Travelogue: Part Seven. A couple days at Cotton.

Spending a couple of days at Cotton Lake I whip out my Moleskin logbook/sketchbook and focus in on some of the sights. Nothing like sitting in one place for a while and really looking!

The Bristlecone Pine are great subjects.

Filling my waterbottles from Cotton Lake.

Along the shoreline I spot these tracks. Yellow-bellied Marmont?

All day long, morning to night, Clark's Nutcrackers! are hanging around acting like Ravens but then, why not, they are in the same corvid family!!

Better than television and a lot less aggravating!

The breakfast kitchen. "BearVault Solo" bear canister seat and stuff sack pad. "Bubble Butt" with aluminum foil windshield. "Snow Peak" titanium cook pot with "spork". Aluminum measuring cup for tea. Waterbottle and MSR white gas container. Ziploc bags containing oatmeal/powdered milk, brown sugar and raisins. Matches and lighter.

Inventory of bear canister before heading off for the next leg of my journey.

Over there near Red Slate Mountain.

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I received this update on the Blue Whale

Dear Friends of the Blue Whale etal,

It's the impossible dream, against all odds, flying by the

seat of our pants and winging it on a shoestring budget - but guess

what, we're doing it!!! A group of crazy & mostly volunteer

optimists have successfully moved the 70 ton behemoth Blue Whale

about 75'. She now lays on the rocky and dry part of the cove where

it is possible to work on stable ground. The unpleasant but necessary

necropsy has begun. After trying this and that and securing larger

and larger heavy equipment on a moment's notice, the big D8 with

winch was able to get the job done to loud cheers and tears of joy.

We will be dividing the remains into more manageable pieces to haul

up the 40' cliff with an assortment of heavy equipment. We assume

that this process will take at least 2 days. We're fighting the

weather, the rapid decomposition and a host of other factors. A

secret location for the temporary burial of the skeleton has been

selected. The film crew will be escorted to the site blindfolded to

protect her until the unveiling. She will be covered with manure and

sand to help the decomposition which will last a year or more. We

have secured a permit from the Federal Government to keep her

reassembled skeleton on permanent exhibit in Fort Bragg at a location

still to be determined. By the way, I love this town. We have a small

population in a relatively remote area with limited resources in the

worst economy since the Great Depression. Where else could you ask

people to walk away from their busy lives, drop everything and

immediately volunteer for a project that has a microscopic chance of

success. Let me tell you that NO ONE has said no. The universal

response has been just tell me what you need and you'll have it. We

truly live in Braggadoon. Thankyou all. I'm proud to be part of this

wonderful and so unique community.

Abbie