Natural History Wanderings

Charlie Russell of Wildflower Hikes reports on his hike on Mt. Tam

We visited Mount Tamalpais this week, hiking from the Rock Springs parking lot. On a loop that included the Simmons trail, Laurel Dell fire road, Potrero meadow, Rock Springs fire road and then the Bernstein trail, we found an interesting variety of early flowers. The star of the hike was the profusion of Fairy slipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis) on every leg of the hike. Incredible numbers of them. We also found Milkmaids, Baby blue eyes, buttercups, miner’s lettuce, Indian warrior, blue dicks, Douglas iris, shooting stars, loco weed, California plantain, shooting stars (Primula hendersonii), a yellow violet, popcorn flower, purple sanicle, coast sanicle, and a quite a few varieties of Ceanothus in full bloom.

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