Insane views, campfires in the rain, just missing a puma with cubs, beautiful native flora, and some very sore feet were all components of this four day trip in the South Chilcotin Mountain Provincial Park.   Acknowledging this trip took on the traditional lands of Tsilhqot’in, St’at’imc, and Secwepemc Nations. For the American July 4th 2020 holiday we spent it in the Canadian wilderness. No better activity, in my opinion. This was my first backpacking trip…

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In this post I reflect back on what my hubs and I have learned about mothing over the past year or so, and a look into the science of why moths are attracted to light. We first started mothing back in October of 2019 and our first attempts were pretty pitiful, and we’ve come a long way. Thank goodness! When we lived in San Jose, we’d drive 45 minutes up to Montebello Open Space Preserve,…

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From mid December 2020 to mid January 2021 the Mister and I explored the beautiful area around Gualala, California. The small and friendly town of Gualala is positioned right on the Pacific coast at the southern end of Mendocino County, about 3 hours north of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We chose this area to spend the beginning of winter in order to search for mushrooms! This area of California hosts an insane diverse array of…

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Mid August of 2020 myself and the insect-obsessed hubby went on three day backpacking trip in Southwest British Columbia with two goals. The first goal was to search for insects on the snow banks in and around the Upper Lillooet Provincial Park boundary. The second goal was to see if this route we would take would be a viable way to reach Silt Lake, located at the headwaters of the Lillooet River (at the top…

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Ahh, the wonderful world of mushrooms. Winter in California means the arrival of rain and therefore the arrival of mushrooms! Yahooo! I wanted to put together a small collection of recently observed mushrooms from the Mendocino and Sonoma County area. Since mushrooms come in almost every color I thought I’d organize them into a rainbow-like pattern with a little bit of info on each. While plants in the winter are beginning their growing phase, fungi…

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For the last couple of weeks I’ve been admiring and perplexed by interesting looking leaves I find on the ground while mushroom and bug hunting. Most of the ground in the Central California coast is covered by brownish pine needles, tanish oak leaves, other fallen leaves as well as a thick layer of duff. But every once in a while a leaf stops me in my tracks and I MUST take a photo. Can’t resist.…

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For any Naturalists there are natural highs and luls in nature throughout the year. The high of spring when the flowers are abundant and organisms at their height of flourishing. Whereas the awkward end of fall when California is super crispy and the rains of winter haven’t injected life into dormant plants and fungi can be a total lul. However Trevor and I created a concoction of activities that maybe, just maybe qualify as a…

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From mid November to mid December we lived in the super cozy and friendly small town of Lagunitas, CA. This was the kick off location to our new nomadic lifestyle. When living in San Jose for the past three-ish years we would often go to Point Reyes to search for nature. In order to reach Point Reyes for an adventure it required driving through the town of Lagunitas. So it was a perfect first stop.…

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Bridge River Delta Provincial Park iNaturalist Project This summer Trevor and I collaborated with a UVic researcher who was coordinating for a BC Parks Project. The goal of our involvement in the project was to bioblitz our way in some remote provincial parks. A bioblitz is when you document all the different nature you observe. By documenting through iNat we recorded disjunct plants, rare insects, and contributed multiple first observations for iNaturalist and ebird. A…

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This November, besides some epic tidepooling has been a waiting game for the rain to come. Ummm. . . still waiting! With rain comes slime molds, mushrooms, and GREENERY! So it was time to focus on whatever remaining insects were still hanging around. With only a few native flowering plants still hanging on, to the dirt and bark we go! Who lives under bark, and in the soil? Millipedes! Yippee! Not everyone’s idea of cute,…

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