PIGS, Finally

Catching a glimpse of one of these, the Eurasian Boar, has been elusive but it finally happened and in dramatic fashion. I've seen way more than my fair share of bobcats and cougars in the wild, but never a wild pig until today. I have spent enough time in the American southwest that you think I should have seen a Javelina at least once, but nope, not me.

I got on the trails a bit earlier than normal since I was showing my Dad the long way to work. The wind was blowing and there had been some rain, perfect for covering noise and scent. We were on a small trail through dense cover on the rim of the biggest wildest canyon in the neighborhood. They were bedded down under some thick cover right next to the trail and I got right next to them before being noticed. Two loud grunts and my western north american brain thought bear. I know there are no bears here, but that is where my thoughts went. They all stood up together and all that long dark fur rising in the brush was so wide I thought moose. Again kind of a stupid place for my brain to go since we aren't in Scandinavia . Regardless all the commotion made me take a few steps back and as they went crashing through the brush I finally realized what they were. I counted six as they crossed the trail right behind my Dad and headed into the canyon. The last one across was the one that grunted and he was bigger than the rest. Nice way to start the day.

Palouse Falls Kayak Video!

Thanks for this link, Ron.

http://kayakwaterfalls.com/

The guy comes up in his boat! Wow. It is one thing to think it is possible and another to do it. Pretty obvious to me he was qualified to call it as runnable.

Supreme Manipulators

Flowers are here on earth because they are very useful for modifying animal behavior. Plants lead sedentary lives without ever getting a chance to have a few too many drinks at the disco and subsequently mixing up their gene pool by breeding with strangers. Wind pollination served the conifers well, but getting an animal to do the work of moving your pollen around was the greatest single advance in plant breeding. Flowering plants are the most recently evolved major form of life we see around us and they haven't stopped at getting insects to do their dirty work.


In the Leutratal valley just south of Jena, beautiful flowers have harnessed the help of an industrial strength mammal, Man.


One of Hitler's Autobahns, the A4, crosses the Saale river at the southern tip of town and winds up the Leutratal valley, sandwiched between the little village of Leutra and the orchids of Thuringia's first botanical reserve. Most of the highway is 6 lanes, but in this valley of sacred cows it narrows to only 4 lanes. There is no room to widen the road without destroying much of the old village or tearing into the orchid meadows, and the villagers and orchid seekers don't like the noise and fumes that come with a major highway. So, even though the end of the age of automobiles is almost in sight, in classic German style, a solution was found in engineering. At the cost of 240 million euros a 3Km tunnel is being bored through the mountain, to bring calm to the valley and two extra lanes for the sake of speeding across Europe without having to slow down to 90 miles/hr through a pretty little valley. The flowers don't get torn up and will have a nice quite pastoral setting for their breeding. So, did the humans save the flowers or did the pretty little flowers manipulate us? It is impossible to discern, but one thing is certain, being pretty has served them well.


I'm not making this up. Here is the wiki. Men made huge machines from mined iron ore, transported them here and have been working for years to punch through the rock. Completion isn't expected until 2012. The resulting tunnel will need massive ventilation fans and lighting that will run constantly. I like the orchids as much as anyone, but this all seems more than a bit silly to me.

Greener Trails

There is no more snow in the photo of the institute on its website so it must be spring. Jena is a bit like the Palouse. Temperate, even higher latitude and there I would say, “if you don’t like the weather give it a minute,” here I might say, “give it an hour.” The folks here also get to experience that wonderfully long transition from cold to warm with its many summer previews and winter reviews.

The beech forest is quite charming and has greened up quite nicely. The German translation is Buchenwald, and that does not conjure up charming images. Considering how close we are to the concentration camp, it is a bit odd that I haven’t been there yet. I suspect it is like history to many Germans; always there, but best not to dwell or it makes getting through the day tougher. Maybe when my Dad is here we will make the trek.

The trails are getting even more of my attention since I signed up for this: http://www.horizontale-jena.de/. A 100 Km walk around Jena that starts at 6pm on a Friday night. I hope to be done by 6pm Saturday night. It sounded like too much fun so I’m giving it try. Since I’ll miss my annual masochistic spring backpacking trip to the American southwest, I needed something to remind me where to find all of my aches and pains. Suspect it will do just that. 20 minutes/mile makes it 22hrs w/o stops. 2 hrs to eat and pee should be about right.

Again here are more views from the trails, albeit greener. Also there is one pic of a trail from afar, well actually from the house. On the high distant point you can see the same old tumble down castle as the picture of Ben and the view downriver. Flowers are everywhere now. I admit the wildlife I’ve been photographing is a bit slow and/or small. I have yet to see a real wild pig although I can usually find where some acorn rooting had occurred the previous night. Maybe I need to get my ass out of bed before the sun, sneak up there and try to catch a glimpse. Seems worth doing.

Palouse Falls?!? NO SHIT?!?!

Montana kayaker sets record with plunge over Palouse Falls

Thanks for this link, Mom! Not just a lucky guess that I would be interested, eh?!?

All I have to say is, "F*CKIN' A! I would have flown home to see that.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/558950.html