[Russell Towle's journal]
“4/26/87 Early in the morning (after dawn). Black-headed grosbeaks sing and sing; a few pine needles drift to the ground; they are nesting.
Yesterday was quite enjoyable. I arrived at the Leap about 9:00 A.M., took a quick walk around, found myself hungry, made a peanut butter sandwich, and discovered that I'd neglected to bring any water. I chewed on a spinach leaf and wandered down to the cliffs on Gray's property, where I immediately saw three golden eagles circling. The whole area is teeming with life. Swallows are there in large numbers; a falcon ventured near, the swallows chased it; then again, carpenter bees nesting in an old cedar log beside the cliffs were occasionally observed to chase the swallows. Lizards everywhere; doing pushups, mating, scampering and leaping here and there, triggering small rockslides. I watched a manzanita bush shed flowers like snow down a steep rock face, I saw a western flycatcher, and after the trinity, I saw individual eagles cruising the cliffs for most of the day. I guess I've never spent so much time at once at Lovers Leap. It was great. I was reminded all the more of how important it is to preserve it for future generations.
The first visitor drove out and immediately returned. I had a hunch that it was a Ridge resident checking to see if anyone was camping. That was at noon. Later in the afternoon I was down at the Leap itself, and two parties visited while I was down there. Then I hung out in the parking area on top; four more parties in all arrived. A total of seven. None of them were there because of the articles about the Big Oak; none of them were there because they had attended one of my hikes.”
[Russell Towle's journal]
April 26, 2001
April 26, 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment