Happy St. Patrick’s Day and more
Hello there,
Some of you are new to this newsletter. There is a lot here. Don’t try to read everything, just save and savor. I only send this out once or twice a month. It is all good stuff.
I just returned from three back to back Safaris in northern Tanzania. I had wonderful people who had the best trip of their lives. And the staff/guides and folks in Tanzania were very happy to see eco-tourism begin to return. They have been suffering during Covid, as you can imagine with limited visitation.
All three safaris had fantastic experiences. A few personal highlights for me were seeing a side striped jackal for only the second time in Tanzania, though I’ve seen them often in Botswana. Also, we saw a striped hyena, not a common African mammal anywhere. We had a brief glimpse of a honey badger and we observed a number of kills. That was most unusual, because we’re limited to daytime game drives in the National Parks of Tanzania and most predator hunting occurs at night.
I have three safaris scheduled for next year around the same time. They are all nearly full. But if you’re interested, I can send information to you. And there’s always 2025.
Also upcoming are two car camping trips into The Cedars in Western Sonoma County. Filling fast.
The Cedars: Natural History, Natural Mystery
In a remote corner of western Sonoma County lies The Cedars, one of the most remarkable landscapes on the planet. This unique area is stunningly raw with a wild, otherworldly topography, including unusual geologic formations. Ancient forests of Sargent cypress trees, chaparral, seepage thickets, perennial creeks, waterfalls and pools are coupled and bound to massive talus slopes and barrens.
The Cedars is composed of 9,500 acres of terrain composed of ultramafic or serpentine rock. Over the past 200 million years, this specialized rock has been transported from deep below the Earth’s crust to the continental margin where it now sits above sea level. The bare cliffs and scree slopes that rise abruptly out of the Main Canyon are the result of this giant upswelling and are one of the best examples of such metamorphic reshaping.
Given the unusual composition of the serpentine derived soils, a unique group of plant communities have adapted to the conditions. The Cedars has numerous rare or unusual plants, including five species of orchid and seven endemic plants that occur nowhere else in the world. Perhaps the most unexpected feature within The Cedars are the hyperalkaline springs, where water emerges from cracks and is supersaturated with calcium bicarbonate, creating large crystalline formations that form spectacular patterns along the pools.
Land stewards David McCrory and Roger Raiche of Planet Horticulture and The Cedars Friends are facilitating access through their private lands in the Main Canyon. This is a CAMPING trip. The base camp makes an ideal place from which to explore and experience the magic this place offers. We are blessed with special permission to experience this limited access area. Moving beyond the “usual” Footloose Forays experience, we will stretch ourselves by discovering the wonders of such an alive and ever-changing outer landscape while simultaneously exploring our ever-evolving inner landscape. The invitation is to reconnect with our inherent nature as we come to understand the ecology of The Cedars. And the spring wildflowers are the best.
Jon Carroll of the San Fran Chronicle joined me a couple of years ago.
Transportation: Access to The Cedars is limited and requires good clearance (4-wheel drive is nice but not necessary) as we cross the creek 7 times before entering the Main Canyon. All visitors come and go in a coordinated group from the town of Cazadero. Although there is BLM (public) land within the center of The Cedars, it is entirely surrounded by private property and locked gated roads. Due to the restricted access, there are no unplanned arrivals or departures. Ride share and final coordination details to be determined. Once you are in the canyon, the energy of the landscape makes all the effort worthwhile!
COST: $400 per person. Check payable to Footloose Forays, 1275 4th St.#311, Santa Rosa, CA 95404. 707-570-2187.
DATE: Wednesday, April 26 (Cazadero in western Sonoma) ends Friday 1 PM, April 28.
or
Wednesday, May 17 ends Friday, 1 PM May 19, 2023
Meanwhile here are some tidbits for your edification and maybe enjoyment.
A sea lion comes on land and steals man’s seat.
Oldie but goodie. Footloose dancing! Try not to get up and dance to this.
JOY workout from the NY Times.
Square waves are bad news for ships.
"Chernobyl black frogs reveal evolution in action"
There are some stromatolite fossils in the Mojave Desert.
Your tax dollars at work. Here is an amazing map of the literacy in the USA. Kind of depressing but might explain some recent elections.
The samurai who changed the California wine industry.
The amazing island of Surtsey only 60 years old.
Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s.
Vintage photos of California by Rudy VanderLans.
Flight of the Conchords classic. Yes yes it is Business time
Optimism
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs -- all this resinous, unretractable earth.
~ Jane Hirshfield ~
