I have to admit, the Mountain Beaver is an animal I have wanted to see for many years, but chalked it up there with Spotted Bat and Pygmy Sperm Whale in that I know they are out there, but the odds of me finding one are......
So, I was more than delighted to have been able to spend a good 15 minutes watching this one at close range as it repeatedly carried mouthfuls of dry grass and green conifer twigs to its burrow under the snow.
In a wet ravine by a little stream in Sequoia National Park. This little guy scampered down the slope, gathered up some ferns, and hurried off to a burrow.
Roadkill - please drive slowly