# Hills, Mountains, and Canyons of Azusa, California, USA



## cacoseraph (May 26, 2007)

I can't think of anything clever or informative to put here. I just got back from this place, along with Warren and Paul (wburke17 and ronin).

Very beautiful.  Game bugs are a bit scarcer, it seems... but there are some amazing views and very weird plant and animal life out there that we *have* found

enough words. the first thing i will post is a youtube of an angry little caterpillar

Angry Unidentified Caterpillar hifi

This fuzzy fellow is about 2.5-2.75"/6.5-7cm long.  I did not pick it up (though i love playing with bugs) because i was worried that since it might have itching hairs/poison needles and i was all hot and sweaty from walking around in the mountains for the previous 4.5 hours that something bad might be able to happen =P

Also... this was one ANGRY caterpillar! Granted I *was* sort of giving him the the ol' dry grass tickle... but still... ANGRY!

This guy lives in the foothills above Azusa, Califorina, USA.


[UPLOADED FROM A 4.3MB WMV FILE]
[YOUTUBE]ASXdBeS2FfA[/YOUTUBE]

[UPLOADED FROM A 2.2MB WMV FILE]
[YOUTUBE]hJgS1DrurYw[/YOUTUBE]

Angry unidentified caterpillar Azusa California USA poison needles ATTACK!


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## cacoseraph (May 26, 2007)

*May 26, 2007: Saturday*

Nice place. newish mountains so there is still some good jaggediness to see






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though man has tainted even this location to some degree nature seems to have the situation well in hand





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Dr. Seuss called, he said he wants his plant back because Horton needs it.





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commie larva.  commie larve?  yeah, leftist *pinko* commie larva. think this is a glower





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i was kind of wondering why this guy was acting as calm as it was... now i see =P





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and just to make sure no one messes up the joint, we locked up after we were through







(i still have to redo and upload the pics i took yesterday (friday, may 25) when i was scouting)


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## twirl and kill (May 26, 2007)

wow!,looks like i missed a good H&H,looks like a beautiful place.when is the next hunt again,ill clear my skedual*scedual*.:?


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## cacoseraph (May 26, 2007)

twirl and kill said:


> wow!,looks like i missed a good H&H,looks like a beautiful place.when is the next hunt again,ill clear my skedual*scedual*.:?


it was very pretty up there. both yesterday (when i "scouted" alone) and today i dropped or failed to catch giant blind centipedes. sheesh.

well, no body has really gotten back to me so i have been using June 9 (sat) and June 24 (sun) as like, planning dates


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## cacoseraph (May 27, 2007)

*May 25, 2007: Friday*

May 25, 2007: Friday

*Scenery*





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*Fauna (vertebrate)*






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*Fauna (invertebrate) (the good stuff)*

this thing had big pointy jaws. i was a little hesitant to pick it up at first, but i did and it was nice.





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i found this guy wandering on my arm.





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these are common. i think Warren's boy said they are Pretty Lady (he might have been talkign about dif butterfly though)





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found a single wing under a rock





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this was a little bit more brightly colored in real life. i think i saw adults, they looked like box elder bugs kinda





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this has got to be the best camo i have ever taken a picture of, and probably the best i have seen in real life. these things are ghostly, like. i think they are like, non-man dependant "silverfish"





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didn't even see the baby (mate?) in real life. only saw it after i got home.





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this spider was quite small. only a couple mm bodylength and a few/4 mm legspan, i would say. and fast! Thomisidae crab spider?





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i thought this guy was pretty sharp looking. a small pic of it almost on my hand for size reference. i am a fairly big guy, i guess.











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This is probably my favorite spider find of the day. i am regretting not taking it... but i do believe i remember where the tree/rock i found it are. It spins cribellate web. i thought it was a black hole spider, Kukulcania sp. at first. Now i have no idea.  Maybe it is some kind of Filistidae (or Gnaphosidae, are they cribellate?) or Segestriidae? Seg is cribellate, at least in part, it looks





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size reference. it is not a huge spider. but it is a looker!


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## buthus (May 27, 2007)

Wow...pretty area indeed  
Whats the river current like?  How cold?  Spot much aquatic life?  Fish?


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## myrmecophile (May 27, 2007)

Haven't been into that area for a long time. The ant is a "queen" looks like Liometopum. The butterfly is a checkerspot, forget which species. Your attack caterpillar may have been the larvae of the checkerspot, but the image is not clear enough to be sure. The larger orange spider in the tub looks rather like a Loxoceles sp. The orange beetle is a Cantharid, possible a Cantharis species. They can be very common at lights at night. The funny pink plant is miners  lettuce pretty yummy salad plant when not past it's prime.


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## cacoseraph (May 27, 2007)

myrmecophile said:


> Haven't been into that area for a long time. The ant is a "queen" looks like Liometopum. The butterfly is a checkerspot, forget which species. Your attack caterpillar may have been the larvae of the checkerspot, but the image is not clear enough to be sure. The larger orange spider in the tub looks rather like a Loxoceles sp. The orange beetle is a Cantharid, possible a Cantharis species. They can be very common at lights at night. The funny pink plant is miners  lettuce pretty yummy salad plant when not past it's prime.


wow, good info!

i really hope you are wrong about the Loxo... i didn't keep it! i do remember where i caught and released it, though. 

edit: i think i see eight eyes on that red fellow


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## cacoseraph (May 27, 2007)

buthus said:


> Wow...pretty area indeed
> Whats the river current like?  How cold?  Spot much aquatic life?  Fish?


i didn't touch the river, but it doesn't have *that* much flow to it as it constricts down to a ~30' cross section that isn't roaring.  there are two kinds of fish, i think. a more bottom hugger that is shaped like a placostomas a bit and then a more "traditionally" shaped fish. the largest fish i saw was 12"/30cm+ bodylength, but most were in the 4-6"/10-15cm range. other than those fish and the frog thing, there was maybe 3-4 easily distinguishable plants, mosses, and er slimes in it.  oh, and potentially Cryptosporidiam :evil:


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## cacoseraph (May 27, 2007)

myrmecophile said:


> The butterfly is a checkerspot, forget which species.


lol, i was going to see if i could google/web for the species... turns out there are kind of a lot of checkspot species. heh. even in CA there are a lot. and it seems like one is named "Variable checkerspot"... that can't be going to make things easier. i think i have to learn to speak butterfly to do any useful ID to species and it probably involves levels of detail just as freaky as in everything else. this might take a while, heh.




myrmecophile said:


> The funny pink plant is miners  lettuce pretty yummy salad plant when not past it's prime.


the fact you can eat it makes it my new favorite plant! well, a new second favorite at any rate. 



thanks again for pointing me in the right direction on that stuff. *kind of* a lot of bugs to ID stuff that you aren't versed in. heh.


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## buthus (May 27, 2007)

cacoseraph said:


> i didn't touch the river, but it doesn't have *that* much flow to it as it constricts down to a ~30' cross section that isn't roaring.  there are two kinds of fish, i think. a more bottom hugger that is shaped like a placostomas a bit and then a more "traditionally" shaped fish. the largest fish i saw was 12"/30cm+ bodylength, but most were in the 4-6"/10-15cm range. other than those fish and the frog thing, there was maybe 3-4 easily distinguishable plants, mosses, and er slimes in it.  oh, and potentially Cryptosporidiam :evil:


Oohh..fairly "big" fish.  
I might have to get out there and turn some rocks too!  

edit: I dont see any Loxos in any of these pics.  From what i have read, all the loxos found in the US look almost exactly the same.  Leg lengths and sex organs are pretty much the only real keys to ID.


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## myrmecophile (May 28, 2007)

Indeed I do believe variable checkerspot is correct. Here is a great site for Lepidoptera .

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/map?x=29&y=142&_fc=1


I do believe you are right about the spider, looking closer,  it does indeed seem to be something else. Cool spider whatever it is. The bottom dwelling fish is interesting, just what we need another introduction.


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## wburke17 (May 28, 2007)

heres some of the pics that i took





heres some of the fish,bottom dwellers





and also some trout





this one is in the 12" range





dragon fly










the body shapeof this lizard reminded me of a moniter, it was well over 12" in total length




















and a couple of our younger hikers Dylan





and Devhyn (this pic wasn't staged, shes always ready for a photo op.)


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## cacoseraph (May 28, 2007)

nice pix warren


here is a thread about these crazy jerusalem crickets in the same general area, from when i went out there 5/25
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=94160

and a scorp
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=94161


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## ronin (May 28, 2007)

It was great going out there with all of you.  A lot of fun and I learned a bunch too.  I'll upload some of my pics when I figure how to do it.


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## What (May 30, 2007)

That looks to be a trout, anyone know the name of that creek?


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## cacoseraph (May 30, 2007)

What said:


> That looks to be a trout, anyone know the name of that creek?


the Creek Runs alongside Rincon Redbox Fire Rd.  GoogleEarth is amazing!


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## julesaussies (Jun 6, 2007)

These are all just incredible photos. i can't wait to go this Saturday. My niece has already pulled out her hiking boots - hmmm... wonder if she's excited?? LOL 

i know you said we meet at your house at 9am. i was just curious how long the group usually stays out. My dogs stay in the house so i can have a friend come by to let them out. i can give her a time to come over if i know about when you guys normally finish.

i'm really looking forward to meeting some people from AB. Everyone seems really nice. See everyone Saturday!!


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## cacoseraph (Jun 7, 2007)

julesaussies said:


> These are all just incredible photos. i can't wait to go this Saturday. My niece has already pulled out her hiking boots - hmmm... wonder if she's excited?? LOL
> 
> i know you said we meet at your house at 9am. i was just curious how long the group usually stays out. My dogs stay in the house so i can have a friend come by to let them out. i can give her a time to come over if i know about when you guys normally finish.
> 
> i'm really looking forward to meeting some people from AB. Everyone seems really nice. See everyone Saturday!!


that is the kind of enthusiasm we like to see 

return time is kind of variable. sometimes we have actually returned to the meeting house (mine, usually, so far) mid-day and drop off bugs we caught and then head out to another area.  but i would say i can't really recall a time we were back at the meeting house before like 4-5.  i can't really think of a time we got back after like 6-6:30. i think.


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## twirl and kill (Jun 7, 2007)

so..we are going in a new area? but near the same general area?.hopefully there is some fun offroad trails...;P


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## cacoseraph (Jun 7, 2007)

twirl and kill said:


> so..we are going in a new area? but near the same general area?.hopefully there is some fun offroad trails...;P


yes. bearing in mind my fantastically crappy navigational abilities... it seems like it will be 10-20 miles N and 5-10 miles E of the wastelands.... kind of pushed up into the hills, similar to how the Day Canyon is pushed up into the foothills. i think.

it looked like there might verywell be trails there


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## Griffin (Jun 8, 2007)

Its right near the san manuel indian bingo if anyone knows its location. As for off roading, yes on dirt bikes, but trying to get a truck in there would prove difficult. Basically we just hike up 10-15 mins from Foothill dr. and will be at the location. Lets cross our fingers that the paintball guys arent up there. If they are we can always go around the area theyre in.


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