Natural History Wanderings

California Native Plant Society, San Luis Obispo County report for Montaña De Oro Hike

Here are some photos and description of what we saw on our hike to MDO! We headed up the trail towards Oats Peak from Spooner’s Cove at noon last Sunday. It sprinkled throughout the hike, washing leaves and creating tiny droplets on everything. As Valencia Peak (elev. 1,347 ft.) faded into the distance (photo-1), we climbed higher, approaching Oats Peak (elev. 1,373 ft.). We passed a deer grazing in a small meadow (photo-2) and walked through several, amazing oak groves along the way (photo-3).

As the trail descended into the Coon Creek drainage, under the chaparral, we found a bunch of Indian Warriors in bloom, Pedicularis densiflora, (photos-4, -5), and also noticed a hillside covered in bright yellow bush poppies, Dendromecon rigida (photo-6). Further along the trail we found a rare chaparral plant, the Pecho manzanita, Arctostaphylos pechoensis, which grows only in Montaña de Oro State Park and nearby mountains and nowhere else in the world (photo-7). And, just around the corner, we found the classy, three-pointed, narrow petaled trillium, Trillium angustipetalum (photo-8). Then, along the Coon Creek trail, we saw abundant cascades of the pink flowering current, Ribes sanguineum, and underneath it, the native strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis (photo-10). As we headed out of the canyon at sunset, we noticed another deer, being inquisitive, checking us out from a rocky outcrop, nearby (photo-11).

To see photos and more posts go to  California Native Plant Society, San Luis Obispo County – Home