Murray Canyon

Near the trailhead

Well, if this isn’t embarrassing. On Monday, Leon and I hiked to Murray Canyon, one of the Indian Palm Canyons outside of Palm Springs. It was a gorgeous day, and we saw lots of interesting stuff, including more metallic wood boring beetles in the genus Acmaeodera than I’ve ever seen before. We saw dozens of them, with three species represented. I was able to get no good photos of them. I’m not sure why, but every time that I wanted to take a shot, my autofocus wanted to focus on anything other than the damn beetle.

Not quite in focus longhorn beetle. My best insect shot of the day, unfortunately.

Hello, Lizard

Still, it was a great day. The hike begins in a palm oasis, then veers off into the desert for a while. The desert was in late spring glory this week. Most of the brittlebrush and other flowering plants have gone by in the lowest, hottest spots. But in the canyons and at slightly higher elevation, the spring bloom is still very much on. I was surprised to see such a large diversity of bloom being put forth by various members of the borage family.

Beautiful blue legume

Palms at the entrance to Murray Canyon

Eventually, the trail winds into Murray Canyon. We saw lots of wildlife and blooming plants. I also had a great butterfly sighting. For years now, I have wanted to see the California dogface butterfly. It’s a sulphur that gets its name from markings on the forewing that resemble the profile of a dog’s head. There were scores of them flying in Murray Canyon. They don’t sit still for photos- I did manage to get one blurry shot of a mating pair. That was more or less the story of the day from a photographic standpoint. At least I got two nice pictures of lizards.

Not yellow leaves, but a mating pair of California dogface butterflies.

Lizard under the palms

For me, this picture epitomizes the Colorado Desert of southern California. The palms and lush growth along the watercourse contrast with the stark, arid hills.

The hike ends up canyon at a series of small waterfalls called the Seven Sisters. There was quite a bit of water in the canyon, which made the waterfalls particularly enjoyable. On our hike out, we encountered a horned lizard that had climbed up into a small shrub where it was eating ants. Don’t even ask about a photo. And as for the butterfly that I wanted to collect for a DNA sample? In the entire long weekend, I may have gotten a fleeting glimpse of one individual. Feeling an odd combination of satisfaction and disappointment, we concluded the hike with the obvious: a stop at the trading post for sodas and Carnation ice cream sandwiches. These we enjoyed in the outdoor seating area overlooking Indian Palm Canyon.

The Seven Sisters

Ice cream and a beautiful view of Indian Palm Canyon

The Nature Island of the Caribbean

Roseau, capitol of Dominica

Dominica (pronounced doe-min-EEK-uh) was the island I was most interested in visiting on this trip. Leon and I visited previously about 15 years ago. We had planned a trip to Jamaica, then did some reading and were charmed by the descriptions of Dominica, termed the "nature island of the Caribbean." We went there instead, loved our visit, and looked forward to our return.

First light as we pass the Dominican coast

Our day in Dominica began auspiciously. I was unable to sleep, and got up before dawn. I went out on deck and watched the sun come up while we cruised the length of the island while the skies grew light and the sun rose. Just before dawn, a dolphin swam alongside of the boat and jumped several times off of the port bow. At breakfast, we were treated to a rainbow. Readers of UrSpo's blog will probably recognize the "standing together under the rainbow" pose. It’s very appropriate that Someone (UrSpo's partner) took this photo.

Somewhere under the rainbow

It turns out that we overestimated how long it would take to get off of the ship and on our way. If we had gotten up early, and left as soon as the ship opened for disembarkation, we would have had time to hike all the way up to the boiling lake and the Valley of Desolation. I’m not sure that UrSpo and Someone would have come with us, as they don’t do as much hiking as we do, and that’s a pretty intense hike. So it’s just as well that we opted to do a trip to Soufriere Valley, what the guidebook termed a "mini Valley of Desolation" and had a wonderful time with good company.

Inside the caldera at Soufriere

We hired a cab, expecting a quick pickup and drop-off. Instead, we got a tour guide for the day. We began at Soufriere. The hike is fairly short. It begins in a caldera, and leads up a watercourse flowing with volcano-warmed water. We enjoyed topical vegetation, birds and lizards, but few insects. Dominica is the Caribbean island that has the most volcanic activity, and also the island that has retained the greatest proportion of its native vegetation, which in this case means rainforest. It’s a great choice for Leon and I since he’s a geology geek who loves volcanoes and there’s plenty to entertain my biophilia.

Fumes and heat prevent vegetation from growing on this slope. The small stream at the base of the rocks was too hot to touch here.

The hike culminates in a small, barren valley. The water is emerging here as hot springs, too hot to even touch near the spring’s source. The heat of the water and sulfurous fumes severely limit plant life. There are also fumeroles dotting the valley floor. I did get nice photos of a millipede and a robber fly here.

Millipede

Robber fly

Following the volcanic hike, we climbed Scott Head, a rocky headland that just out of the southwest corner of the island. There were expansive views of the island, sea, and sky. A large flock of frigate birds filled the sky. And there were HUGE grasshoppers everywhere. They were clearly bird grasshoppers (genus Schistocerca, though I don’t know which species this is), so named for their very strong flight. I managed to get some nice shots of an individual that was about 2 1/2 inches long with a wingspan closing in on 5 inches.

The view from Scott Head

The larger but lovely Schistocerca sp.

I got out for a while in the afternoon to go insect chasing. This was fairly disappointing, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s touch to get out of the capital city of Roseau on foot. About all I saw as a bunch of blue lizards. As we sailed out of port late that afternoon, I was treated to beautiful views of the island in the late afternoon light. We’ll definitely be back when we can again spend more time there.

Blue lizard. Probably a Dominican ameivas (Ameiva fuscata).

Bye, Dominica. Scott Head is the rock at the left side of the island.