Dave McCoy Photography

This is what you can see in one day at in the June Lake Basin. We have June Lake, Gull Lake, Silver Lake, Grant Lake, and Rush Creek, which flows from Grant Lake to Mono Lake, under Highway 395.

We have photos of what your expectations can prove to be. In these lakes you can fish, swim, paddle boat, water ski, canoe, take pictures and sunbathe. There’s also some good food around. If you want to barbecue in the campground, or visit a great restaurant, you can do it all there–and more. There’s walking paths, horseback trails, and spots for every kind of biking. There’s so much to do there, so eat well and work hard to enjoy it all. I know I left something out, but you can be really busy. We heard you can even ski there in the winter!

There’s the snow of the Sierras, the crystal-blue water of the lakes and creeks, and the red mountains towering above.

The water all ends up in one of two places: Los Angeles, or Mono Lake. We didn’t have time to show Los Angeles this week, but we did get some great shots of Mono Lake. We’ll show those in a few days.

-Dave

Below is the spillway of Grant Lake. It hasn’t flowed for many years. I assume it’s because Mother Nature hasn’t given us the gift of the water we need.

This is Grant Lake. It’s a reservoir, but we call it a man-made mountain lake. It’s very good for fishing. All these lakes are good for fishing. It’s the last spot that water accumulates before spilling into Mono Lake. Some of it is also diverted to the aqueduct to Los Angeles. It goes under the craters, to East Portal, to Tinemeha Reservoir, and the Owens River to the city.

This is the spot where water is divided to go to Mono Lake or under the craters to L.A.

Rush Creek to Mono Lake…

Here is the view of Grant Lake from the other side, towards Mono Lake and Lee Vining.

Here is a panorama shot you all will really enjoy. At the base of these mountains are the lakes I mentioned before. June Mountain is at the bottom left. If you look closely you can see the runs that Bud Hayward built in the 1970s’.

We had a very interesting encounter with a Red-Tailed Hawk on Friday.

It all started in the morning when Barbi, our son Gary’s wife, called to say that she had a hawk hanging out by her back door. I grabbed the camera and told Roma that I was heading over there.

When I got to the house, the hawk and I had a great conversation–but neither one of us understood the other!

Pretty soon, she realized I wasn’t going to be aggressive and started to get comfortable. When she calmed down, I shot some good pictures.

But it was clear that the hawk was out of her element. We figured that she may have left the nest prematurely and we were correct. Julie, who works with Barbi and Gary, called the Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care group to come help out. It turns out that our neighbor, Jack Farrell, works with the group and he and his granddaughter came over to relocate the baby hawk.

According to Jack, she had indeed left the nest prematurely. She may have been blown to that side of the house in a wind storm.

They caught her with a net, put her in a box, and took her to the tree in the backyard where the nest is. Jack has since seen her flying around in his backyard. The rescue was successful.

If you find a bird or mammal in need of help, the Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care group can be found here, or by phone at (760) 872-1487. They rescue wildlife anywhere in the region and have a facility to rescue and rehabilitate birds and mammals.

Look below for pictures of the hawk rescue:

-Dave

Here is the nest later that day. It’s another baby from the same hatch.