Ernie's Great Outdoors

ERNIE COWAN   Union Tribune  Outdoors HIKE IN ANZA-BORREGO A GREAT WAY TO START OFF YEAR Taking a hike on New Year’s Day has become an annual tradition for me. This year, after an evening of fun with friends to usher in the New Year, my hike would be in the peaceful quiet of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. While only 65 miles from my home in Escondido, this arid oasis is in another universe when it comes to peace and quiet, unusual scenery and the chance to connect with the natural world. I’m not sure anyone would ever need anxiety medication if they made frequent visits to this crown jewel of California’s state parks. As you fall into the valley coming down the spectacular Montezuma Grade on Highway S-22, you can just feel the tension release, cares vanish and the mind slipping into neutral. It didn’t hurt that daytime temperatureswere inthe mid-70s, with a gentle breeze and fresh air untainted by the additions of urban crowding. This was not a dawn hike, bu...

ERNIE COWAN   Union-Tribune  Outdoors WOODPECKER LEADS TO ANOTHER ‘SIT AND SEE’ SESSION It all began with a snake in the grass and ended with a bird in hand. I had not planned on spending any time observing nature. In fact, I was returning from a trip to the desert when I spotted a relatively rare Lewis’s woodpecker dancing between trees near Lake Henshaw. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity, so I grabbed my camera and slipped under the barbed wire fence. I didn’t want to walk the quarter mile to the gate and back, fearing Mr. Woodpecker would be gone. I was well aware that the tall, spring grass is a rattlesnake haven. Conditions were perfect. Grass to my knees, temperatures in the high 70s and soft afternoon light. My mind was convinced that somewhere in this field of grass there was a buzztail lurking and just waiting to terrorize me. I left footprints in the grass as I moved closer to the cluster of oak and sycamore trees with high hopes of getting a good...

ERNIE COWAN  Union Tribune  Outdoors GOLDEN MEADOW BRINGS BACK FOND MEMORY OF WEDDING “All that glitters is not gold.”  That famous quote kept going through my mind as I walked into the autumn meadow that was painted in the golden hues of late afternoon sunshine. The tips of the flaxen grass were glittering like an overflowing treasure trove of pure gold. The greens of spring and early summer had long since faded, replaced by beauty gold cannot buy.  I was hiking on Palomar Mountain when I pushed through pines and oaks into this lovely meadow. Gathering clouds were bringing a chill, but the setting sun was holding out as long as it could. I was near the end of my hike, but could not resist the urge to just pull up a rock and sit for a while. Beauty like this should be mentally stolen and kept as long as possible. What better place than this to enjoy one of my sit and  see adventures, where I spend at least one stationary hour simply watchi...

E RNIE COWAN   Outdoors MOUNTAIN LION, FOX APPEAR AT LATEST ADVENTURE At first there was only sound. Through the chilly morning darkness came the yelping of a distant coyote. Imperceptibly, the darkness began to transform into a flat gray, allowing me to see the natural world around me. In this soft light, however, vision was more imagination than reality. The first movement was a gliding hawk, silhouetted against a brightening morning sky with spring clouds ignited by the rising red sun. I was on one of my sit and see adventures, where I pick an interesting place to simply sit for at least an hour and observe the natural world around me. This morning, I had chosen a little canyon with a small stream running through it in the foothills east of Lake Henshaw. This is grassland, dotted with stately live oaks and filled with deer, bobcats, coyotes, hawks, and even mountain lions. I learned about the mountain lion when I left the warmth of my truck to hike to  my ...

ERNIE COWAN   Outdoors Summer ushers in the beginning of meteor-watching season d There is something quite peaceful and humbling about a star-filled sky on a clear, moonless night. Adding the flash of a streaking meteor is like the final note of a captivating symphony. There are big and little meteor showers throughout the year, but I consider summer the beginning of meteor season because the evenings are warm and pleasant, the brilliant Milky Way hangs in the night sky and it’s just more pleasant to be outside. Unlike many activities, there is nothing more than a folding chair or blanket required to become a full participant, so pack a picnic dinner, head out to a dark sky location and enjoy the view. One of the brighter annual meteor showers is the Perseids arriving next month. Tiny bits of debris from the Swift-Tuttle Comet will enter our atmosphere, producing up to 100 meteors per hour for several nights, peaking on the night of Aug. 12-13. This year a bright...

County’s second most common bird moves fast and avoids the limelight BY ERNIE COWAN Union Tribune  The characteristic “witchetywitchety” song confirmed what I was looking for, but I just couldn’t spot it. The colorful little common yellowthroat is another one of those birds that you are initially more likely to hear than see. Despite its bright yellow and olive colors, and the male’s bold, black facemask, the yellowthroat typically hangs out in dense thickets of brush or rushes at the edge of marshes or ponds. They tend to bounce around quickly, not spending much time in one place. Sometimes you just need to be patient to get that flash of color and a good look. Despite my efforts to locate this singing bird, I wasn’t having any luck, but he continued to sing and I continued to scan the tangled thickets for a glimpse of Mr. Yellowthroat. A movement made me glance up, and there he was, uncharacteristically out in the open, pouring his heart out with a spring melo...

ERNIE COWAN  Union-Tribune Outdoors   Looking south over San Diego County from the summit of Toro Peak  TORO PEAK VIEWS RECALL MEMORABLE ADVENTURES I climbed a mountain last week, not simply for the spectacular view, but to survey the landscape I’ve wandered for most of my life. The highest mountain in San Diego is a little over 6,000 feet, but just a few miles north into Riverside there is a mountain nearly 9,000 feet tall that offers a commanding view of San Diego County. Toro Peak is part of the Santa Rosa Plateau and stands guard over Borrego Springs to the south and Palm Springs to the north. Ona clear day you can stand at the summit and see from the Salton Sea, south into Mexico and west to the Pacific Ocean. Mountains that I have climbed, like Cuyamaca Peak, Stonewall, Hot Springs, Sunset, Black, Sombrero, Whale and Angel, were easy to pick out on  this clear day.  Gazing out over the vast, curdled landscape, I was not seeing nameless mountains and ...