Someplace different near Canyon Lake

The area around Canyon Lake is quick and easy to get to (for me) and there's plenty of spots I haven't seen there yet. In less than a quarter mile, you can go from someplace familiar to someplace completely new. I parked where I've parked several times before but this time I went to the other side of the road. I've been thinking I need to go over there for a while but just never got around to it.

I'm going in that direction. Could be interesting.

It's kind of a rocky area.

It turned out to be a pretty area. There was a nice view of Canyon Lake. I didn't intend to climb to the top of anything but that's where I wound up.

A view of Canyon Lake.

I could see First Water Creek to the east. I've followed it from Canyon Lake upstream to a spot where a large tinaja blocked my progress. Based on what I had seen there, I didn't think it would be easy to get down to the creek in that area except through Black Canyon. It looked like it would be easy to get to it from where I was, though. I'll have to see if I can follow it downstream to that tinaja some day.

I think this is a chipmunk but I can't figure out what kind.

When I was close to the top, I thought it looked like I was in a good place to take a 360 degree panorama. Well, the view was good. The footing wasn't. It was rocky and slanted and was right next to a 50 foot vertical drop. I didn't have the tripod (of course), so I had to keep an eye through the view finder to keep each shot lined up with the previous ones. Rotating slowly while looking straight ahead through a view finder or rough ground next to a cliff is a little scary. The panorama came out perfect, though. The top of the hill had a nice, large flat spot on top. I took another panorama from there and it was much easier. I put that one on Panoramio.

Does this look familiar? I seem to take a lot of pictures of it.

I almost forgot to mention the gnats. That's because there weren't any. Well, I might have seen 2. The wind was blowing about 15-20 mph and I think all the gnats were grounded. I didn't even see any when I was behind rocks that blocked the wind. That was really nice. The wind also kept me cool. It was in the low 90's but I was very comfortable even when going uphill. The only downside to the wind was the dust in the air, but visibility was only a little lower than normal.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2013_05_23