Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Wednesday Vignette, no campfires!

Gosh time flies. It was September 27th when Andrew and I headed out to the Salmon River Trailhead at Welches, Oregon. Earlier in the month he'd planned a three-day camping/ hiking/ fishing adventure for this same area, but had to cancel because of wildfires—the entire area had been closed. We'd since had a few heavy downpours so the fires were dampened and the danger was lower, still...no campfires dummy!

Wait, what? No campfires!

I think this one might have pre-dated the sign, and the danger. Looking at it for clues my eyes settled on that somewhat mossy stick...and then I saw movement...

Did you spot it in the photo above? Here's a closer-upper if you did not. It's a spotted tussock moth caterpillar. The stripes said wooly bear, but the white spikes were new to me, that's what sent me Googling. I guess the spikes cause an itchy rash and are a non-poisonous defense mechanism. I did not pick him up.

Weather Diary, Oct 20: Hi 64, Low 49/ Precip trace 

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14 comments:

  1. A spiky woolly bear. Right up your alley.

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    1. Ya, I was pretty excited to have spotted it.

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  2. What a beautiful caterpillar!

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  3. There are Danger Gardens everywhere!

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  4. He's a very handsome fellow (but I wouldn't have picked him up either).

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    1. Andrew has this need to pick up every critter he sees, thankfully I do not.

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  5. Nice to see life renews itself after a fire. ;)

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  6. I remember keeping two wooly bears in a cardboard box for a while when I was little. They were named Tim and Tom. Nowadays I enjoy them more in the wild. I don't think I've ever seen one with white whiskers.

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    1. Ya a box doesn't seem like the ideal location, then again I'm sure I did something similar.

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  7. I thought you would comment on the mossy twigs in the fire pit... good eye! How close did you get before you spotted this creature? Did you end up camping out on this Sept 27 outing?

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    1. Since he was moving he was pretty easy to spot... and no camping took place. Just a nice day spent hiking and for Andrew, fishing.

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