[ A view up maybe twenty feet of a rocky slope, with evergreen trees at the top. ]
Just a little bit of a hill, but such treasures at the top!
… once the boys caught up, anyways. But. Leaves!
[ Oak leaves — some still green, some already brown, some caught in between in luminous shades of yellow. ]
[ More of that, but there’s one that’s yellow at the tips & shades to green everywhere else. ]
[ More oak leaves, but these are either already brown or a really nice orangey-red. ]
I found this Very Determined Tree, which grew its way like three feet sideways before it got out from under that rock.
[ The truck of a ponderosa pine, which apparently germinated underneath a wide slab of rock & grew three feet sideways underneath it before it reached the end & started to grow upwards. ]
dat VIEW
It’s hard to see, but there’s a windy stream running down the middle of that clear area in the trees. I wanna get down there & explore.
[ An expansive view across miles & miles of evergreen forest, with a long, narrow clearing running more-or-less down the center. ]
… gonna be a long way down. Part of my foot for scale, not because I wasn’t paying attention when I took the picture. >.>
[ A steep, rocky slope extends downwards an indeterminate distance into the trees. ]
We just went far down enough to get back on the ledge the van was on, & then followed that back around. But. That VIEW.
[ Another view, with the clearing from the first photo now to the right; in the center distance are low mountains. ]
I found the hugest juniper berries I’ve ever seen.
[ There’s seven of em in the palm of my hand, & they’re each, like, half an inch across. ]
Also lichens, for Radical Honey.
[ Low-growing lichens, in various shades of grey-green, on a red rock. ]
The TINIEST footyprints. They look like cat prints but they’re only maybe half an inch across? I suspect some variety of weasel. SO WEE
[ Tiny footprints in sandy soil ]
& then we got back to the van & were very tired, the end.
