Natural History Wanderings

submitted by Ter Sullivan

I hiked a ten-mile loop yesterday during unseasonably cool weather. There are very few people on a weekday, and right now the flowers are heading towards their peak. Widespread displays include gold fields, seep spring monkeyflower, birds eye gilia, buckbrush, redmaids, Q-tips, Johnnytuck, cutleaf Indian paintbrush, coast Indian paintbrush, California poppy, frying pans poppy, blue dicks, Ithuriel’s spear, true baby stars, Hartweg’s checkerbloom, and spring gold biscuit root.
Be sure to print the hiking map of 17 miles of trails from the BLM web site. The trails intersect with informal trails, so bring a compass to keep on track. Some of the trails are rocky due to erosion from horse use. A good place to start is on gravel/dirt Red Hills Road just outside of Chinese Camp at the main parking area that has two picnic tables, restrooms, and lots of parking.