Pinecrest - Dam Walk Surprise!

Our hard work hiking to the dam was rewarded with not only a beautiful view from dam (and a good discussion about the pros and cons of building a dam), but also (drum roll please)...

wildlife sightings!!!

First, as we were approaching the dam, Karuna saw a coyote trotting along in the middle of the ice. Now, to be fair, she knew what to look for. Just the day before, Karuna and Dave had hike over the dam and someone had pointed out that there was a coyote who appeared to be fishing through the ice. Of course, we were delighted to see the coyote again! But some folks on the dam started throwing rocks and the coyote quickly dispersed - trotting directly across the lake.

Here it is, just a speck to the right of the bush on the left. 

A little while later (after succumbing to the urge to throw rocks off the dam ourselves) we saw ... a bald eagle! Again, Karuna & Dave had seen one the day before, but we wrote off the chances of seeing it again, mostly because we were hiking mid-day, and conventional wisdom says you see the most wildlife at dawn and dusk. So every time I saw a black bird flying over (there were several) I would joke that it was a bald eagle. But then... I saw a bird that looked quite different. Quite raptor-esque. And, lo and behold, we were graced with an eagle circling, then swooping down onto the ice. It stayed for a while, hopping and slipping not-so-gracefully around a bit, then appearing to gulp something up off the ice. Did it fish through the ice? Was there something in the ice that it could eat? I wish we knew, but any way about it the experience was stunning.