Tahoe Wildlife - We Have A Very Prickly Neighbor

We've seen porcupines in Tahoe, but those sightings are rare. Yet on a recent hike, we encountered the biggest porcupine we've ever seen.

photo from pixabay.com

When that tough guy sensed our presence, he (she?) turned away from us and fluffed up its quills until it was a ball of spikes.  Yikes.

All we could think of was what it must be like for a coyote or bobcat or dog to come upon this creature and swat at it with a paw or start sniffing too close.

There is a rude joke that skunks and porcupines only have one natural predator - the automobile. Sad, but probably true.

So we waited, and our prickly neighbor eventually wandered into the brush, safer from any and all threats than rattlesnakes. Not even those master predators from the sky - the raptors - have much chance at taking a porcupine. Porcupines are a marvelous example of how evolution can conjure up impenetrable defenses.

Tahoe Wildlife - Coyote!

Last summer, my wife and I saw a coyote pup wandering past our house, below our deck. It was small enough that we worried it didn't have a parent teaching it to hunt. Yet over the course of the summer months, it would reappear in the evening, on the prowl, while we were barbecuing dinner.

photo from pixabay.com

Gradually, it grew. It seemed robust and radiated health.

Then came winter and we didn't see it anymore. Or, more accurately, we didn't see any single coyotes on the prowl through our yard. Occasionally, as we always do, there would come groups of coyotes through the forest, carrying on their social-hunting routine. And we would awaken in the night to their loud, yipping, almost-screaming conversations.

photo from pixabay.com

This spring, our single coyote reappeared in our yard. We think it's the same coyote. Mostly full grown, quite large now and beautiful. Very robust. One can't help but admire the coyote, so smart, so adaptable, so able to do well even in areas where people have taken over.

They also keep down the populations of many creatures that would take over our yards and invade our houses.

Yes, they sometimes eat our pets. And that is a very sad day for everyone involved. But the coyotes were here first. So it's incumbent on us to keep our pets close so we can admire these amazing carnivores that thrive with no help from us and in spite of efforts from many people to exterminate them.

We feel lucky to see coyotes in Tahoe on a weekly - and sometimes daily - basis.

Tahoe Wildlife - Bobcat!

Last winter, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a really large cat walking through the snow. After a moment, I thought it was too large to be a house cat.

After it wandered away, I got out my "animal tracks" book, went outside and looked at its prints.

Bobcat.

After the snow melted, my wife and I were hiking in the woods near our house when we saw the movement of a good-sized animal as it ducked under a fallen tree. We stopped and waited. The animal turned around and came out. A gorgeous bobcat. It sat down and faced us from 40 feet away, curious, watching, wondering what the humans were doing.

After five minutes of all parties remaining motionless, it turned and disappeared among the manzanita bushes.

It was a beautiful animal.

photo from pixabay.com

For those who are curious, the telltale characteristics are a cat that is roughly twice the size of a house cat or a little less, black tufts at the tip of its ears, and a short "bobbed" tail.

New Trail Up Angora Ridge

I've written before about Angora Ridge Road here. It leads up to the old Angora Fire Lookout and some of the world's best views looking down at Fallen Leaf Lake and across at the peaks of the Crystal Range.

The hike gives you views of Mt. Tallac, all the way up.

The hike always used to be along the Forest Service Road that climbs up to Angora Lakes Resort. It's a wonderful hike and great for chatting with your companions. However, when the Forest Service opens the gate in the summer, there can be many cars crawling up the incline.

However, now there is an alternative, a single track hike that leads to the same lookout but does it along the west edge of the ridge. This means that instead of being in the small valley that shelters much of the road, you are on a ridge with views all the way up. The improvement in view goes from spectacular to REALLY spectacular.

The water in the foreground is Fallen Leaf Lake.
The distant water is the West Shore of Lake Tahoe.

To get to the hike, follow the directions in my earlier post (link in the first line above). When you are standing at the entrance to Angora Ridge Road and facing the gate, don't walk toward the gate. Instead, walk the main road (Tahoe Mountain Road) downhill 20 yards to your right (toward the west). Then look to your left. You will find a trail head (unmarked as of this writing). The trail immediately goes up in gentle switchbacks. Almost immediately you start to get great views, which grow in grandeur and stay with you all the way up.

You will be looking across Fallen Leaf Lake toward Mt. Tallac and north up the West Shore of Tahoe in the distance. Bring your "Wow" meter, because views don't get better than this.

This was our view from our lunch spot up next to the fire lookout building.
Looking down at Fallen Leaf Lake is like looking down at a Norwegian Fjord. Gorgeous.

The trail eventually puts you back on the road. Be sure to continue up to the old fire lookout buildings and walk up to them so you can look out across at the Crystal Range, the highest West Shore mountains in Tahoe. In the distance above you, you'll see an almost year-round snowfield, where lies Lake Aloha. For those of you who drive Highway 50 home, you can't miss Horseshoe Falls as you come around the big curves from below Echo Summit toward Twin Bridges. That spectacular falls is the water that flows out of Lake Aloha.

Enjoy!

P.S. I learned about this new trail last fall on our daily Tahoe news source: https://www.laketahoenews.net/

Check it out. Even locals like me continually learn new stuff about Tahoe!

Sailing Under Snowy Mountains

As the snows retreat up the mountain, the sailboats come out.

There aren't many places in the world where you can sail a big body of water and have a snow-covered mountain backdrop. Gorgeous.

Paper Version Of Tahoe Skydrop Now Available For Preorder

Wow, I've told almost no one about my new book, Tahoe Skydrop, but it is getting attention, thanks to all of you blog readers. Thanks so much!

Last week, the Kindle version of my new book became available for preorder.
This week, the paper version is available as well. Here is the link: Tahoe Skydrop

Enjoy!

Tahoe Skydrop Is Available For Pre-Order On Kindle

I always try to do something different in each book. Usually, that means tackling a new, intriguing subject. I'm excited about Tahoe Skydrop for that reason. I'm also excited because this book has some interesting character interaction and action sequences unlike anything I've ever written. If you've enjoyed the previous novels, I'm quite sure you will like this one. And if you've never read any of my books, this is a good one to start with!

The book comes out in August. If you read on a Kindle, you can preorder it by clicking here.

Thanks for your interest and support!

Sweet Spring Water

Spring in Tahoe means water flowing everywhere.

Apologies to those of you who live on the flatlands. But this little water fall - just a short walk from our front door -  would be given State Park status in many states. But in Tahoe? Well, it's just another bit of paradise.

The Maltese Falcon

We were recently in The City (San Francisco), walking along Post Street just west of Union Square. At the corner of Post and Hyde is an unassuming apartment building that no one would ever think was significant. Yet the corner apartment on the top floor is where Dashiell Hammett lived in 1929. While there, he wrote The Maltese Falcon.

The upper corner apartment was Dashiell Hammett's during the late 1920s.
There is a plaque on the building commemorating his time living there.

Does a person's home matter in the creation of a classic novel? Certainly the location must have been useful to Hammett in writing a story set in San Francisco. But were there other aspects of the apartment that helped? I'm guessing it's likely that the look and smell and feel of the apartment all informed aspects of the novel.

Either way, it's fun to look up at the apartment and visualize Hammett inside, typing away, pacing, thinking, smoking and drinking (he did lots of the latter two).

TAHOE SKYDROP Galleys Have Shipped!

Hey, Blog readers. You are the first to see the cover of my new book!

TAHOE SKYDROP is #16 in the Owen McKenna Tahoe Mystery Series.

One of the biggest days in any writer's life is when a new book arrives from the printer. A writer holds it and gazes at it lovingly, admiring the cover. Then, with great trepidation, one flips through it to see if the pages are in the correct order. (Believe me, they sometimes are not!)

Perhaps the penultimate "biggest day" comes a few months before that moment, when a writer gets a galley of the new book.

For those who don't know, a galley is a facsimile of a book. It often, though not always, has a cover that looks very similar to what will be on the finished book, although without the slick coated card stock. A galley has pages that are typeset just like what will be in the finished book. The layout and formatting and number of pages is fixed. The paper will be more like copy paper than what the finished book will have, so the galley may be less bulky and attractive than the finished book. But despite the differences, a galley gives a very good indication of what the finished book will be like.

Why do  publishers create galleys? To send to advance reviewers who work for what are known as prepublication reviews. You've heard the names. Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews are the Big Four.

Want to see the cover of TAHOE SKYDROP? Me, too! So here it is:

Look for TAHOE SKYDROP to be available for pre-order in a few weeks. And it should be ready to ship in the middle of August.

My Pilot Pen Pal

I have a young pen pal from San Jose named Shelby. She is in the process of earning her pilot's license, learning in a Citabria and, sometimes, in a Cessna.

Shelby first wrote me because she likes my books. Perhaps she got into my books because my protagonist, Detective Owen McKenna, is a pilot. And a couple of my books have scenes with flying.

I told her that I had done some flying (in a Piper Tomahawk) but that I hadn't gotten my pilot's license.

When I asked Shelby to keep me up to date on her pilot training, she started periodically sending me some flying pictures along with comments about her experience. From those comments, I realized that she is especially perceptive about flying and will be a very good pilot.

She wrote things like, "I think the 9091L (a model of Citabria airplane) is easier to handle on the ground, but the 1806G is a bit more firm in the air and listens a little better."

A BIT MORE FIRM IN THE AIR AND LISTENS A LITTLE BETTER...! Obviously, Shelby is a natural writer and has a very good "writer's ear."

Eventually, I met Shelby when she came to the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival last fall, where I was exhibiting my books.

Here's a pic she sent me a few days ago:

This is the view looking northwest out of Shelby's airplane window. She's flying over Mount Hamilton, where the Lick Observatory sits (beneath the plane). San Jose is in the center of the photo, the San Francisco Bay is in the distance to the right. And the ridge line to the left is the Santa Cruz Mountains, stretching up the peninsula toward San Francisco.

Does this look fun, or what?!

When I told Shelby that I was envious of her flying, she joked that maybe she'll take me up for a ride after she gets her license.

I'll be waiting.

Fun With WIlliam Kent Krueger

One of the great joys of the Left Coast Crime convention (which was in Reno in March) is meeting writers whose work you really respect. One of those was William Kent Krueger. He won the LEFTY award for Best Mystery. As toastmaster, I did the "award honors."

I highly recommend such conventions for writers and readers alike.

Here's the link to next year's Left Coast Crime in Vancouver.