Natural History Wanderings

Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area just published a new wildflower report.  They have new postings for Mugu State Park, and Trippet Ranch. Below are the reports and dates:

Mugu State Park		Serrano Valley to Blue Canyon	Date: 07/31/2011
	In Serrano Canyon wild roses have not yet peaked and grow densely along streams with occasional Plummer’s mariposa lily.  The droning of hundreds of bees almost seems to penetrate you.  I found the “three reds”–California fuchsia, scarlet larkspur and heartleaf penstemon–all in a row.  In Serrano Valley chia, purple sage and wooly blue-curls are abundant.  Blue Canyon is miles away from anywhere.  It is accessible from Serrano Valley by way of Old Boney Trail by way of a high ridge which tunnels through bigpod ceanothus and arrives at outstanding views of the escarpments of Boney Mountain on your right and to the left you can see to, well, about Santa Barbara.  The Boney Mountain Wilderness area is rough and there is loose, sharp stone on some descending parts of the trail.  Here you are likely to find a little bend of the trail with a special cachet lingering in your memory.  In Blue Canyon there was much to remember:  big, luminous blue boulders and blue sand. A half mile of nothing but willows.  Laurel bay trees.  Old oak trees whose branches curl over to make a tunnel.  The song of a warbling vireo reverberating across the solitude, etc.  Finally you arrive at the almost-Shakespearean wonderland of Big Sycamore Canyon.  I hope Blue Canyon continues to be an outstanding wilderness trail.  – Alexander Walker

Trippet Ranch		Santa Inez Canyon Trail to Waterfall Trail	Date: 07/29/2011
	The Humboldt Lily at the beginning of the waterfall trail was in good shape. Plants that were blooming: Eremocarpus setigerus, Hemizonia fasciculate, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Brassica nigra, Cryptantha intermedia, Mimulus aurantiacus, Lupinus longifolius, Lotus scoparius, Stephanomeria virgata, Malacothamnus fasciculatus, Salvia apiana, Salvia mellifera, Asclepius fascicularis, Sambucus mexicana, Nicotiana glauca, Encelia californica, Ceanothus spinosus, Marrubium vulgare, Eriophyllum confertiflorum, Adenostoma fasciculatum, Dudleya lanceolata and Cirsium occidentale.  – Rich Redman

Mugu State Park		Wood Canyon Vista Trail toBig Sycamore Canyon	Date: 07/25/2011
	The Wood Canyon Vista Trail is a Backbone Trail connector and an easy ridge trail winding downward for two miles through chaparral to a sycamore-shaded stream in Big Sycamore Canyon. A good area to spot Plummer’s Mariposa Lily, considered rare in the Jepson Manual.  I spotted Indian pinks, wooly paintbrush and morning glories blooming.  Greenbark ceanothus with its blue flowers and white-blooming bigpod ceanothus grow in close association and their branches often intertwine.  Down at the stream there are California wild roses.  I saw a doe eating lamb’s quarters.  There are datura ‘lilies’ in the canyon.  The sycamore trees defy explanation being often three feet across but growing parallel to the ground for fifty or seventy feet or more with no visible support.  In the evening light the Vista Trail offers outstanding views to the north and east.– Alexander Walker

Go to their website to see all of their reports: http://www.researchlearningcenter.org/bloom/