Joseph D. Grant County Park

July 25th, 2020 | Saturday | 90’F Hot but Dry

We sat off after 1pm, drove south and stopped at “In-N-Out” for lunch.

After an animal style with chilies cheeseburger, fries and black & white milkshake, we were ready for a nap. At the campsite, we popped open a beer and laid down on the benches with a stuffed and happy tummy. Gentle waves of breeze, chirps of acorn woodpeckers and them pecking away on the valley oak trees surrounded us.

As evening fell and the air drew cooler, we went for a short walk. We were greeted by shy brush rabbits, black wild pigs in the distance and skipped over millions of industrious ants on the footpath. As the sun gradually sets, the dry oats glistened and glowed to form a sea of golden yellow around us.

[lfh-gpx src=https://pinesneezer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Evening_Hike.gpx title=”My travel in Massif Central” color=red width=4 ]An exceptionnal trail trough ….[/lfh-gpx]

Learning with Nature:

1. The wild pigs have a long history here. Some of their ancestors were the barnyard variety, arriving with prospectors in the 1840’s and 50’s. (Though most ended up on a spit, some made a run for it.) Another bloodline can be traced to Russian wild boars, which were introduced for hunting on some big ranches, including those owned by William Randolph Hearst, in the 1920’s and 30’s.  – The New York Times 
2. Acorn woodpeckers are clown-faced western woodpeckers with a complicated social structure, living in small colonies. Best known for its habit of hoarding acorns: the birds drill small holes in a dead snag, then harvest acorns in fall and store them in these holes, to be eaten during winter – Audubon.org