CALIFORNIA! summer or fall?

GRIFFITH PARK observitory- the park burned recently, but this historic structure showed no damage. Downtown Los Angeles in the back- planes and helicopters above. GOTHAM?

Unfortunately, just the city so far.
Los Angeles, CA is one of the largest cities in the US. The "BIG ORANGE" smothers over 500 sq mi, and is home to almost 18M people!! Fortunately, places like griffith park and the many beaches offer a nice escape to anyone who can reach them-

The amount of people, the traffic, the pollution; it seems enough to overwhelm anyone! (Below) Los Angeles metro, looking south from Griffith park.The moving, busy, sparkling lights seem infinate! Make no mistake- thephoto wastakenwell after sunset and any light here is generated by the city...

90 degrees Friday!!! Spent it on Venice beach which was far busier than I have ever seen it! Fisherman, surfers, tourists, beach bums and oodles of homeless. Was on the sand long enough to watch a swimsuit wash ashore- THANKS AUNT LAURA for a good visit!

Rocky Point FALL!

Fall in Swope park is always special; seemed to be some of the best Ive seen here on this warm fall day.
The last several days have been up above 70 degrees, though the Fall colour that everyone has anticipated came and went over the weekend. I saw little of it, and most of the trees are now bald. Too bad...

Still, The glade felt like summer. It was gorgeous. A flock of robins, the ground is full of about as many walnuts as fallen leaves.
I did notice a surprising lack of birds. No bluebirds and few finchs or sparrows on the glades now. Little color, too; just the odd-shaped berries of buck brush and the fire-reds and oranges in the sumac.

On surrounding areas, it is the honeysuckle that adds color.The road out is VERY COLOURFUL!
Get out there- its well worth it! The recent week of warm only made it better!

Lone Jack BURNED

I have not posted in an unusually long time- though its not because I havent been out!

The gentians have come and gone at JSmith; I was surprised to find the scaly blazing stars and false-eared foxgloves with seed pods and dying leaves. I really expected that the seasons were not as advanced as far as they seemed to be- Was hoping to return from Colorado in late summer.

Lone Jack was all ablaze last week; the smudged yellow MDC crews drove their ATV's and pickups out of private property.

I didnt notice or even suspect any kind of burning until I smelled the smoke that'd settled onto the lake. I turned around and drove a bit down Browns rd. to my favorite access. The burn had left almost half of the area smoldering where things were not too green.

A few patches of debris were still flaming, and a thin smoking line separated the fresh leaf litter from long stretches of black and white ash.

The smell was good for me; there is something powerful and rejuvenating about such a thing. It truly heals a person as directly as it does the earth.

I walked around to the furthest point of the lake and turned around. The log on which I found all of those awesome little yellow mushrooms on just a few days earlier was ashes. A HUGE inky cap stuck out of the green trail and a few small patches of puffballs had turned to dust *literally!* on some old hunks of bark; It is certainly the season for the things, but we havent had rain in many days.

Robins are everywhere! It was like a single giant flock was invading the area. Their hoots and laughs were heard through the entirety of my hike- disrupted only by a loud group of grackles above us all and a few gunshots from an adjoining property. That vast, rank stand of Indian grass was nothing but a few scattered dogwoods and raspberries and a whole lot of black!

A few ducks- I dont know what kind- swam around in the shelter of a cove. I walked off the path- amongst the oodles of deer-stands. I saw only one big dark blob..

He sat still far in front of me on the edge of a field- directly in the path to my truck. I walked towards him. The blob showed no detail; the bright sun on the opposite side of him overpowered any identifying marks. He sat still enough that I began to doubt his being a hunter.

I was about 50 feet from the tree in which he was parked before I decided that to proceed may be dangerous. I picked a branch from off the ground and snapped it violently over my thigh. He flinched and looked over his bow in my direction. I waved and continued up the path that I had found. I was almost under him when he nodded and I whispered an apology. It reeked of a bitter piss. I assume that it was that of a doe- maybe the hunter had simply marked HIS spot!?

2008- One Year !

It was this date ONE YEAR ago that I created the blog, Then WILDKC. The blog was here to help me share my photos- It became more of a personal journal. I discovered a company that shared the name of my blog, and I changed it to avoid any legal anythings- It became "The Bloom..."

My posts have attracted many who share my interests- gaining attention with the help of friends and family in Kansas City. It became an excuse to get out onto the field and into my favorite natural places. Many folks have told me that they enjoy visiting THE BLOOM and finding a new post; I was told that my writing contributed as equally to the infrequent publication as my photos did. With all of the good feedback, however, was bad.

Several comments made about the posts attacked myself and my entries- There were people who told me that I was exploiting and endangering the subjects which I covered.

Nonetheless, Ive enjoyed visiting every site every time, and Ive enjoyed posting almost as much! At times, posting has resembled work more than anything else that I was up to!

Ive visited a lot of places in a year- enough to have posted once every 2.8 days on average! !!

Every one of them has had something else to offer- whether I visit for only a few hours, or many days at a time. I fell in love with the Missouri river and with the Rockies, I rediscovered a passion for rocks and crystals, and found a new obsession for the world of FUNGI!

And on almost every trip, especially the longer ones, there has been a sweet surprise waiting for me- A wonderful, unexpected visitor or an elusive resident that seems to become more significant than even the original purpose of my visit; A goat on Antero and even a single woodcock flushing from a rabbit hunt have been the highlights of the visits that I encountered them on.

I certainly wont be forgetting the Spruce Grove thunderstorm or floating down the river with Steve and Mel anytime soon.

Its been great, though I am disappointed with the year's photos. Definitely like black and white better! I had some incredible opportunities and experiences that I feel my pictures gave no justice to- maybe next year. I would love to visit more of California and Texas- and you can be sure I'll be carrying a tripod more often!

For now, the smell of fall is in the air- the leaves are hittin' the ground and I cant wait for Burn season! I am excited for what the seasons will teach me.. get out; if you cant, then I hop my blog offers some kind of vacation into the wild for you! Enjoy 2009!! (I WILL!)

Ozarks and the BIG Piney

My mother FORCED me to travel south with her- she'd heard of the Paddy Creek Wilderness near the Big Piney river. It was not supposed to rain tonight, tomorrow, or even the better part of the day after that!

It was this first night by the fire- watching out for the toads- when I spotted a glowy-thing in the leaf-litter. The clouds again blocked the moon, but the sky was still bright! I went over to the greenish-blue light- it was dim, and went away quick- I turned on a flashlight and examined the spot where I'd scene it, but found nothing unusual.
The flash started again. The light was on for several seconds before I found the thing... A glow-worm-beetle-thing! The critter looked like a small, plated beetle larvae. .. It had six prickly legs as a grub would and a tiny black head. Its body was not 3mm wide- armoured like a pill-bugs' and the whole wormy thing could have been a cm long. The green-blue lit like a lightning-bug from the tip of his abdomen.
The aliens' light turned off and he went about crawling through the leaves. I returned to playing with the toads, who seemed to crawl up to the fire as if they were stalking it-- perhaps they were after me... I found one in my tent.

We woke to rain. - rented a canoe and paddled down ~7mi. of the Big piney river. The float was nice... our boat was a bit awkward and we both needed to refresh and refine our paddling!

The river is cold and clear- just the way its supposed to be! ! ! Both banks were covered in debris- for miles sometimes! The two major floods in March and april this year did some serious damage and reconstructed parts of the river. The beavers seemed to be working on clearing the sticks and logs and trees that'd been deposited everywhere.

A muskrat slipped through the water under our boat. We watched 'em swim for only a few moments; he blew bubbles from several feet under. Towards the end of our float, the river got wide and slow- The big flat rocks all over had to have sheltered some hellbenders! -lots of darters and suckers!

We saved a soggy caterpillar from the river. He sure wasnt a pretty creature!

The toads were back and the glow-things seemed to be everywhere. It was not until about 10pm that the clouds began to wore off. The full moon cast a beautiful, soft light on the ozarks.

Day three I fished; We visited a conservation area- the name of which I cannot remember. A blob of small, metallic whirly-gig beetles took refuge from the current behind a pillar of the bridge. They were not the whirly-gigs that we have in kansas city. Their blob was impressive; I tried to take some photos, but the thick cloud cover let no whirly-doodle appear sharp or clear. Very disappointing-the critters wouldve made for some cool pics!

Caught a few sunfish and a little bass.

We went over to a national forest access off of route AF- "something landing"

Spooked a huge group of Turkey vultures from the ground and trees around the ramp- smelled like dead fish. .. Maybe 30 birds! ..

I fished for a second from the shore... My first cast proved the existence of smallmouth bass in the river, and my fourth gave me what I was really looking for. A big, beautiful GOGLE-EYE!

Gogleeyes are restricted to the ozarks in Missouri- they resemble something of a green sunfish with their big mouths and bass-like figure. Big, red eyes and a tan-green body.

With that, I pulled the kayak off the car and pulled it to the water's edge. There were scales everywhere- big, shiny, stinky carp scales. They were so plentiful that it made it had to walk on the steep ramp. Off to the right of the boat-ramp were the remains of many different kinds of suckers and capr. Its gigging-season.

I spotted a butterfly on the ground-one with some really spectacular colors! I did not recognize it and chased it around the fish-guts for a pic. It flew under me and perched on a vertebrae to proboscitize the dead things.. A Pipevine swallowtail???

...It looked poisonous and I did not eat it.

Floated for a few hours; lots of bass and gogle-eye! The sun came out for the first time on our trip. My mother picked my up at the AF bridge- only about a mile from where I had floated. I harassed the crayfish and darters in a few pools off of the river before we left for Bennet springs.

Goofed-off on the Niangua for a few hours before we set up camp at the state park. It poured for a short while, and only rained until morning. We watched a couple across the street spill gasoline all over their fire... and campsite. A woman came to fill a bucket with water and rushed to put out the fire. ... that did not work too well. The fire grew and spread and light the whole area for a second... maybe thats why it had been raining so much!?

I got a limit of trout from Bennet springs and it threatened to rain again. It rained the whole way home, but the trip was nice and we found alot of cool critters! The Taranchula was caught crossing a country road on our way home from the canoe trip- he was BY FAR the largest one Ive ever found!

Mighty Mo

My father dropped me off at Kaw point park in KCKS at about 2:30 on Tuesday. I slid off the Kaw and onto the Missouri to be whipped out of sight in just a few minutes. I was headed for Columbia, MO and wanted to be there by Thursday night.

The water was calm- through the city the river was not as pleasant of an experience as I hoped it would be; The water was covered in a fine brown scuzz and reeked of death and sewage. The banks were made of steel and wood and tar and old, tossed tires.
The sun felt good though, and I knew the river would be nicer downstream.

Tires, basketballs and all sorts of plastic and glass floated downstream with me.

I examined a few cleaner bottles for any messages that might be hiding inside... A message in a bottle is not too hard to find on the river.
Wine bottles almost always carry them; There is no other way that a sealed wine bottle could be found floating so far off the bank! The usually float with the neck pointed to the bottom of the river, and the dark green one which hides a not the best is most common.
The water was like glass- as smooth as it gets!

I was passed by a downstream barge which made a smaller wake than the upstream USGS boat- I stayed on the boat- and upright- through both bouts of waves. The same barge came at me again from downstream. I crossed the river in front of him and took his waves in the slower water. I crossed again and encountered a nasty quarter-mile where the barge's wake had collided with the choppy, fast spill of some loud mill.
Sun set on me somewhere about a half-hour after my short break at LaBenite park, under the 291 bridge east of KCMO.
I was not traveling fast; the river was just about the lowest that it had been all year and I felt no need to paddle too much; I granted myself an easy goal for the day- Cooley Lake Access (MDC)..

The sun ducked behind the trees and the night life began to emerge. I saw a few deer on shore and the coyotes started up on the near shore. Carp began skimming the shallow areas for food and EXPLODE at the surface when I got too close.
The first one spooked me pretty well!
The moon had shown for half an hour before I decided to get off the water.
I slept on the bank- somewhere in between The last mill on your left and the Cooley access.

The morning was warmer than I expected. I woke up to a very pleasant sunrise a hoped into my kayak immediately. A thick fog smothered the river and ten or twenty feet of the bank; The water was just as smooth and calm as when I left it.
I passed Cooley pretty quickly... some fishing and target shooting made the place as loud as the city.
I paddled for an hour or two before I spotted a gravel bar- the first of the trip!
Spent a good hour here- sorting through all of the lost treasures. Stones, Glass, Bones and Fossils- all sorts of goodies!
The sandbar- under a bridge and across from another mill- was a huge one! The river was at about 8.7ft and you could have walked for a long ways past the edge of it and into the river.
I found a couple of fossilized bison? teeth and a bunch of crystals. .. One of the teeth is well over three inches long and two wide, COOL!
A creepy dead monkey doll- its hands were missing... And a scan of a few of my treasures from the same gravel bar... A tooth, some polished glass with wire in it, two pieces of champagne-coloured Carnelian? and a clay bead thing. Indian?
I was very picky with what I took- still I loaded a heavy handful of material onto the back of my boat!
I got back to my little orange boat and shoved off for the far end of the river. IT was choppy!
... That was the first thing I noticed. The water was very choppy! The river had been calm when I left just an hour earlier!

A wicked headwind made matching the rivers' current hard! I tried for a few minutes, but wasn't going anywhere fast...

I pulled into the gravel bar again, only a few hundred feet from where I left it. I waited- hoping that like most winds on the river, this one would lighten up soon.
It didn't. I made another go of it- Battled the growing waves and the nasty wind until I was ready to pass the tip of the gravel bar. I swung in again; I knew I would not be able to do a day of this!
I tried calling my mother hoping to be picked up. No signal. The wind and waves only grew while I was on shore. ..
There were two options- I could cross the river and paddle upstream again to some public access I saw back about a mile, or I could TRY to go downstream another mile and then go 4 miles upstream on the Fishing river to the nearest MDC access. I hope my maps are right! I decided to try for the MDC access, in case I couldn't get a phone signal, I would at least be close to 210hwy so that I could find someone who did.
On the water- one last try. I ripped the paddles through the water, and still I was pushed upstream. The sun was out- there would be no storm to cause such a wind (not forecasted!)

I could see all sorts of leaf and plastic debris floating just under the surface- it all just cruised downstream with the current that I had taken advantage of yesterday.
I got on the island again- I was becoming frustrated.
Still the wind grew. I'm sure that it blew at a constant 25+mph and I saw whitecaps on the river for the first time in my life. They are the waves that had burst over the front of my boat on my last two attempts to get down from the island.
I feared tipping if I were to try it again. A gust hit me and I turned from it. A huge wall of sand had developed with the wind and was thrown off the other side of the sandbar. I walked the kayak as far to the left bank and downstream as I dared- the water was up to my thighs when I jumped in. The steep bank broke the wind here. The waves were not as bad and I could go downstream to where I needed to be. I paddled hard for about twenty minutes until my phone lit up. I called and got through- my mother would be at Piggs landing, up the fishing river, between 5 and 6...
It was somewhere around 1pm. I was somewhere downstream of mile marker 335.7 and the river was at 334.0.
It was minutes before the 334.6 mm came into sight. I rounded the bend and the wind that had driven those horrible waves into the far side of the river hit me again. Still, not at badly as if I had stuck with the fast part of the Missouri.
I was only ~100yrds from the river before I saw it- It took a second to get to.

The Fishing river was like a harbor. I stopped paddling and listened to my heart beat.
The river was still. Thick Trees to the east blocked too much wind from getting at me. It looked more like a mucky oxbow lake.

I was very relieved to be off of the Missouri and took a steady pace up the Fishing river. It seemed not to flow at all.
I watched turtles plop into the water from off their branches and enjoyed the leisurely float trip I thought I was going to have today.
Trains flew through the area- you could always hear one...
I passed under two bridges before I encountered any kind of a current. It flowed slowly- reminded me of the blue river as it drains swope park. I maneuvered around some trees and up a fast little rapid. Another. A scared a carp from a plum of mud that rose from a still, shallow area on the river.
Hit PIGGS LANDING, underneath the 210 bridge around 3:30. No cell phones.
Cooked a meal and watched a cool racer (snake) and a huge mantis who visited me on the curb of the ramp. Basked in the sun a while.. I glanced down around 4:50 to find that my phone had an entire bar of signal- It was worth a static call to my mother, who was well on her way!
Didn't make it to Columbia, but that just means I have to try again!