A New Set of Antlers: You can't spell 'gorgeous' without 'gorge'!!!

Ok! Updates! Where, oh where to begin?!
Last weekend was my first ever Bioblitz!! First, here are some pictures from the trip. It was a very cool weekend. We packed up the car with everything we'd need for three days and headed up north for the San Joaquin (pronounced 'wa-keen') River Gorge, about 2 and a half hours north of Bakersfield. I, Denis and my co-worker Kathleen, left early on Friday morning. Upon arriving, we set up all our equipment - microscopes, tables, got out all our plant books, viles, etc. and then headed out to do some recon. work, before the others showed up in the evening. We visited our fellow BLM-ers at the Visitor's Center and then hiked over to where Denis thought there was some Asclepias fascicularis (narrow-leaf milkweed) and ended up finding a bunch of monarch caterpillars chomping away on them. This little ecosystem was very unique because it was sponsored by a nearby tunnel that leads to the river that is collected here for hydroelectric use. This tunnel holds very cool, moist air, owing to the ferns and the Mimulus (monkey flower) who both love these conditions.
We spent the rest of the day hiking around, collecting plants to key out and press for the herbarium; collecting butterflies, ants and bugs to be id-ed or photographed or preserved for science collections. In the evening, I set up my tent but was so used to Bakersfield night-time heat that I didn't pack a blanket or sleeping bag. So I ended shivering under my rainfly lol After it got down to the low 50s, I decided to head to the car, where, unbeknown to me, the windows were down.. no wonder it wasn't any warmer in that blasted car!!
But anyway, that day, Saturday, the rest of the gang showed up; our photonaturalist, the beetle specialist and a community member who is a part of the Sierra Foothill Conservancy. The six of us set up traps, collected bugs and flowers, hiked through poison oak looking for new species, for literally the whole day - sun up to sun down. At night, we strung up a white bed sheet and put a bright light near it to attract more bugs for collection. It was great!
The gorge was so beautiful and peaceful and serene.. Sunday we were supposed to leave around 10 but ended up staying til about 2 to help sort the collected bug species from the pit traps. Needless to say, when I got home around 5pm I was pooped!!! And my body was very confused when the next day wasn't a weekend-day lol All in all though, it was great experience. I learned a lot of new things and got to see a new BLM parcel that was just so wonderful! The only bad side was that some scotch broom is creeeeping in on the gorge.. better bet I'll be taking care of that though!! :)