.

Wild roses, with a few rose hips left over from last year. Rose hips are edible, and they contain a lot of vitamin C.

Watercress.

 

 

A little ribbon snake...

...and a couple of his much bigger cousins, making more. Biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen.

Rattle from the male. I counted 14 buttons on that bad lad. Don't wanna run across him in the dark, that's for sure!

Remains of an old root cellar from one of the homesteads that used to be on the Preserve.

Hand dug well from the same homestead.

Mortar stones. The natives would grind acorns into flour in these.

Had a pretty good hike. I think I walked close to 10 miles. I gathered a bunch of bone for various projects, thanks to a few coyote-killed cow carcasses.

Well, that’s unsettling...

Found this very, very fresh mountain lion territory marker on a horseback ride today:

The sap hadn't even started running out of the wound yet. To give an idea of scale, the tree is about 3 feet in diameter, and the marker is about 30 feet off the ground. I know a big male has been hanging out in the area over the last month or so. My father in law found what was left of a deer kill he made a couple weeks ago. Good sized blacktail, 8 pointer. We were mad, both of us have been eyeballing that deer for the freezer.

This week’s scroungings

Had to go into Sactown to drop off Mrs. Badger's friend at the airport today, so we wandered through a few of the Goodwills while we were in town. Here's what I got:

Mr. Kochanski's book, Northern Bushcraft, a sweet REI external frame pack, and a book on the California grizzly. My old frame pack will be gifted to the mother in law, since we live in a fire zone and she's the only one in the family who doesn't have a proper BOB yet. She has a bunch of stuff thrown into a duffel bag...without a shoulder strap.

Check out this weird lookin rock I found

I found this when I was wandering around, looking for flint and cutting wood. Anybody know what it is? It's VERY heavy, about 10 pounds. Much heavier than it looks. I thought it was a huge chunk of pine resin when I found it. Maybe it's petrified wood?

A Walk With Sprocket

Thought some might appreciate a little scouting trip I took today to find a place for a semi-permanent camp to replace my summer camp that I can't get at since we got all the rain this week...I guess I didn't realize that when the pond fills in it would block my path to my camp.

This is my potential winter place. Sprocket's guarding it.

Closer up

Made a cup of tea while Sprocket stood watch.

Found himself a bone the coyotes left behind

He's having a good time!

And so am I!

Not a bad way to kill a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon.