Just a wee one

Today, my day off, Payanna and I went hiking off of South fork (the valley next to the one the station is in). We headed through forest trails crossing over streams several times. Its amazing how much the vegetation changes in these areas, as well as when you move to higher elevations; you start to see more maples and oaks and when you get higher, fewer things that I can identify. The rock changes as well, becoming more red as you head up the mountain. We hiked for 2 hours up, and came to a beautiful spot on top of the peak. It was amazingly windy up there, and it helped cool us off from climbing.


We also came upon our first rattle snake, a Rock Rattlesnake. It was just a tiny guy, only about the length of your forearm. And its wee little rattle sounded like a salt shaker. It was doing its best to sound scary, but it got little squeels of affection from us instead. Oh well, in time young rattlesnake, in time.