On Earth Day 2014, Steve and I set out to try a trail in an area we'd never before visited. It turned out to be one of the best walks we've taken in the mid-Penninsula. The trailhead is just a short way up Moody Road west of Foothill College.
A wide, shady trail invites exploration.
Friendly greeters at the trailhead.
At first slope seems gentle enough.
A glimpse of the hill ahead gives us a better understanding of how steep the climb will be. But it's a perfect day for a hike, and the promise of wildflowers draws me on.
A side path seduces me, and I find myself surrounded in a circle of the healthiest looking Toxicodendron diversilobum I've ever seen. I carefully retreat. Poison Oak is not my friend!
The sun pours in like honey...
And feral bees are busily turning sunlight into the real stuff.
Lots of Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus (formerly Mimulus) auranticus.
I'm not sure what this is. but maybe Chinese Houses, Collinsia heterophylla. Like sea foam in the verge.
Walk in beauty...
A wonderful huge burl on the base of what I believe is a Buckeye.
Sticky Monkeyflower in the foreground; Artemisia californica beyond. These grew on a sunny overlook that afforded us a view of the Bay Area.
The Stanford tower is in sight.
Lovely Fairy Lanterns lit up the landscape.
A native delphinium, so delightful!
Papaver heterophyllum, Flaming Poppy or Wind Poppy.
Thysanocarpus curvipes subsp. elegans, lovely seed cases.
Miner's Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata, slaked our thirst as we climbed. I used to munch on this delicious ephemeral in the fields behind my house as a kid.
Ferns, but what kind?
Maidenhair fern
Paintbrush, Callisteja species.
California Buckeye, Aesculus californica. The blossoms littered the trail and perfumed the air.
Buckeyes in bloom.
Aquilegia formosa, Western Columbine
Clematis ligustifolia, Western White Clematis
Clematis close-up
The top at last!
Oak fringed hanging valley
Passageway into the meadows
A lovely salvia (?), there was just the one, alone on the edge of the open meadow, with oaks behind it. A striking plant. Wish I knew what it was!
Up top the wind is almost always blowing. A good place for a windmill!
Several very calm deer were not at all concerned by our proximity.
Our goal is reached, but there is no windmill there now.
One of a pair of huge old oak trees near the windmill site. Steve is standing next to the tree for scale.
Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolius. Love the presence of this oak; like a big hand!
Steve's first major was geology. He switched to agronomy after a stint as a market gardener. As a lifetime rock hound, I love that I can ask him "why is it like this?".
More flowers without IDs
Smilacina stellata, False Solomon's Seal.
Not sure about this, except that it looks like some kind of Lamiaceae.
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| Calychortus albus, or fairy lanterns were perhaps my favorite flower on this walk. |
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| Steve started up a side trail. I did not follow. One other nice thing about this hike: it was all downhill on the way back! What a good way to celebrate Earth Day! |
