Backyard Nature Walk #2

After I polished off my Newcastle, I set off on my second nature trek this week. This time Ichi came along and helped me track the elusive Tamias umbrinus. We intended to capture (a photo of) the beast in his natural habitat.

Now, before you say, "Walking your cat? Isn't that a bit weird?" My backyard is a veritable Chuck E' Cheese for cats. There are rodents scampering around, birds swooping down to catch the rodents, and grizzly bears swatting the birds out of the sky. I would also like to point out that Ichi is no ordinary cat. And I have photo-evidence:



Ichi is either a dog pointing me in the direction of the elusive beast, or he is a damn good actor. I scanned the area Ichi was pointing at, but didn't see any animals. I did, however, see this weird looking rock:



We climbed the hill through the trees, and I was quite impressed with Ichi's rock-climbing skills. I'm not sure where he practices, but he's not far behind Chris Sharma. Ichi led most of the way up the hill, but there was no sign of our beast. We decided to turn back about 3/4 of the way up the hillside. The peak was in sight, and is my goal for hike #3--but Ichi started panting. Good dog.



He doesn't like being called "dog."

Here are a few pictures from the point we decided to head back home, starting off with the goal for Nature Walk #3:









Unfortunately, even in the national forests, there is quite a bit of trash, which both Ichi and I disdain.





We made our way back down the hill, when Ichi suddenly caught sight of something! I fumbled to turn my camera on and zoomed appropriately for whatever Ichi had caught sight of... unfortunately, it turned out to be his own shadow. Which he promptly attacked.





Just when I thought all hope was gone for this trip, Ichi's ears perked up one more time. He ran off, but when he heard the blood-curdling roar, he quickly hi-tailed it back to me:



I caught sight of something moving in the distance, and decided to stand my ground. I zoomed as far in as cameranly possible, then, from through the trees and behind a huge boulder it appeared...

Tamias umbrinus... and I was staring straight into its unmerciful, cold-blooded eye.



























Ichi didn't even bother chasing the elusive rodent.

When we got back to the house, Ichi plopped down and promptly turned the lights out:



Next on the docket: Mr. Blue Jay