I had checked out the first area last winter and here is what it looked like.
I had Darth Vader along...
So the timing was right and the weather was perfect. Today was the day! I left at 4:55 AM hiking from my house, crossed I-90 and started at the south end of Palisades. I hiked 15 miles in 5 hours (20" mile average pace). One short break in a meadow for breakfast, water and stretching. I arrived at 9 mile dam after exploring a trail at the Trautman area. It was pretty and mostly treed in there.
The birds I saw included Ravens, chickadees, robins, cliff swallows, house finches, goldfinches, turkey vultures, turkeys, one Great Horned Owl, California Quail, Red Tailed Hawk, a small grey flycatcher, hummers feeding on vetch, and finally, above the dam I saw 9 Double Crested Cormorants doing what they do best; sitting on the floating warning buoys.
I also was testing out some trail food that was recommended by a long distance backpacker at a RUCK that I went to a few years ago. She doesn't take a stove or cook to save weight. She uses a food dryer to dry things like homemade spaghetti with sauce. She also uses already dried food that you can purchase at stores such as Win-Co. I experimented with the dry peanut butter as well as cous cous along with the spices and some dried re-fried beans. So what you do is have them already in their own Zip lock bags, add water, shake or stir with a spoon, zip it and put it in your hip pocket while you hike. They reconstitute in about 15-20 minutes are are delicious!
