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I'm ashamed of myself for never having done this given the amount of time I spend on those beaches walking the dog. JimK schooled me on methods a while back but still haven't tried. Gotta get on that this summer. There are also the short-finned grayling that are always around but not at the...

There isn't much access public bank access on the Sol Duc and the part of the Calawah that is accessible will be very low in July most years. Neither are well known for trout fishing. There are some coastal cutthroat around but most of what you'd catch would be steelhead and salmon parr...

Carpenter Bee coming in for a landing on a Prickly Poppy. Gopher Snake interrupting my bike ride. Thought it was a jingle worm and slammed on the brakes.

Yep, Montezuma Quail. That's what we were looking for down in Patagonia yesterday. No luck! But plenty of other cool stuff.

100%. Especially the Patagonia area, which doesn't "look like AZ" to anyone wha hasn't been there. Very green and lush in the creek valleys and cooler due to the almost 5K' elevation. Super birdy.

Yes, and Florida Canyon very close by. Thought we heard one once as they have a very distinctive call but no luck. The tough thing there is that they like the same spot that is the easiest hiking trail so their are always a lot of people trying to do the asme thing. These days they go by the...

Around the rental: Curve-billed Thrasher Costa's Hummingbird Down in Patagonia, AZ near the border. Very uncooperative Hepatic Tanager Acorn Woodpecker

A few from the back yard and adjacent wash today. Frumpy looking Cactus Wren. These are 2X the size of our little Pacific Wrens and half as cute. Ash Throated Flycatcher Vermillion Flycatcher that keeps pooping on my car...

In Tucson to visit the in-laws and do some cycling and hiking in the sunny desert. Gambell's Quail Tom turkey terrorizing the trailhead parking lot. Bad shot of a Broad-billed Hummingbird feeding in Desert Honey

Mountains of articles & data out there with a quick search. Here's one: https://www.renehersecycles.com/why-wider-tires-are-not-slower/

Could be the brakes too. I made a mistake above, I do have one bike still running tubes - my original long distance bike from 2006. I could probably get 30-32's inside the frame but they won't fit through rim brakes. I can get 28's on by flipping the brake caliper release lever to give a little...

Yeah, times have changed. Even the pros are riding 28-32's on the road now along with 1X drivetrains sometimes. I have 38's on my road bike at about 45psi and 50's on my gravel bike (in the photo above) at 25psi. Sometimes, I'll even cram a 2.1" (52) on the gravel bike for AZ since there's a lot...

Running wide tires at low psi (25psi on my gravel bike) is a game changer. I'd never go back to tubes as a mainstay. All my bikes are set up tubeless now; road, gravel and mountain. Riding in the AZ desert, I get cactus spines or goat heads embedded in about half of my rides. Just make sure...

Looks like Lesser Celandine or 'fig buttercup'. An invasive species.

Rhododendron Strigillosum from Sichuan/Yunnan usually my second one to bloom in late winter/early spring behind R. Dauricum which blooms in winter but isn't nearly as flashy.

^^This! I've known and fished with Jim for almost 20 years and Ryan for at least half that long. I also have a house on the Sol Duc and my own little fleet of boats. Given those factors, I know that river pretty well and at least for the half day float stretch that ends in my back yard, I know...

Both taken on the bike path in Tucson. California Kingsnake Western Diamondback Rattlesnake I've seen Diamondbacks on the bike path three separate times. Also a Gila Monster on a mountain bike ride but didn't get pictures of that one.

The friend and I caught one in a neighbor's pool when I was in middle school, south of B'Ham AL. We ran around the neighborhood at night all that summer catching toads to feed the snake. Fed it way too much, like a toad a day. When we released it in the fall it looked like a 2' long cigar.

Anhinga? Always loved seeing the 'water turkey' when I lived in the south.

Waterfront at dawn. Five Pilings And A Cormorant