Coastal Trail Botanical Hotspot

Made a sojourn again today up the Coastal Trail from the Lower Tennessee Valley Tr. up to the Wolf's Ridge Trail in a special, epic bicycle ride/hike that was 27 miles. You can see the log of the sojourn here: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/52409077

The trail is arduous and I admire anyone who is able to hike or bicycle it.

The upper portion of the Coastal Trail is amazing. Many parts of the trail are lined with C. douglassi (Yerba Buena) - I've never seen this much C. douglassi anywhere else. Also saw some Monardellas still in bloom - in other parts of Marin Headlands they're past bloom already.

The Artemisia vulgaris along this segment of the trail are still robust, while in most other places in the Headlands they are beginning to dry up (they look beautiful the way they curl up when they dry). I even saw Eschscholzia californicas in blossom. There are also a lot of Corylus cornuta along the trail.

Near the top of the trail there's an area with Pseudotsuga menziesii and Vaccinum which is close to where the Monardellas and a lot of C. douglassi are.

Because of the location on the hill and the direction it is facing, this place must receive more moisture than other areas, enabling plants to thrive.

Because of the iNaturalist photo location bug, as a workaround I made direct observations in the field with the iNaturalist app. Because these were raw photos taken in the field, I did not have the opportunity to curate the photos and select the best ones as I usually prefer to do.

Other things I saw today included another garter snake which slithered across the path and into a hole before I could photograph it and what looked like a very dark (almost black)-colored chipmunk along the Wolf's Ridge trail. I also heard what sounded like several of them chirping along that trail segment. I also passed three bucks down near the base of the Miwok Trail in Rodeo Valley.

I have even more photos that I may upload later which because of the location bug will lack exact coordinates.

Publicado el julio 13, 2020 06:50 MAÑANA por xpacifica