A Sunday stroll

I went out for a Sunday drive and stumbled across some interesting things while out. This whitetail buck was rutting a group of does in some grasslands near the home. This is the Columbian Whitetail, which for a long while was on the endangered species list throughout it's range. In Washington and Northern Oregon ,the whitetail numbers continues to suffer due to habitat loss and predation. Here in Southwestern Oregon, there is still ample room for whitetails to roam, plus we have a very strong predator management program throughout the whitetail's range. Whitetail numbers around here are doing so well, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have been able to allocate hunting tags to manage the booming population in the past few years. A great success story.

I ran across some great-looking basalt columns along the majestic North Umpqua River. The columns are formed by basalt lava cooling and shrinking. The columns of rock form a hexagonal shape, kinda like a pencil.

The lichen and moss definitely adds a little flavor to the picture.

Before I knew it I was way up in the Cascade mountains exploring new territory. The sun was shining bright and the temperature was around 60 degrees..not bad for the end of November. I came upon a ridge overlooking Umpqua valley (where home is) below and was surprised to see the low cloud cover never burned off. I talked to Emily on the phone and she said it had been cloudy all day at home.

I didn't take too many pictures today but learned some new areas with some future deer hunting potential and enjoyed the fresh air.