The Beauty of the Berkeley Hills-Part 2

This is the second of a two-part series I’m calling “The Beauty of the Berkeley Hills. You can see Part 1 here:

The Beauty of the Berkeley Hills-Part 1

As I said in Rethinking Berkeley, Naturally! I’m going to try to post more often and have less of a “hard science” aspect to these posts, unlike my Extreme Science blog.

In this second part, I’ve included some of the animals you can run into in the Hills—some you see all the time, and others, like the gray fox, are quite illusive. There are also some amazing skies in this series of photos. As a self-confessed weather nut, I never get tired to seeing the play of clouds over the San Francisco Bay and the Hills.

And so, let’s kick off Part 2 with some images of magnificent Bay Area clouds!

If you click on any of the images below, you can see a higher resoltuion 1600 x 1200 image.

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These clouds, of course, are cirrus, which in this area so often are the heralds of distance storms marching in from the North Pacific for Gulf of Alaska. Cirrus clouds typically form above 23,000 feet (about 7,000m), in the cold region of the troposphere and are typically composed of ice crystals.  In the view looking at the North Bay, you can see both the sweeping cirrus unicus and the denser cirrus fibratus.

This sunset was really dramatic and foreboding. I was in the Hills directly above the UCB Campus, looking across the Bay, past the Campanile (lower right) and toward the Golden Gate Bridge.  A big Pacific storm was approaching, as the rapidly lowering sky foretold.  The clouds in this picture are mostly altostratus and altocumulus, which are medium-level clouds.

This is perhaps my all-time favorite summer picture that I’ve taken in Strawberry Canyon.  To me, it captures just about everything I love about the Berkeley Hills—the Eucalyptus and Oak trees, the beautiful golden hills, and a sky with gorgeous, puffy cumulus.  It was hot, it was summer, and I was on my way up Centennial Drive to my beloved fire trails!

The color of the lichen on the trees in Strawberry Canyon are especially deep and brilliant after a rainstorm.  I love how this yellow species contrasts with the moss.

I’m always amazed at the different moods of the Bay throughout the day.  This grey sunset marked the end of yet another heavy late spring rain storm.

California poppies!  Just seeing them makes me smile.  Did you know Native Americans used  poppy leaves medicinally?  They also ate their seeds.  Extract from the California poppy acts as a mild sedative when smoked, although apparently the effect is much milder than that of opium, which contains a much more powerful class of alkaloids.

If you live in the Bay Area, you’ve probably seen one of these little critters. The Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus nigris) is actually a non-native species, probably introduced to California around the beginning of the 20th century.   You can see them throughout the Berkeley Hills, and there’s quite a population of them on the Berkeley campus.  I’ve yet to see a native Western Gray Squirrel on my hikes, but I keep looking for them.

Eastern Fox Squirrel (left) vs. Western Gray Squirrel (right)

I met this young female Fox Squirrel on the North Campus near the Life Science Building.  If you stop and make a “tchi tchi” noise, you can almost always make a Fox Squirrel stop and see if you have some goodie for them.  Having raised a squirrel from the age of a blind pup, I know lots of squirrel communication sounds, and she seemed amazed at my vocabulary!

This fat and muscular male lives in Strawberry Canyon.  He too was intrigued by my squirrel talk, and stopped to observe me, although the squirrels in the Canyon are much more wary of humans than the ones on campus.

A gray fox!  I wrote about this encounter at this post:

Gray Fox in Strawberry Canyon and a Mother Fox’s Wisdom

I made a lot of noise to get the fox to turn lift its sleepy head and turn toward me.  No doubt he wondered what the crazy human was doing! But I was so excited to see a gray fox  that I didn’t want my picture to be nothing but a gray lump on that fallen tree.  I wish I had had a telephoto lens to see more of this magnificent creature, which apparently, is one of the few foxes that can climbs trees.  This one was sleeping at least 20 feet off the ground. (Be sure to click image for close-up!)

Here is a small cluster of ladybugs I saw this spring.  In October of 2009, after our record rainstorm,  I came upon an astonishing gathering of what had to have been hundreds of thousands of ladybugs along the fire trail off Centennial Drive.  I wrote about this amazing ladybug gathering here:

They are the Lady(bugs) of the Canyon

Here is an amazing insect you are apt to run across in the Berkeley Hills, especially after a rain, the aptly named banana slug.  This one was nearly 10 inches long and as big around as a small banana.  Many people find them “gross,” and I know it can be what we humans call a “pest,” but I think it’s a beautiful animal.  I watched this one for about 10 minutes as it gracefully moved about 3 feet from the pavement into some vegetation.

Down on its level, laying on my stomach to watch how its muscles propelled it along on a layer of mucous, I was reminded of a majestic (albeit, miniature) ocean liner as it glided along the pavement.

I came across this small (maybe 10 inch) snake walking down from the North Gate of the UCB campus.  I’m not sure what species it might be, but my best guess is some species of Sharp-tailed Snake (Contia tenuis)—maybe a Forest Sharp-tailed snake.  If some herpetologist wants to weight in, that would be great! It was moving very fast to try to take cover, and I barely caught it on camera before it disappeared into the foliage.

Here’s another view of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge near sunset.  A Pacific storm was heading our way, and the high cirrus and cirrostratus clouds that appeared in the West at the beginning of the day were beginning to give way to lower level altocumulus and stratocumulus.

The height of some of the redwoods in Strawberry Canyon is astounding.  I estimated that most of the trees in this grove were well over 110-120 feet tall.  Now that I live in Northern California, I hope some day soon to see the coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), the tallest trees on earth, at Redwood National and State Parks.

I loved how these California poppies found a way to grow out of near solid rock along the upper fire trail at Strawberry Canyon.

When spring arrives in the Berkeley Hills, you really should climb up into them and see for yourself  how deep, rich, and varied the greens are.  After being brown all summer and through much of the winter, the hills are transformed by the winter and spring rains into an emerald wonderland.

One of the delights of walking up the streets that head up into the Berkeley Hills above the City of Berkeley are the little paths and well-kept lanes and walks that connect the lower and higher levels of the hills.  Here’s one of my favorite paths (for privacy, I won’t say where.) If you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend getting the Map of Berkeley Pathways which is put out by the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association.

More spring green near the top of Claremont Canyon.

I’ll end this post with a photo of a glorious sunset taken from the hills right above the UCB campus.  (You can see the Campanile behind  one of the Eucalyptus.)  I hope this two-part series, “The Beauty of the Berkeley Hills” will inspire you to explore the Hills yourself and with loved ones and to always be alert for ways to preserve and protect this amazing natural treasure right at our doorsteps.

May we meet as friends, some day, in the Hills of Great Beauty!

♥♥♥

The Beauty of the Berkeley Hills-Part 1

Berkeley Hills (red box) - Part of the Pacific Coast Ranges

Having taken the pressure off myself to write a second “science” blog (one of my two other blogs is Goodheart’s Extreme Science) I hope to get out more regular posts about my beloved Berkeley Hills.

But first, a word about that term, “Berkeley Hills.” When I use that term, I mean the geological formation that is part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, not just the hills immediately above the City of Berkeley.

So, peace, dear friends in Oakland, and other beautiful cities abutting these lovely hills! I know how beautiful the hills are above you as well, because I often hike there:

Looking into Claremont Canyon

Here’s how Wikipedia explains it:

The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that surrounds San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the “Contra Costa Range/Hills”, but with the establishment of Berkeley and the University of California, the current usage was applied by geographers and gazetteers.

Tectonically, the Berkeley Hills are bounded by the major Hayward Fault along their western base, and the minor Wildcat Fault on their eastern side. The highest peaks are Vollmer Peak (elevation 1,905 feet/581m), Grizzly Peak (elevation 1,754 feet/535 m) and Round Top (elevation 1,761 feet/537m), an extinct volcano, and William Rust Summit 1,004 feet.

With that clarified, let’s take a look at some of my favorite recent images from the Berkeley Hills.  I hope they inspire you to discover the amazing beauty of the Hills for yourself.  In 15 or 20 minutes, up a trail, and you are in a place of great wonder and beauty, indeed, even a place of Faerie:

The Road Goes Ever On-Tolkien and the Berkeley Hill Trails

If you click on any of the images below, you can see a higher resoltuion 1600 x 1200 image.

Enjoy!

Although my wife and I have only been here a year and a half, I already look forward to seeing the Hills do their dramatic change from emeralds to golds and browns as the virtually rainless summer begins.  This year, because of the very heavy winter and late spring rains, the usual transition was much later than last year.

Summer Grasses and Eucalyptus in Claremont Canyon

This is the near the beginning of the fire trail that runs up the north side of Claremont Canyon.

Fire Trail above Claremont Canyon

Here is a view of the historic UC Berkeley Cyclotron from one of the fire trails in Strawberry Canyon.

Looking Across Strawberry Canyon at the Historic Cyclotron

If you hike late in the Hills, you are often treated to the most beautiful sunsets. Here, I was walking back down from Claremont Canyon toward the Campus.

Sunset over the Berkeley through Eucalyptus

Because of the very heavy winter and spring rains, the Hills were especially lush this year, with explosions of wild flowers everywhere.  This shot looks down into Claremont Canyon from Panoramic Way.

Spring Flowers and Grasses in Claremont Canyon

Many of the trees in lower parts of Strawberry Canyon are covered in beautiful lichen and moss.  I’m always amazed how many species there are and how richly varied the colors can be.

Lichen and Moss in Strawberry Canyon

When the California poppies start to pop up in the Claremont and Strawberry Canyons, and I know spring has really arrived.  I have a special place in my heart for the poppies, because they are part of my earliest childhood memories when my family still lived in California.

California Wild Poppies and Grasses in Claremont Canyon

I am a connoisseur of clouds, and I have to say that the Bay Area has some of the best cirrus clouds I’ve ever seen.  I wish this photo could show more of the incredible traceries and webbing that these particular cirrus had, but at least you can get a feel for it.  I am amazed at how many people don’t really seem to pay attention the sky or clouds.  Some days, the sky can take your breath away. Look up!

Beautiful Cirrus Clouds above Trees near the Life Sciences Building

There are some magnificent Sequoia trees about half-way up the Strawberry fire trail that starts on Centennial Drive.  These hundred-foot plus trees are in the Woodbridge Metcalf Grove, which was planted by University of California students in 1926.  (The little stone marker for this beautiful stand of trees actually reads “Woodbridge Metoale Grove”—not sure why.)

Towering Sequoia near the top of Strawberry Canyon

Spring in Claremont Canyon is just glorious, and the naturalist in me wants to get a good book on the local plants and start learning some names.  I would love any suggestions from readers on good books about the flora or fauna of the area!

Spring in Claremont Canyon

I was really struck by the color of these mushrooms growing on a log.  Again, I wish I could identify species, because I’ve seen so many varieties on my hikes.

Red Fungus after Late Spring Rain

I loved how the moss was growing into the cracks of this rock—one of the more beautiful forms of erosion.

Moss & Small Ferns

More poppies.  Again, when I come upon a clump of these lovely ladies (they always seem like dainty ladies to me), they just make me happy.  I like how the petals close up for the night, or when it’s too cold for them, or too cloudy.  This seems like perfect behavior for the state flower of sunny California.

California Poppies above Strawberry Canyon

One of the things I immediately fell in love with about the Bay Area is how many beautiful trails there are to hike, and how accessible they are.  A ten-minute hike out of Berkeley Campus or East Oakland and you can be in incredible beauty.

Trail Near the top of Panoramic Way

I love the winter storms we have here in the San Francisco Bay area.  The mighty storms from the Pacific are really impressive, though most of them can’t match the fury and grandeur of the Nor’easters I enjoyed (yes, enjoyed, as I confess, I’m a weather nut) when I lived in Boston.

Escape from New England-a weather nut’s confession

Winter Storm Clouds from Lawrence Hall of Science

One of the interesting geological features of this area, and of Southern California, are landslides.  Here’s a small one came across on Panoramic Way after a really heavy rain storm.  You can read more about it here:

Berkeley Hills Landslide

Landslide on Upper Panoramic Way, Berkeley

Here’s one of the beautiful little waterfalls in Strawberry Canyon.  I often stop here and just listen and watch.

Small Waterfall in Strawberry Canyon

This shot was taken coming home after a long hike in Claremont Canyon.  I was thoroughly wet and muddy and happy as a golden lab after a romp in the hills.  As I was coming down Panoramic Way, the storm lifted and I was able to see Oakland and the Bay Bridge, and the City, in the distance.  It was a magical moment.

Coming down Panoramic Way During Rainstorm - the Lights of Oakland in Distance

This was without a doubt one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some real beauts growing up in the Southwest desert and in New England.  (I’ll share more in a later post.)

Standing on the top of one of the taller hills above Strawberry Canyon, I couldn’t believe my great fortune to be there at that moment, looking at this beautiful Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a sky on fire.  I hope you see such a sunset one day.  It is truly a great, great blessing to be alive on this beautiful planet and see its wonders.

Fiery November Sunset Over San Francisco Bay

May we meet as friends, some day, in the Hills of Great Beauty!

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Rethinking Berkeley, Naturally!

This post, originally published on June 22, 2010, has moved to The Nature of Berkeley.

You can see the original post here:

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How We Here in the Bay Area Can Help with the BP Oil Disaster

This post, originally published on June 1, 2010, has been moved to The Nature of Berkeley blog.

You can read it here:

The World Is in Our Hands-What Will We Do?

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They are the Lady(bugs) of the Canyon

This post, originally published on March 2, 2010 has been moved to The Nature of Berkeley blog.

You can read it here:

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Kudos to University of California Scientists at the National Ignition Facility

This blog, originally posted on Feb 1, 2010, has been moved to The Nature of Berkeley blog.

You can read the original post at its new location here:

Berkeley Hills Landslide

Last week’s third and final storm was a doozy, setting all-time record low pressure in a number of cities. Here in the Bay Area we got 3 to 8 inches of rain, and wind gusts of over 80 mph.

Powerful Thunderstorms Drench Berkeley and North Bay

All along the coast, 20 foot waves pounded the shore:

Storm Surf - Jan 2010

causing significant beach erosion:

Beach erosion - Great Highway, San Francisco - Lea Suzuki - Chronicle

And as I mentioned in my last post on the storms, the first of the three storms even produced a tornado (and some waterspouts) in Southern California. (see Berkeley Hills-El Nino Storms Hit Hard)

And of course, snow in the Sierras was measured in feet—8 to 10 feet in some spots!

Sierra Summit Had 10 feet of Snow! - Ken Clark

After the mid-week second storm, I wanted to hike into the Berkeley Hills to see the effects of the storm on the canyons. But because it was so muddy, instead of taking a fire trail, I took one of my favorite paved roads up into the Hills, Panoramic Way:

I usually walk south on Piedmont, past the Memorial Stadium:

And then take a left up Bancroft, just past the International House:

When Bancroft dead-ends, I walk up the Bancroft Steps and then cross over to Panoramic Way, which winds up into the Hills:

Panoramic Way - Google Map View

As soon as I got up into the upper, less-developed parts of Panoramic Way, I saw lots of rocks on the road and erosion like this:

Typical Panoramic Way Storm Erosion

Typical Panoramic Way Storm Erosion - Closeup

But I was really shocked when I came around a bend of on the upper part of Panoramic Way and found this:

Panoramic Way Landslide

A landslide!  Not a huge one, but still, impressive to see first-hand. Over a hundred feet of the steep upper slope adjoining the road had given way:

Source Area - Where the Slope Gave Way

And flowed down Panoramic Way for quite a distance:

Depositional Area on Panoramic Way

I was struck by how intact the top layer was; the whole section had been slipped down the slope pretty much in one piece, carrying along most of the shrubs intact.  Although small in scale, this little landslide had all three of the basic  elements of any landslide:

Of course, this landslide on Panoramic Way in the Berkeley Hills was a small one compared to the huge landslides California is famous for.  In the hills and on the cliffs all along the California Coast, heavy rains and steep, unstable land create a deadly combination that leads to highly destructive and often lethal landslides and debris flows. One of the worst in recent memory was the La Conchita landslide in 2005, which killed 10 people.

2005 La Conchita Landslide - John Lehmkuhl

In Southern California, this vulnerability is only made worse after wild fires, fanned by the infamous Santa Ana winds, denude the hills of vegetation.   Without vegetation to slow it down and trap it,  water runs off too quickly, causing flash floods and debris flows filled with huge rocks and tons of sand and gravel. Sometimes truly enormous boulders are set loose:

300 Ton Topanga Canyon Boulder - 2005 Landslide - (AP Photo)

You don’t have to have barren hills to be at risk for a landslide. Doing research for this article, I came across this amazing image of a landslide in England.  Known as the Holbeck Landslide, it occurred south of Scarborough in North Yorkshire:

Holbeck Hall Landslide - England 1993 - British Geological Survey

Fortunately, this particular landslide didn’t happen in a moment.  It took place over a two-day period, so people were able to evacuate when the first signs of movement became evident.  The scale of the movement of land is hard to fathom, until you know that the the cliffs in the depositional area are over 180 feet high! Geologist estimate over a million tons of loose glacial till (sediment) flowed down to the sea shore.

Looking at the Holbeck Hall image, I have to admit that the little landslide on Panoramic Way seems pretty insignificant! (Although I wouldn’t have wanted to be in its way when it broke loose!) Still, the soil physics involved are very similar.  All you need for a landslide is instability—relatively loose soil and rock, a steep-enough slope, and some sort of triggering mechanism, such as too much rain, an earthquake, or erosion of the base of a slope of land.  As this USGS diagram shows, there are all kinds of landslides:

Kinds of Landslides - USGS

The bottom line is that at some point, the friction and cohesion that hold the soil on a slope are simply overcome by gravity, and the soil and rock take off down hill, acting more like a liquid than “solid” land. In California, the majority of landslides caused by rainstorms, though earthquakes and tremors are a not-too-distant second.

Because of the unique geology and weather of California, landslides and debris flows are always going to be a part of the California experience, just like earthquakes, wildfires, Santa Ana winds, and El Niño events.  Because Californian love their hills and the vistas they offer, hill dwellers are always going to be in harm’s way.

Claremont Canyon Hills - Beautiful Vistas and Risk

We can do what we can to be safe, but as nature writer John McPhee makes so clear in The Control of Nature, even our best efforts may be inadequate.   In the last section of his outstanding book, he shows how  residents of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California have had little success in preventing debris flows from destroying their houses in spite of spending millions on creating man-made diversion pits and dams.

Landslide & Debris Flow Scars in the San Gabriel Mountains - USGS

From the standpoint of geology, landslides, mudslide, and debris flows are simply the more spectacular forms of the ceaseless erosion that shapes our beautiful planet, wearing down mountains and creating the sedimentary rock and soil so much of life depends upon.  Walking in the Berkeley Hills, you can see evidence of this  ceaseless erosion of wind and rain up-close and personal.

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National Geographic has a fantastic video on YouTube about landslides.  The opening scene of a landslide in Portland, Oregon is simply amazing.  Watch as a fellow in a truck outruns a landslide coming down the street, sweeping away cars and everything in its path!

National Geographic Landslide Video

In this next amazing video, caught on camera by a Japanese research team, you can watch a whole mountainside slide across a road with the forest riding along intact!  Amazing!

Heyelan Japan Landslide

Berkeley Hills-El Niño Storms Hit Hard

All my East Coast friends that used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area have told me how much they envy the weather out here—especially when the windchill is say, 20 below zero and snow and ice are everywhere! But they always warn, “True, the weather there is mostly wonderful, but wait until the winter rains come!

Well, they came, and I have to say, I’m impressed! The storms that march in from the North Pacific are indeed amazing, powerful storms, with huge amounts of water and energy.

As a weather buff, I knew this was coming, and in fact, have been looking forward to it. (See “Escape from New England-a weather nut’s confession“)

It’s El Niño Time!

We are in the middle of what’s called a “moderate” El Niño event (technically, the phenomenon is called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation ). The bottom line is ocean temperatures in the Pacific have changed dramatically, shifting global air masses, and allowing far more of the amazing storms that form in the Aleutian Low and in the Northern Pacific to strike all along the California coast.

(I’m going to do an in-depth discussion on El Niño in a later post, but if you’re interested, in the “weather nut’s confession” post, I explain the basic mechanism of storm genesis in this area, and the Aleutian Low is one of the very big players.)

Here Comes the Rain! ( And we need it!)

For now, suffice it to say that the rails are greased for all that moisture and energy that are often blocked off by semi-permanent high pressure to head our way the rest of this winter. And head our way they have! Today marks the passage of the third, and most powerful storm, in string of storms that have pounded both Northern and Southern California with flooding rain, snow, high winds, and even an apparent tornado in the Long Beach area Tuesday afternoon! (See “Rare Mesocyclone/Tornado Hits Southern California” at AccuWeather Ken Clark’s terrific Western US Weather Blog.)

Storm Surf in Pacifica - Paul Sakuma/AP

Petaluma Flooding - Brant Ward - The Chronicle

These last three low pressure systems have caused considerable damage with twenty-foot surf, winds over 80 mph, and flash floods.  Some areas have gotten over 6 inches of rain. Mudslides and debris flows have been a special problem in southern California, as they often are:

Even so, the development of this El Niño is not all bad. For one thing, the surfers at Mavericks, near Half Moon Bay, love the enormous swells that come with these powerful storms:

Storm Surf at Mavericks

But most of all, it’s bringing much-needed rain and snow to California and to the drought-parched Southwest. (The problem in El Niño winters is getting too much rain too fast.)

Here in the Bay Area and the Sierras, the heavy rain and snow are very good news. Due to a drought over the last three years, statewide reservoirs are still just at 74 percent of average to date, so all of this rain is a big boost.

The good news is that the Sierra snowpack, where the bulk of California’s water supply comes from, is now at 96 percent of normal, and will only pile higher with each new storm this winter.

Heavy Sierra Nevada Snows

The prognostication is that this very wet pattern will continue until spring, and if you look out in the north Pacific, you can see the next set of impressive storms are already forming and heading our way:

Pacific Storms Lining Up - The Weather Channel

Storm Scenes on UCB Campus and in the Berkeley Hills

Here in Berkeley, we got several inches of rain and wind gusts over 50 mph. Powerful thunderstorms embedded in the low pressure system actually produced hail, a rarity in this area. I wanted to take  pictures in the Berkeley Hills as each storm system passed through, but I would have needed an underwater camera!  In between storms, I did get some cool storm images. (All the images below are “clickable” for larger versions.)

During a break in the rain, I went out to see how the storm had affected the Berkeley campus.  The newly repaired and renovated Campanile had weathered the storm just fine:

and the campus was  a sea of umbrellas as students scurried to classes:

I did see a fair amount of tree damage from the high winds of the thunderstorms.  The Eucalyptus seemed fine, but I saw a fair amount of lost limbs with the red woods:

The north divide of Strawberry Creek runs in front of the Life Sciences building.  The debris line on the grass shows how high the creek got during the some of the torrential downpours:

Leaving the campus, I headed up Centennial Drive into Strawberry Canyon itself.   The Creek was really full, and even hours after the last heavy downpour, water was pouring into it from its tributaries:

On the hike up into the Canyon, I was once again struck by how beautiful the lichen and moss on the trees look, especially after a rain:

About half-way up the lower Strawberry Canyon  fire trail,  a thunderstorm cell moved through the canyon, and I got totally soaked:

But, I loved it.  Hiking in the rain, or in a storm, in the Berkeley Hills is one of my favorite things to do.  The rain makes everything so clean and  beautiful, and the smells and sounds are so intense.

As I got higher up the fire trail, I crossed over to Claremont Canyon.  Looking out at Oakland, I could see two strong thunderstorms moving through:

Looking north toward El Cerrito, I could see another powerful storm in the northern part of San Francisco Bay:

At this particular moment, San Francisco was in-between thunderstorm cells and catching a small break in the clouds (that line of lights on the right side of the picture, by the way, is University Avenue in Berkeley)

Soon, it was getting pretty dark, so I headed down from the fire trail onto Panoramic Way:

As the darkness closed in, I got one more photo of San Francisco and the Bay:

As the lights of Bay cities came alive, I thought to myself how blessed I am to live in Berkeley and in the Bay Area.  The storms of winter and  El Niño are all just part of the wonder of one of the most beautiful places in the world.

(In my next post, I’m going to show a large mudslide I discovered yesterday in the Berkeley Hills on Panoramic Way and discuss the mechanics of mudslides and debris flows.  Stay tuned!)

Gray Fox in Strawberry Canyon and a Mother Fox’s Wisdom

Yesterday, I headed up Centennial Road along Strawberry Canyon to take some more lichen and moss photographs. As I was walking along the trail by the road, I looked down in into the canyon and saw something seemed out of place on the big branch of a fallen tree.

Here’s what I saw:

(Note: you can click on any image to get a very large one you can download if you wish.)

At first, I couldn’t tell what kind of animal might be sleeping there. It certainly was a fairly large animal, but all I could see was a ball of fur. So, I called out, and it lifted up its head to listen. It was a gray fox!

I was really excited! This was my first fox sighting since I had moved West, and my first large predator sighting in the Berkeley Hills. In the East, the red fox is dominant, and I had seen a number of those in my time there, but never a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus).  The fox never stood up so I could see more of it, but here’s a close-up of it looking up when I made a noise:

Not a red fox

This beautiful animal is easily distinguishable from the red fox, which is indeed quite reddish and has those characteristic “black stockings” on its feet.

A tree-climbing fox!

One of the things that surprised me about the gray fox was how high in the fallen tree it was, and how inaccessible it was. How the heck did it get up there? When I did some research, I came upon this fact at Wikipedia:

“The gray fox’s ability to climb trees is shared only with the Asian raccoon dog among canids. Its strong, hooked claws allow it to scramble up trees to escape predators such as the domestic dog or the coyote, or to reach tree-bound or arboreal food sources. It descends primarily by jumping from branch to branch, or by descending slowly backwards as a house cat.”

So, that explained it! The gray fox is a tree climber! I had no idea any fox could climb a tree. I watched the fox for about 10 minutes, and it seemed hunkered down for a good sleep. (The gray fox is mainly nocturnal though it’s also out at dawn or dusk.)

A Berkeley mountain-man hippie

As I was watching the fox, along came a fellow which I could only describe as a Berkeley “character.” He was dressed like a mountain-man hippie, with long hair in a ponytail and a big beard. As he approached, I asked him if he wanted to see a fox, and of course, he said yes. (I now wished I’d taken the fellow’s picture, as you’ll soon understand.)

As he admired the fox, he told me about encounters he’d had with foxes and how much he admired them. Then he said, “You want to hear a really great fox story? It’s a true one; it happened to an old girlfriend of mine.”

He sat down like he was an old friend and went on to tell his remarkable story.  The man was clearly a natural-born storyteller, but the way he  told his story had the ring of truth. As best as I can remember, here’s what he said:

A true story about a wise mother fox

“It happened in Colorado, up in the mountains where my girlfriend lived. One day she went out to her back porch, and she saw a gray fox standing, holding up a hurt leg. The fox didn’t run away when she saw it, even though it was close, but sat there, expectant like.”

“After the fox and my girlfriend sized each other up for a while, the fox then stood up, and turned to limp away. But it stopped and looked over its shoulder as if to say, ‘Well, are you coming?’

“So, my girl friend got her coat, and followed. The foxes leg was badly hurt, but it could still outpace my girl friend through the scrub brush. But each time she fell behind the fox would stop and patiently wait for her to catch up. As soon as she caught up, the fox moved on.”

A surprise in the woods

“To her surprise, the fox led her directly to a litter of fox kits, three of them. It was a mother fox, and the wounded fox had led her right to her den. The fox sat down at some distance, and watched, as if to say, ‘Well, there they are! I’m hurt and I want you to take them back with you and take care of them.’”

“The fox watched intently while my girl friend gathered up the kits and then followed her back to house. My girlfriend made a place for them near her house, where they’d be safe. The mother fox seemed satisfied, and then again, she looked at my girlfriend and seemed to say, “Well, can’t you see that they’re hungry? I haven’t been able hunt.”

“My girlfriend went inside and got some milk, which she gave to the pups. And then she got some meat, and threw it to the mother, who gobbled it down. After a while, the mother fox came over to the kits, and with a sigh, lay down with them.”

A refuge for a wounded mother fox

“And that’s the way it went. For 3 months, my girlfriend fed the fox while its leg mended, and soon, the mother was strong enough to give her own milk again. My girlfriend played with the kits everyday, and the mother never minded, although she always kept her distance.”

“The thee kits grew up fast, got teeth, and started to forage around themselves, though they always welcomed food from my girlfriend. And then one day, it was clear that the mother fox was going to leave. Although she trusted my girlfriend, she was obviously nervous being near humans.”

“One morning, my girlfriend came out, and the mother and kits were gone. She cried, and really missed them, but she knew that the wise mother had done the right thing.”

A final goodbye and thank-you

“Months later, in the late fall, with the first early snow, my girlfriend was out hiking, and suddenly, she saw a fox. Was it her fox? She stopped, and watched as the fox came to her—with a slight limp! It was the mother fox!  The fox came very close, and for  a long time, she  just sat there and looked into my girlfriend’s eyes, which were filled with tears. She said she felt the fox was thanking her. And then, the fox turned tail, and trotted off, with the slight limp from the old injury.”

“My girlfriend never saw the mother fox again, but did see other foxes from time to time, and she wondered if any of them were the kits grown up. Actually, she was glad the kits had ‘gone wild’ and were wary of humans. That was the safest thing for them so near to humans with guns. But to this day, she has a special love for foxes, and often thinks of the wise mother fox who came to her for help.”

“And that, my friend, is a true story. There’s more to animals than meets the eyes, eh?”

I agreed that indeed there is, and said good-bye to my mountain-man hippie storyteller.  I watched him lumber off, amazed at how often people can amaze you with their hidden depths.  Then, I turned and watched the gray fox sleeping for a while longer, thinking about the wise injured mother fox.

From all I know about animals, and from my own experiences with wounded animals over the years, I bet it happened just as my storyteller said. With that happy thought, and with a big love for my storyteller, for that sleeping fox, and for all the creatures in the canyon, I headed up the trail and into the hills.

A postscript: If this story of the mother fox moved you, you might also enjoy another true story of some amazing animals at my Metta Refuge blog.  The post is called The Compassion of the Swans.  You can read it here:

http://mettarefuge.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/the-compassion-of-the-swans/

♥♥♥

Escape from New England-a weather nut’s confession

This post, originally published at Berkeley, Naturally! on Dec.03, 2009, has moved to my new  blog The Nature of Berkeley.

To read this post please click here:

Escape from New England to Berkeley-A Weather Nut’s Confession