Monday Marmot Blogging (1985)

Marmot - Yosemite  1985

Looking for some food that the backpackers had foolishly left out. Alas, the backpackers had actually not left any food out.

(High altitude Yosemite backpack trip.)

Winter Backpack (1978)

Trees, Mountain, Snow - Sierra Nevada  1978

Scene from a winter backpacking trip taken in January-February, 1978. I don't think I've ever printed or scanned any of the trip photos before . . . I was going through some old contact sheets, saw that there were some winter photos, and decided to power up the Epson scanner.

Recycle Center

Recycle Center - San Rafael  2026

Taken during one of my regular trips to drop off cardboard boxes for recycling.

Contrail

Contrail - San Rafael  2026

Photo taken with my iPhone near my May Open Studios exhibit . . . same idea as an earlier 2021 photo.

Interesting: the iPhone that I have (13 Pro Max) has started to exhibit a flaw when in the "telephoto" mode, . . . a web search is showing that others have reported the issue. Easily corrected in Photoshop of course.

Contrail (Sky Defect) - San Rafael  2026

Fairfax Festival

Mike's Booth (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Last June. I did pretty well! Much better than Open Studios anyway.

Current setup is more elaborate than my first 2008 setup:

Mike at Fairfax Festival - Marin County  2008

Cains Tire

Cains Tire, Mt. Tamalpais, Crow (San Rafael) - Marin County  2026

Another photo from last May, Sunday morning near my Open Studios show.

Spider Web / Fence (Point Reyes)

Spider Web, Poison Oak - Point Reyes  2026

Fence, Rain - Point Reyes  2026

Last of the photos from my little Limantour excursion.

Monday Finch Blogging

House Finch (Female) - Lake Lagunitas  2026

Lesser Goldfinch - Lake Lagunitas  2026

I posted a photo of a male house finch back in 2021.

I posted a photo of a goldfinch in 2025. (A goldfinch as opposed to a Lesser Goldfinch.)

Alders / California Buckthorn

Alder Trunks - Point Reyes  2026

California Buckthorn - Point Reyes  2026

Stopping by the Coast Camp trailhead area. I was able to use the Nikon Z7II for the alder photo . . . it's not that suitable for wet weather so hadn't brought it out for Limantour photos (Olympus has better weather-sealing).

The iPhone was able to identify the California Buckthorn - note how wet the leaves are

Everlasting Pea / Limantour Marsh

Everlasting Pea Blossoms - Point Reyes  2026

Trail, Everlasting Pea Blossoms - Point Reyes  2026

The distance from the Limantour parking lot to the beach isn't that great, so I decided to hike down the trail leading to Muddy Hollow. On the way I passed a grouping of Everlasting Pea flowers. Yes, now I can properly ID the plant.

Also, a nice alternate view of Limantour Marsh from the trail.

Limantour Marsh - Point Reyes  2026

Limantour Marsh / Ocean

Limantour Marsh - Point Reyes  2026

Ocean - Point Reyes  2026

There's a metal pedestrian bridge over the marsh that is not very camera-friendly. I have to poke the lens through the rails to get the photo, as in the marsh scene above.

If you're there it's always necessary to go visit the beach, although this time it was kind of bland with some uninteresting waves.

Bishop Pines

Bishop Pine Trunk - Point Reyes  2026

Bishop Pine Needles - Point Reyes  2026

There's a collection of Bishop Pines near the parking lot. I was using an Olympus E-M1II with a small 25mm (prime) lens equipped with an extended rubber lens hood used in wet weather.

Rain vs Drizzle

Morning Bun, Coffee - Point Reyes  2026

Side Window View - Point Reyes  2026

"Drizzle is liquid precipitation with small droplet size. In order to be classified as drizzle rather than as rain, the droplets must be less than 0.5mm in diameter; however drizzle droplets are significantly larger than cloud droplets. For an observer who cannot readily distinguish droplet size, rain droplets may be observed to splash as they hit a puddle and drizzle droplets generally do not."

Huh. My definition is, if I've got the windshield wipers going non-intermittently, then it's rain. If I need a parka, then it's rain. Both conditions obtained here, although the moisture was probably coming from the Bay Area's marine layer. 

Point Reyes Station

Fennel - Marin County  2026

Fence, Barn - Marin County  2026

Taken in July, but the weather was foggy and wet.

Check out some 2025 photos taken at the same spot.