Blue Goose ~ Day 178

November 21, 2014 ~ Woodland, CA to Los Banos, CA

It was Friday, which meant I would stay in a motel so kept checking Priceline throughout the day as my destination became more clear, and eventually made a reservation at The Vagabond Inn in Los Banos.

But I first went to Stone Lakes NWR and walked on new but very short trails near the offices, around wetlands and fields with sparrows, pipits, blackbirds (no Tricoloreds yet), House Finches, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Northern Mockingbird.... The sky was still overcast, but the air was relatively warm so I lingered, eating a nourishing, tasty salad from Starbucks with brown rice, beets, squash, peas, tomatoes, red cabbage, carrots and a lemon tahini sauce. But even this had too much salt....

I did stop at the office. This was one of the places where the staff are coolly friendly to inquires but seem less than welcoming. Polite and pleasant but distant. In fact, the gentleman who appeared from an inner office when I walked in directed me to another place with "lots of trails" and gave me directions. I think that the refuges have a mandate to allow the public some access but don't always do it with pleasure.

Stone Lakes NWR - CA (I did visit Moosehorn in Maine)

The non-refuge place he recommended was, however, like the best refuges. It's along the only unregulated (undammed) major river in California, the Cosumnes, with headwaters in the Sierra Nevadas to the east. I spent at least three hours here, on the wetland trails and then on a boardwalk over swampy ground near the actual river.

I passed a bird-hike group and hung at the edges as they moved slowly, eavesdropping, but I knew as much as they did, at least about duck ID.

One common bird I've been seeing everywhere is the Black Phoebe, here also, along with Marsh Wrens making their clacking noise in the cattails, popping up very briefly, just checking things out I guess, before diving back into visual obscurity in the reeds.

On the boardwalk by the river, an adorable little Japanese boy was excitedly commenting on everything he saw, running back and forth to a grandfather, making the bridge sway with his exuberance.  I looked down on the riparian flora and saw RC kinglets busy flitting as they do, and also a group of Bushtits move by, as THEY do and waited on a drier part of the trail hoping to see an Oak Titmouse, another species I should see in California but so far haven't.

Cosumnes River Preserve - CA

The Valley Oak is a very common large oak with small round-lobed leaves. There were always 2-3-inch in diameter ball-like structures hanging from the branches and, even though the acorns can be "globular," that is not what these were. In the VC at Cosumnes, I read they are the result of gall wasps and are called oak apple galls. Wikipedia says the Valley Oak is the largest oak in North American, can live 100s of years and needs "continuous access to groundwater," which would make this a canary species, right? If water levels drop too low, won't this tree die? Cute small leaves on this massive tree...another delight of the natural world.

I thought I only had to drive 30 minutes to Los Banos; in reality it was 90 miles and 90 minutes down I5 through busy cities and the ubiquitous construction areas with pay-attention lane changes before turning slightly SE, the light brown, smooth and rounded velvety hills of the Diablo Range running to the horizon on my right. They were especially pretty in the late afternoon sun which came and went into and out of cloud layers. They are massive, spare and clean and elegant, with few roads or commerce visible.

Cinnamon Teal - Cosumnes River Preserve - CA

Los Banos is 5 miles east of I5. I stayed for two nights, working, catching up on business and eating twice in an adjacent Italian restaurant, realizing that if enough salt is added to a sauce, the food is tasty, but it took a second visit before I figured this out. The minestrone soup (which could be a healthy choice) had no beans at all, and tasted like a Campbell's veggie soup with lots of added cabbage.

My trivial issues....which do niggle with me. I read recently somewhere that a guy was hiking the Appalachian trail when he had an epiphany about what he was doing, which was essentially egocentric, whereupon he quit hiking and got involved in helping out in the world. And so I reflect on that.....

Northern Pintail - Cosumnes River Preserve - CA