On Sunday D. and I decided to go to the Guadalupe River Trail to see Lupe. Lupe is a life-sized sculpture placed at the site of the 2005 discovery of the bones of a juvenile Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), who was named after the Guadalupe River. Here are some of the pics I took while we were there.
The trail is atop a flood-control levee.
A green heron pauses on some rushes at the side of the river before retreating into the underbrush.
Shadows on the huge Rincon-Trimble pump station tank next to the trail.
California aster floofs.
Finally we see Lupe, guarding the Trimble Road bridge over the Guadalupe River.
Columbian mammoths became extinct about 11,000 years ago. They lived in the southern half of North America. Their tusks were up to 16 feet long, and they ate grasses and low-growing plants.
She's a big gal, even as a juvenile. Adults ranged up to 13 feet high at the shoulder, and weighed 10 tons.
More views of the trail as we head back (my wheelchair battery is malfunctioning and losing its charge alarmingly fast, so we can't risk going any farther and have to turn around).
.