Tuesday October 20, 2026

Today Allen and I went into Sanborn grouse hunting. We didn’t see any. It was a nice day with occasional breeze and in the 50s. There is another round of rain coming tomorrow through Sunday. It was pretty muddy in spots from rain last night. They were grading the road which was really needed. We didn’t see any animals until we were coming back. We spotted two bull elk walking together several hundred yards away in the big open area. They walked for a ways and then stopped and started butting heads and pushing each other around. It was fun to watch. On up on the mountain by Elk Mountain we saw a couple smaller bucks. I videoed one of them scraping a quakey for over a minute. That also was fun to see. It was a great day. Got the Frontier baptized in mud. Nikon P950

 Sunday October 18, 2026

Church and lunch at Culver’s. This afternoon I went walking off-road by Sandy Wash. I walked across a canyon or two. It was cloudy and around 60 so I didn’t overheat at all.  I had a few raindrops fall on me. I had fun shooting lots of video and just rambling in nature. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone in the first canyon south of Sandy Wash. A guy hurried out of the brush…kind of weird. I said howdy when I spotted him and he did saw hi back. But he seemed in a hurry. It’s hard doing nice video around here as there’s nearly constant jet noise, small plane noise and lots of shooting. That little shooting area seems to always have someone there. Oh well, there’s no way to lessen it. The jet noise is the worst. Nikon Z50 II

Lots of neat old trees and drift wood.

A few flowers still blooming.

I was surprised that green leaves were still popping up after all the rain.  Unusual for this time of year.

 Thursday October 15, 2026

Today we headed north. We first went up by Hart’s Basin. It is nearly dry…the driest I’ve seen it. Then we went up on Cedar Mesa. We saw a bald eagle in a dead tree. That’s the first I’ve seen this fall. We’ve had a few Woodhouse Scrub Jays hanging around our house and the bird feeder. It’s the earliest I’ve seen them too.  Last year I saw very few of them around and that was almost in the spring.  Also many Dark Eyed Juncos are already here too. Are these early sightings a sign of an early hard winter?  Maybe but who knows. Anyway, we next wandered up Laroux Creek. We went until it got too muddy and turned around. There was some fresh snow up there. Then it was on over to the Smith Fork and into Crawford. We saw several deer on our journey. It was a nice day. Panasonic G97 & Nikon Z50II (landscape)