Hiking photos (Feb-April 2014)

This is in Paramount Ranch from about 6 weeks ago. Beautiful western countryside. And dry and hot.

Daria posing for a picture on the trail.

A great view from near the top of one mountain looking through some others.

Daria and Karma. The most common plant in these mountains is sagebrush. But those tall things in the middle are yucca.

And a photo of what things look like before rain makes it all green. This is what SoCal normally looks like if you are not in the city.

And some more.

I think a tree is blooming out of Daria's head :)

Nope. Just a tree in the ground. A great oak (дуб I think) tree. There are a lot. The town near here doesn't have as many now, but 50 years ago had so many they named the town Thousand Oaks (тысячы дубы).

Ahh, that one looks better, but it's still yellow grass.

After the hike, Karma got her belly rubbed in our front yard.

Ok, not actually from hiking, but Karma relaxing while I'm reading sitting outside reading a book.

Sunday April 6. The entrance to Zuma Canyon Park, in Malibu. We passed some very fancy homes to get here. I'm sure some celebrities live where we passed. And someone was having a big party with lots of expensive cars parked outside, a valet, and music. Too rich for us though. We were not invited.

However, we had this beautiful view.

And this one.

And we saw a lizard (center); well quite a few, but only one photographed.

Indian Paintbrush, one of my favorite flowers as a kid. It also grows in Tahoe. There isn't a Russian wikipedia for it, sadly, but you might find it in a book under "castilleja."

And another great view.

And some wealthy people's homes ruined this view. Well not ruined, but I'm sure they're rich and maybe are celebrities.

There were many views of the ocean, but most had houses closer and blocking the view. This was our best view of the ocean from that hike.

A fun picture of our shadows.

This almost looks like September with the red, but it was just a beautiful view.

I love the sun's rays in this photo.

I just really liked the red flowers on this plant.

Another view.

In the middle of this we saw a "friend." I think it was a vole, but I do not know. He was cute and continued looking for us and hiding and looking and hiding to ensure we were not hunting him.