To the Tombstones

Mama They're Crazy: Entertaining Landings

Mama They're Crazy: More Turkey Boogey

Mama They're Crazy: Turkey Boogey

First, they're all crazy. There were 100 plus jumps yesterday and I've taken the best or most interesting 15 but they take forever to load and it will be the rest of the day at least to get the rest posted. Second, the guy running the thing, Matt, should be hosting a comedy reality show. Third, the dog up on the road that is constantly barking belongs to a deaf guy that keeps jumping off the Tombstones and nobody has the heart to tell him how irritating 3 straight hours of barking is.

Bees Drink Water

The Nightly Ritual: Groucho

Evening

The Warning

Something Going On

The Nightly Ritual: Crazy Stuff

It's fun to watch the ring tails as they become more familiar with myself and guests. One in particular has twice snatched the hot dog off the stick by sitting right outside the door before I can even get the camera ready. Much like their mother who I haven't seen in awhile we are becoming friends. With Kitty she eventually would come in the kitchen to get her hot dog and in time would take it out of my hand so I figured that was the order of progression it would happen with the kids but I didn't know it would all happen in one night.

Monday Evening

Day of the Predators

I've been rehabbing a heel injury sustained coming down Jackson Ladder off the Amasa Back last week and so with pretty stiff winds the last two days it was a good time to accomplish stuff around the lodge. To my surprise and I guess that's because I've been gone so much the last few weeks there are three birds of prey that are visiting pretty regular. There is one large one, a medium size, and a small but very quick and maneuverable perhaps falcon of some sort. On Monday all three visited within five minutes of each other. I chased the large one off out front, probably a female Sharp-shinned hawk or Cooper's hawk, walked around back and there was a Sharp-shinned on the ground staring into the bush at trapped songbirds at Tiffany's Three, it flew off. Then I walked back around to the front of the lodge, went inside, looked out the back window and the small predator flew right into the bush at Tiffany's Three sending songbirds scattering in every direction and so far this Tuesday morning it's continued with three chase off's before noon.

Amasa Back

Much of Saturday was spent on the Amasa Back getting GPS coordinates for locations I already know about and comparing the picture of dinosaur footprints with locations I thought the tracks might be and realize that I've been too high on the Amasa Back and now have a pretty good idea where they are. The third picture here shows the lodge far off in the background, length wise, almost in the very center of the picture.

Anti-Cline (Canyon Rims more)

Anti-Cline (Canyon Rims)

Though just there two weeks ago with Shelly and Andrea was time to go back and scout ways to go up and down for exploring during the winter. Some people call it the Anti-Cline (Me), others Hatch Point (Ivan the Terrible) which is the most prominent feature up there, some call it the Kane Creek Anti-Cline but I've always known that as being the next Anti-Cline over and some as in the dork that did this sign call it the Cane Creek Anti-Cline. However yesterday while at the secret place (Peaceful Place) I saw a book by Fran Barnes (which I have) that calls it Canyon Rims and that is a great name. There are miles and miles of rims. Depending on the weather this winter it will be my second home.

Amasa Back (Day Seventeen)

Today I explored the rim section from Jackson Ladder all the way south to the Stone Canyon which is part of the Scorched Earth Trail. The first part of the area has a bicycle trail going through it that goes by Whale Rock and fittingly is titled Captain Ahab.

Breakfast at Tiffanys (New Characters)

Two Pinyon Jay (blue) have showed up over the last couple weeks. They are so much larger than everyone else, almost a foot tall, everyone is nervous when they first arrive each morning.

The Nightly Ritual: Ringtails Everywhere

The Nightly Ritual: Two

The hardest things has been to give them hot dogs on the stick, while lighting them up and not blind them, and hold the camera. By the third video I think I finally got the headlamp aimed correctly.

The Nightly Ritual: Cheater

I didn't think there was anybody, or anything, including the porch night creatures, who could like hot dogs as much as I do. I might be wrong.

Stuffed Cheeks: Colorado Chipmunk

We Have Contact

I've been setting up the Go Pro each morning in the main feeding area I call "Breakfast at Tiffanys". There are actually three locations I feed each morning but this one gets the most action and I'm trying to find out who my potential adversary is that's trying to kill the song birds. It's only Day Two of the set up and I get a quick glimpse. The area is already empty from a white-tailed warning just before but while I didn't see it go by in real life the Go Pro picked it up nicely. A few seconds later you'll hear the white-tailed warning signal, then another one. Inside the lodge I heard them both. Next you'll hear the front screen door open, my familiar "Where is he?" Then the screen door closes as I head out for the search. Hearing the next white-tailed warning I head around to the east side of the lodge and we have contact. Most important is to take a picture first so when I get back inside I can increase the picture size for detail and identification. Next video it while it's stationary and again while it's flying. Sometimes I can't tell what kind of predator it is because the main identification feature may be it's tail whether it's squared off as in sharp-shinned hawk or rounded off in Cooper's hawk. If I can get video of it flying I have an even better chance.

One More Thing

I return from Amasa Back just before dark and as I'm coming up the driveway I see a sharp-shinned hawk perched atop the lower hogan watching the area where the white-tailed antelope squirrel was sounding the alarm this morning as if waiting for the sentry to appear for termination. It's going to be a long winter battle with my predator friends. Good night from the canyon lands.

Amasa Back (Day Sixteen) Unfinished Business

For days 1 thru 15 see Jan thru March of 2014 in the column to the left. I have twice heard there are dinosaur footprints on Amasa Back, just off the trail, and I have yet to see them. Today I will find them. Large clumps of moss on only north side, a petroglyph I had not seen before, remnants of single room dwelling with arrowhead flakes prominently about and then finally I find what I'm searching for, though deep in the rock they appear to be dinosaur footprints, three toes, but very narrow. When I return and look at the dinosaur prints somebody else found online, they don't match. There are more somewhere. This area of the Colorado Plateau has been underwater thousands of times by various oceans. The first picture the waves were rolling north to south, in the second also north to south but a hundred feet below the first location and much stronger, and the waves in the third picture were coming from west to east. View looking southwest towards the saddle from on top of the Amasa Back and the Base Camp blue side by side waits below at the bottom of Jackson Ladder.