Re: Pika

Took this outside the park on that pass that separates Virginia Lake TH from Summit Lake on Monday.
11,100 ft.
Also saw these guys around Red Peak Pass earlier in the year. Took the time to get some click-clicks of them this time.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of life above 10,000 ft. - ish.

Learned that the pronunciation is PIKE-A not PEEK-A (I still prefer the later).
And they are a cousin of the rabbit.



Yeah yeah, you can get this info from wikipedia. Complain and I'll put up a picture of chick-on on top of Virginia or Stanton Peak!

I understand that they are larger than you would think ( resemble mice in pictures) but are about the size of a clenched fist.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

They are relatively close in size to a chipmunk.

Look at those EARS!! They are much cuter than Marmots! What were the day and night temps at that elevation?

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Bee
They are much cuter than Marmots!

They don't chew on your car's guts either.

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eeek

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Bee
They are much cuter than Marmots!

They don't chew on your car's guts either.

Should look up the medical term "pica", also pronouced "pie-ka".

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

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Bee
What were the day and night temps at that elevation?

Dunno. We were at about 10,400 and 10,200 when we pitched.
30 degree bag was plenty ... no fleece extra was required.
It didn't get cold enough to even look at the thermometer.

Thanks for the pronunciation. I didn't know Peeka or Pika.

We ran into them at Guitar Lake (before ascending Mt. Whitney). I think about 11,400'. We got such a kick out of them. We heard a couple making a lot of chattering/whistling noise in the rocks above us so went to check them out. They'd run/hop about like Scrat in Ice Age.

After watching/laughing at them for about 10 minutes we headed back to camp; I turned around at hearing one of them scolding and saw him (?) on top of a boulder looking squarely at us and scolding at the top of his lungs.

Jon

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bill-e-g
Learned that the pronunciation is PIKE-A not PEEK-A

I've always known that...but I have no idea why.