Took Taylor out for about 2.5 hours today and did the most amazing wildflower "hike" ever.
We
left the barn around 11:30 and turned up the Moore Trail. Some nice flowers here.
Then we did something we haven't done before - we hung a left on Junction Trail.
Wow it was just gorgeous! There was one point about 1/3 of the way along on the left
hillside where the sun hit just right with a red, white and blue motif - Indian Paintbrush
& Scarlet Pimpernel, Popcorn flowers, and Blue-eyed Grass (which of course are blue
with a yellow eye... go figure!)
Then we crossed Deer Park Fire Road and went up Six Points Trail (aka Redwood Trail at the barn). It was cool and dry for the first time in ages. Not many wildflowers, but a nice uphill walk.
At Six points we hung a left on Yolanda Trail headed toward Warm Springs. It was awesome! I can't remember a trail with a larger concentration and variety of wildflowers! Lots of blue-eyed grass, iris and golden fiddleneck, baby-blue eyes, Mission Bells, etc. at the end. Virtually all the common Mt Tam flowers were out... probably 20-30 species. And the day was sunny and warm and...
We hung a right on Warm Springs Fire Road and Taylor was antsy to trot to the top of "Mt Baldy" (aka Bald Hill). There were tons of reddish-purple Checker Bloom out at the top. And some nice views of the Bay. And surprisingly not too hot. We walked all the way down the hill, taking a few minutes out to hit the watering trough.
We hit the fireroad and turned right and went till it became Shaver Grade. We stopped to see our first Modesty and some Hooker's Fairy bells. Then we did a nice "Corrine canter" up the steep part of Shaver.
We hung a left on Concrete Pipeline and walked around to entrance to Canyon Trail. This was loaded with Slim Solomon Seal. It's tiny spiky white flowers are cool, especially since I've been waiting for a couple of weeks for them to pop!
Got back to the ranch, let Taylor roll, popped a Miller and sat in the sunshine and talked to Stacy and her parents, Marilyn and Chuck. Nice folks.
Here are the flowers I saw (Source : CalFlora, a botanical resource for California on the internet. Virtually all the photos are by Brother Alfred Brousseau)
Mission Bells, Slim Solomon's Seal, Fairy Bells, Blue Dicks
Lupine, American Vetch, Hillside Pea
Shooting Star, Star Flowers haven't come out yet, Scarlet Pimpernel
Hound's Tongue has all faded, Common Fiddleneck, Valley Popcorn Flower
Sticky Monkey Flower, Indian Warrior
