Tule Lake N.W.R. and Lava Beds National Monument

My night at Shoalwater Trailhead next to the Upper Klamath Lake was pretty nice, except a human visitor with his car came around at 2 am. Enough to wake me up with headlights and slamming doors. So as I peered out to watch. It seemed like they settled down, but about 30 minutes later they took off. It certainly left my mind racing as to what they were up to, at 2 am, on a Tuesday. This was a solid 20-minute washboard, teeth clattering drive from the main road, so not an easy place to come across, and all sences would have gone wasted. But, at least it wasn't another badger encounter!

I stopped briefly at Moore Park, at the southern end of Upper Klamath Lake, and met Kathy who was interested in the Sylver Gypsy. While we were talking, and she pointed out that a section of marshland broke away, and like a "floating island" it landed at the shore of this park. A bit of an interesting oddity of this area. https://kobi5.com/news/regional-news/moore-park-still-home-to-mystery-island-106342/

Heading onto Lower Klamath N.W.R., and to Tule Lake, I met John, an interesting fellow from Brooklyn, who now works as a ranger in the National Wildlife Refuge. He guided me towards an auto tour which I took into the refuge. It took almost an hour as I took my time to watch hundreds, if not thousands of birds, along with butterflies and dragonflies, or damsel flies. When I got out to take photos, all you could hear was quacking, screeching and tweeting along with frogs croaking. It was quite the concert! This is a paradise for wildlife. It was interesting, as I drove, watching the irridesent aqua blue damsel flies scatter by the dozens, as I tried to capture images of them. There is so much food for the birds, along with plentiful water. This is definitely a man-made and maintained area adjacent to farm fields. Apparently water is pumped back and forth into individual sections to maintain the marshes. I saw unusual numbers of large bird wings scattered along the roadway. They were either geese, egrets, or pelican's large wings. There are bald and golden eagles in the neighborhood, so I imagine they were eaten. Unfortunately, I did not see any eagles in this area, but plenty of geese, ducks, and white egrets, along with dozens of other birds that I was not able to identify.

It was definitely a quiet and leisurely drive as I was the only one out here. Perhaps it is because it's extra warm in the mid-to-high 80's. I headed into Lava Beds National Monument, which is right next door. Because it's midweek, I was easily able to find a campsite within the park, and a spot of shade as well.





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