Post Hike Post

A hike did happen but not the entire John Muir Trail. Maybe next summer. My associate and I hiked from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows and through Lyle Canyon. It became clear that at our hiking rate we would not make it in the time that I had scheduled. Perhaps I was being optimistic. Quitting decided, we turned around and hitchhiked to Echo Lake. Seconds after we showed the road our thumbs, Mark pulled over. He was a retired man from New Hampshire who spends his free time hiking and climbing mountains. He was on his way to Reno when he picked us up and realized that Lake Tahoe was on the way (or could be with a slight detour), so he offered to take us all the way. I told him he could stay with us at my cabin.

When we got to Echo Lake, I hiked to the cabin to get the boat. Unfortunately I was greeted with a broken window and, upon further inspection, a mess in the kitchen from the bear that broke the window. After retrieving my two associates from the end of the lake, the three of us got to work cleaning up bear mess. In edition to the food all over the floor and the broken glass, the fridge was stinky and moldy. Either the bear had inadvertently closed the door or the last person at the cabin forgot to leave the fridge open. Either way, someone is in trouble.

All for now.

A list of animals seen:
Birds:
Mourning Dove
Eurasian collared dove
Band-tailed pigeon
Red-tailed hawk
Osprey
American kestrel
Red-shouldered hawk
Turkey vulture
Spotted owl
Northern pygmy owl
Great blue heron
Great egret
Spotted sandpiper
Killdeer
Black oyster-catcher
Robin
Steller's jay
Pileated woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
Williamson's sapsucker
Hairy woodpecker
Northern flicker
Yellow-rumped warbler
Orange-crowned warbler
European Starling
White-breasted nuthatch
Red-breasted nuthatch
Brown creeper
Black phoebe
Mountain chickadee
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Brewer's blackbird
Barn swallow
White pelican
Brown pelican
Double-crested cormorant
Herring gull
Heerman's gull
Gray jay
Dark-eyed junco
Brown towhee
Spotted towhee
Northern mockingbird
Caspian tern
Anna's hummingbird
Rufus hummingbird
Common merganser
Mallard
Avocet
California quail
Turkey
Pine siskin
American goldfinch
Pine grosbeak
Common rave
American crow
Eared grebe
Western grebe
Common loon
Western meadowlark
Mammals:
River otter
Columbia ground squirrel
Golden-manteled ground squirrel
Douglas squirrel Gray Squirrel
Fox squirrel
Gray fox
Bob cat
Coyote
Snowshoe hare
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Mule deer
Striped skunk
Raccoon
Yellow-bellied marmot
Harbor seal
Common dolphin
Reptiles:
Sierra garter snake
Amphibians:
Northern red-legged frog
Rough-skinned newt
San Diego alligator lizard