Last week I visited Cataract Falls Trail on the north slopes of Mt. Tamalpais (Marin Co., California). There were literally dozens of falls along the mile or so of the trail, the tallest around 20 or 30 feet. Here’s a smaller cascade:

The trail was narrow and went straight up, 1100 feet in the first half mile. Pretty steep for me! The canyon was  shady, filled with redwoods and ferns. At a sunny clearing near the top I found a handful of butterflies: 4 Red Admiral, 1 California Sister.

There are only a few flowers left these days, mostly asters in protected spots – blue asters, heath asters, other white asters. Here’s a series of images of one tiny heath aster, around 10mm across.

Shooting wide open gives a dreamy, minimalist  look and hides the imperfections in the flower. Click a thumbnail to view a larger version – to go back to the four thumbnails, click Heath aster in the post title.

A closeup of a dewy blackberry leaf:

I went out looking for dewy insects early one morning last month, and didn’t find one. There were lots of  beautiful leaves though.

We’ve had our first snow and frost, the leaves are changing, but grasses and hardy plants like blackberry are still pretty green. As it got cold, insects have become hard to find. Last week, it seemed like the insect season was over. This week, it’s warmed up and there are bugs everywhere. One pond and meadow I visit was empty and silent last week, and today there were dozens of grasshoppers underfoot, a few spreadwing damselflies and skimmer dragonflies, and a single cabbage white. For flowers, there are mainly asters left.

The small leaves on the right are tiny blackberry leaves growing up through the moss:

The maple leaf dropped in to make a group of three. About the only closeup I could do on a blustery day – this shaded spot was the only place where everything wasn’t blowing around.

A waterfall image from my last trip to the Ithaca area, two falls in the narrow Watkins Glen gorge:

This looks lonely and wild, but it’s a high traffic area.  Lots of people walk through the gorge on a path built into the rock, out of sight, on the left.  The worst part is that passersby throw coins into the stream, as if it were a fountain in a city park.  Another beautiful place, but not as unspoiled as Lucifer Falls in Ithaca. I’ll go back in a few weeks, with luck I’ll visit a few new falls.

A leafhopper on a jewelweed leaf:

Jewelweed acculates lots of drops after a dew or rain – the leaves seem to repel water , not absorb it. I started taking pictures of a jewelweed flower and then looked left and saw this leafhopper surrounded by drops.

Off on a butterfly walk, I didn’t find the rare butterfly I was looking for, but I did find this:

I was looking for Bronze Copper – maybe I’ll get lucky and find one tomorrow.

A high magnification view of part of a dragonfly wing:

The dragonfly was a Black Saddlebags – clinging to a cedar tree on a cool fall day, it didn’t mind my getting a few inches away.

This time of year is best for grasshoppers, katydids, and mantises. Katydids are the such graceful insects:

Foxtails in sunset light – the sunlight was filtering through the woods in the distance: