Ratkovich's Observation Log:

10:45 - It is sunny and very warm. There are very few clouds. 

10:55 - I see droppings of some sort. They appear rough and round, probably from a rabbit or deer.

11:20 - Found more droppings. These appear smoother and more oval-like than the ones i discovered earlier. They are almost a bean-shape, and there are more of them in a smaller area. Perhaps the animal was smaller?

11:23 - I found a clearing. There is a lot of grass here, and few trees. It reminds me of a savannah, yet it is only a small section of the area.

11:27 - I see a collection of sticks. Could it be a nest of some sort?

11:29 - There was a small rodent-like creature hidden in the grass. I only got a short glimpse of it before it ran into another collection of sticks, similar to the one I saw about three yards away.

11:35 - I found what I assume is owl droppings, yet I am only going off of what I have seen in magazines and nature shows, as well as a field trip I took in middle school. It appears to be a few inches long, and it is oval-shaped. There are various bones and feathers sticking out, hinting that the animal which left this is carnivorous, and eats birds. Once again, this leads me to believe that this could be owl feces. I poked it with a stick and it opened up fairly easily, revealing more bones and feathers.

11:44 - The people I was with, as well as myself, attempted to go into a different area, which we initially thought was a path. It turned out not to be. As I turned around, I noticed what appeared to be poison oak because it had three leaves at the end of one stick and a red tint. I fear I may have brushed it on my previous passing, yet I am going to try to not think about it.

11:52 - Saw a cactus fairly large cactus next to a dead tree, which appeared to be burned. I took pictures of the cactus.

12:02 - Decided to sit down by a log, which had many holes. We decided that was not a great idea when we saw many red ants nearby.

12:08 - Attempted to walk up a steep hill to get a birds-eye view. I got stuck several times and ended up using my hands to climb. The people I was traveling with decided against climbing half way up, yet I was already at the top when they decided to climb down and try another way. Because of this, I took pictures for all of us to get an idea of a birds-eye view. Saw a black widow. At this moment, I realized climbing the hill was a bad idea, and became paranoid of rattle snakes, tarantulas, and black widows alike, yet I only came across black widows. I began my decent of the hill on a different area than I had climbed, hoping it would be easier. It was.

12:13 - Realized we should probably head back to the bus, as we had somewhat of a trek in front of us. On the way back, I saw a deer directly in front of me, yet it ran into the brush before I could take a clear picture. Luckily, it stood atop the hill and ate shrubbery as I videotaped it. I found this interesting, as this shows that the deer can digest a diversity of plants, which would be necessary where certain species are scarce. I could not videotape this in time, but the doe appeared to have young with her.

12:18 - Stopped filming, and discovered tracks similar to the smoother ones I found earlier. I'm assuming these are deer tracks now, because of the deer I saw nearby.