Frog Pond

I hadn't been to Frog Pond in a month of Sundays. But with it being just down the road from us, and experiencing a bit of winter-time cabin fever, I asked Papa if he'd like to take a late-afternoon walk there. He did. So we did :)

As you can see in the picture it's completely frozen over right now. We'd taken Jenny along, which was the highlight of her week. So many wild (and I do mean 'wild' - more on that in a minute) scents out in the woods to drive her senses mad and get her running around with her nose to the ground almost the whole time.

You know how unreliable an animal she is and may disappear at any given moment only to return moments or days later (Peggie -who ought to know with all those ranch dogs- says it's the Border Collie side of her breeding). But, she'd done so well with you kids camping last year, I was game to see if she'd stick around. So I took a chance, counting on her behaving and, surprisingly, she did (this time)!

Check out this video. You'll be impressed with how responsive she was. Papa was trying to remember how to find the ruins of the old CCC camp.. I saw Jenny had disappeared.. gave a sharp whistle.. your Dad calls and.. she comes! Astounding. Since we've both had such great dogs in the past this goofy canine never ceases to amaze us with her genetic insanity.




Wandering through the woods we found some flicker feathers...

..the old foundations and apple trees: 

..the coal bin and campfire ring:

..an old rusty bucket and a cup handle:  

..and one of the almost obscured paths they'd built back in the 1930's:

But the MOST amazing find of all? Meandering through one area I almost stepped in.. well... does a bear live in the woods? uh huh. And obviously eats dried berries. Both the manzanita and blackberries. Just beyond the scat the woods opened up to this wild berry patch. Doesn't it look like the grasses have been laid flat by frequent visitors? :o

The more we hiked around, the more fresh bear sign we saw. It was quite an eerie feeling thinking how defenseless we were if one suddenly appeared. Made me vow to bring the bear spray you gave me at Christmas, Eli-o!! Ya, ya. I know. You're shocked I didn't have it with me. I promise.. it'll be on the next hike!

While heading back to the truck Papa stops and exclaims, "Wow. Something very big and heavy came through here!" Can you see the imprints in the pine needle pathway? Kinda difficult with these pics. Maybe if you click & enlarge them you can tell:

Here's a video clip of when we first discovered the tracks:



We decided not to linger! But then, under this old tree..

..I discovered a way cool pack rat dwelling & just couldn't resist checking it out. Here are a coupla pictures of it:

Do you kids recall finding the old fountain the CCC guys built? I'd completely forgotten about it:

All-in-all, it was a nice little afternoon hike.. even though we did get a bit spooked by the presence of Ursa Major!

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