Diario de xpacifica

It's prime L. hispidula berry season on Mt. Tam right now. Very pleasant to see many red berries along the Troop 80 and Matt Davis trails yesterday.

Also saw a single Silene laciniata ssp. californica blossom for the first time in a long time today, along the Troop 80 trail.

Uploaded a Sequoia sempervirens observation with some photos from Van Wyck Meadow, some photos show the burn marks from previous fires.

Also saw some Clintonias with massive leaves, larger than a human hand. Don't think I've ever seen these in blossom.

I enjoy the Troop 80 trail very much however being so close to Panoramic Highway - the level of noise pollution is astounding. It's very disturbing to be in the middle of a peaceful hike and then be blasted out by ridiculously loud motorcycles. Some motorcycles are so loud their blasting noises can be heard miles away on the mountain.

If people really care about protecting nature and providing a sanctuary for living beings, this noise needs to stop. I also cannot imagine how anyone could camp anywhere along Panoramic Highway such as in the Bootjack Camp or Pantoll. They are so close to the road and it would just seem terrible to not be able to enjoy peace while camping.

I was hiking rather late in the afternoon on a Tuesday. Imagine the noise on a busy weekend. Terrible.

Oh yes - one last thing - saw a bat flying near a bridge over a creek along the Troop 80 trail. One of the few times I've ever seen a bat in California (used to see a lot of them in Pennsylvania as a kid). (I'm sure they're not that uncommon, I just don't get to see them usually.)

Looking at the photos for the iNaturalist entries for Notholithocarpus densiflorus and for Arbutus menziesii it is clear that there is a lot of variation. What I think of as the more "classic" N. densiflorus leaf shape are the ones with the pronounced bilateral ridges that run along the leaves at an angle and the pronounced spikes at the ends of the leaves. Usually also they are a faded, dusty green sort of color. They are unmistakable in many places such as along the Fern Creek Trail and mixed in with manzanitas along the trails at the higher elevations on the southern side of Mt. Tamalpais. But then there are what appear to be tanoaks that are more strange-looking.

The classic A. menziesii plant shape is more easy to recognize when it has grown to the size of a small tree, but young specimens can also be confusing.

I uploaded some observations from the last two hikes of some specimens that iNaturalist wasn't able to recognize nor can I. It seems like iNaturalist's AI recognition system should do a better job at recognizing leaves. Another issue with iNaturalist is that the lead photos for species which show up when you view a "suggested" species are often not helpful.

They should make a point of showing the most helpful photos as the lead photos for a species - show the leaf, leaf underside, stem morphology, etc. as the lead photos. Also photos with a picture of a finger or other object to provide an indication of scale is very important, especially when viewing individual leaves.

Also helpful would be to show young or juvenile leaves and plants and oddball-looking ones for sake of reference.