Photos I take while hiking, mostly in the Bay Area. If you prefer to subscribe to just this tag you can do so here
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Nature Report: April 12
Been raining off and on this week and the lower paths on the trail are pretty waterlogged.
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Nature Report: April 5
A brief amount of rain this week cleared the pollen out of the air, so even though my allergies are still pretty active it's not as bad as it was. A few clouds moving in and out helped keep temperatures moderate this morning.
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Nature Report: March 29
Weather continues warm and dry. The insects are thick in the trees now and walking through them you hear a constant hum of clicking noises.
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Nature Report: March 22
It's been unseasonably warm this past week and also seems to have stopped raining, so some patches of grass are already starting to dry out. It's still mostly green for the time being.
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Nature Report: March 15
Somehow I timed my walk today to be on the trails at the same time as every single gnat in California, so taking pictures was a slow process of holding the phone with one hand and covering my nose and mouth with the other in a desperate attempt to not inhale them. The flowers are pretty, though!
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Nature Report: March 8
Weather continues warm and sunny.
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Nature Report: March 1
Much warmer this week, and the bugs are out in force - clouds of gnats swarming in patches, flies and bees buzzing overhead. More wildflowers and types of flowers are blooming too.
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Nature Report: February 15
It started raining earlier this week and has been going off and on since. I got some shots of Wednesday when it was sunny and raining at the same time, but since then it's been pretty consistently overcast. Flowers are continuing to bloom.
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Nature Report: February 1
Warmer today, more wildflowers sprouting up everywhere. Wild turkeys have started gathering, mostly off the trails where I can hear them but not see them, but a couple days ago I looked up to see two of them perched up in the trees, calling to each other.
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Nature Report: January 18
Cloudy and hazy today. The hillsides are all covered in green, and the wildflowers are just starting to come in. -
Nature Report: December 28
Clear and cold this morning. The rains have paused for a few days and the hills are starting to look very green.
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Nature Report: November 30
This November has been pretty soggy and overcast, so I haven't been able to get many interesting pictures of the sky but the ground itself has been soaking up rain, sprouting mushrooms and fresh grass up through the dried stalks and leaves.
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Nature Report: October 27
Visited the Mt Tam watershed lakes today. The recent rains have muddied the ground but most of the riverbeds are still dry.
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Nature Report: October 19
Cool and hazy today. We've had a decent amount of rain for this time of year.
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Nature Report: October 5
Some light precipitation this week but still mostly dry. Nights are getting colder.
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Nature Report: September 21
Misty and damp this morning, but it's warmed up a bit
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Nature Report: September 14
Cool again today. It'll be warm for the next few days but that will probably be the last bit of summer weather for the year.
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Nature Report: September 7
Cool and quiet today. The trails are covered in dried leaves and scraps of peeled bark, slowly being mulched into a red-colored dust.
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Nature Report: August 31
Clear and hot today, but sunrise is happening later and later so it's a little easier to get out and walk around before it gets overwhelming.
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Nature Report: August 24
Been hot this past week but we got clouds and fog rolling through this morning
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Nature Report: August 10
It's been hot this week. This morning was misty and overcast for a short moment before the sun burned through.
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Nature Report: August 3
It's been overcast in the morning for basically the entire month of July, but today there was enough sun to get some direct lighting.
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Nature Report: July 13
Cool and overcast today. It's been a fairly mild summer so far.
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Nature Report: June 29
It's been warmer recently. The flowers are fading away, and the trees are beginning to grow fruits.
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Nature Report: June 22
Sunny and temperate today
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Nature Report: June 15
Cool and hazy this morning
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Nature Report: June 8
It continues to be fairly cool, clouds drifting in and out throughout the morning
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Nature Report: June 1
Hazy today. The heat is less intense now but the past few days we've been in a mini heat wave, the first of the oncoming summer.
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Nature Report: May 25
Mostly warm and sunny today but clouds were settled on the higher points of the trail, making those sections cold and windy.
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Nature Report: May 18
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Nature Report: May 11
Warm and sunny weather disrupted by strong winds and sudden clouds today. We're in the stage of late spring now where the grass on the hillsides slowly turns from green to brown, where shadier and better-irrigated patches hold on to their color for a while longer as everything dries out in the sun.
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Nature Report: May 4
A beautiful day but I could not stop sneezing which spoils the effect a little. Still lots of flowers around although they're starting to be overtaken by the grass.
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Nature Report: April 27
Chilly and overcast today, flowers still waterlogged from a combination of overnight mist and yesterday's brief rain shower.
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Nature Report: April 20
Dense fog today, so no sweeping vistas. Still plenty of color everywhere.
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Nature Report: April 13
Warm and sunny today, the warmest it's been yet this year. We're at the time of year where the rain has fallen off but things haven't started to dry out yet and the pollen is frankly miserable, but the flowers continue to be nice.
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Nature Report: April 6
Warm and hazy today. There are so many wildflowers blooming right now and I've been using www.wildflowersearch.org to attempt to identify them but it is difficult when there are so many variants. Sometimes I will just give up and say "it's yellow"
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Nature Report: March 30
Light but steady rain and wind today.
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Nature Report: March 23
Warm and sunny today. The gnats are starting to swarm and birds are flitting around everywhere.
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Nature Report: March 16
Thick rainclouds and a constant light drizzle made this morning chilly. A wide variety of flowers are blooming but the wind made it difficult to keep them in focus.
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Nature Report: March 9
Brightly sunny today, warming quickly as the sun rises earlier and earlier.
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Nature Report: March 2
It was raining off and on this morning. Spring has started in full force, and there are significantly more flowers blooming than there were even a week ago.
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Nature Report: February 23
Warmer today. Didn't go for very long but I did catch a dramatic sunrise.
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Nature Report: February 16
Chilly this morning, with fast-moving clouds that changed from overcast to raining to sunny to rain again in rapid succession.
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Nature Report: February 9
It continues to rain on and off. Whenever it's clear overnight the temperatures drop to around the freezing point so it gets very cold until the sun has had enough time to warm things up.
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Nature Report: February 2
Rain and wind today, but mild temperatures.
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Nature Report: January 26
Starting to see the first wave of wildflowers blooming, though most of them will be months away.
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Nature Report: January 19
Dense fog and near-freezing overnight temperatures leave traces of frost in the shadier areas of the hills.
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Nature Report: January 12
It's been warmer lately due to the weather being clear, and the trees are in bloom. The insects were very loud today.
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Nature Report: January 5
Chilly and clear this morning. Everything is slowly getting greener with the constant rain.
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Nature Report: December 29
It was raining pretty steadily this morning, so again most of my pictures are variants of "close-up of tree (wet)". I did see a coyote (ran away before I could take a picture), a stellar's jay (flew away before I could take a picture), two deer (ran away before I could take a picture), and several turkeys (too far away to get a good picture) so at the very least the wildlife is active today.
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Nature Report: December 22
I'm back in California and it is very wet. The combination of darkness and fog makes it difficult to see much but there are some very colorful molds around!
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Nature Report: December 11
I'm traveling this week so you get pictures from my parents' backyard in Pennsylvania, which is experiencing a "temperature rollercoaster" meaning it was raining and now it's snowing.
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Nature Report: December 1
Chilly and overcast. This is the first time I've seen turkeys around for a while, they get a bit more active in the winter.
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November 24
It's now been raining for several days, leaving the trails muddy and cluttered with debris shaken from the trees. The tiniest shoots of grass are starting to sprout in the bare areas by the side of the road.
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Nature Report: November 17
More rain in the forecast for next week, and the clouds are thick in the sky today.
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Nature Report: November 10
It's gotten colder over the last week or so. Still warm in direct sunlight, but it takes longer for it to get to that point, so most of what I see on the trail is in this cool gray light that flattens everything out. We're supposed to get a bit more rain next week but we're not at the point of getting significant precipitation yet.
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Nature Report: November 3
It was only a small amount, but it did rain very slightly over the last week. They've been working on clearing out dead and fallen trees along the trail, so the path is littered with mulched twigs and branches along with fallen acorns.
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under the gaze of the trees
Taken in Armstrong Woods
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Nature Report: October 27
The weather forecast has been teasing that it's going to rain sometime soon, but so far we've just had clouds and slightly higher humidity that keeps the temperature from dropping much overnight.
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Nature Report: October 20
Bright and sunny today, but hazy in the distance. Everything is very dry right now and we get red flag warnings whenever the wind picks up.
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Nature Report: October Sunrise
The clouds and fog are keeping things fairly temperate. It hasn't started raining yet but mornings are cool and damp, and the mountains are fragrant with the scent of trees.
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Nature Report: Early Fall Heat
Hot today, even in the early morning. Every day this past week has seen temperatures rise to over 100°F/37°C, but starting next week temperatures will drop again and we probably won't see another heat wave until next year.
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Nature Report: Lines of Fog
As has been common for the last few weeks, it's been foggy in the mornings. There's a noticeable temperature difference climbing above the fog line, from cool and damp to bright and sunny, and it almost feels like stepping from one biome to another, different smells, different sounds. I like being right on the edge of these two places best, feeling the world shift from one thing to another.
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Nature Report: Dust and Fog
Low-lying fog this morning, making a marked difference in temperature between the base of the hills and the much sunnier ridge. The trails are covered in a fine, sandy dust that blows everywhere and covers the surrounding plants in a brown film, which will last until it starts raining in a month or two.
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Nature Report: Cloudy Skies
Cloudy skies today. The wind blew the fog into the trail as I was walking, the sights of distant hills blocked out by a vast, surrounding gray. Then in cleared up again, as quickly as it blew in.