05/27 Mt Diablo

11 Wednesday Walkers explored the south side of Mt Diablo. We started from Blue Oak Picnic Area and took Green Ranch Road to the old Green Ranch home site for lunch. 5 hikers returned to the cars via the Oak Knoll Trail (distance 2.6 miles). The other six continued on Green Ranch Rd to Frog Pond Rd, Curry Canyon Rd and Knobcone Rd to Curry Point (5.85 miles; elevation loss  ~1500' followed by a gain of 550').

The genus of the day was Calochortus! Everyone saw masses of C. venustus, the white Mariposa. The group of six also saw a few of the Mt Diablo fairy lanterns and fields!!! of the yellow Mariposa (C. luteus). If you have a chance, drive up the mountain, park at Curry Point and go just past the gate which bars Knobcone Pt Rd. From there to the junction with Curry Canyon Rd, a matter of about 500 level feet, you will see more of these lovely flowers than you can count.

We also saw the second bloom of the fire-followers whispering bells and golden ear drops...not just a few, but lots of them!

For some history of the Green Ranch see: http://www.mdia.org/site/history/green-ranch

For pictures of today's hike: https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/i0u1F6

5-20 Old San Pablo Dam Road

13 of us started from the large parking lot at the south entrance to the Reservoir. We mostly followed the old road with various detours thru the woods and along the shore. The map is deceptive; the imagery is from last June when the reservoir was much fuller. We did not "walk on water". Distance was 4.25 mi +/- Lots of non-native flowering things, today.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/E61342

05-13 Sibley

There were just 7 of us on the hike today. We walked CCW from the Old Tunnel Rd trailhead, up the canyon to Sibley RP, then went to the west of Round Top and picked up the Volcanic Loop Trail. After reaching the end of the trail we took a little deer path down the northwest side of the hill and regained the road which returned us to the cars. 3.5 miles with a bitterly cold wind. It was nice enough when the wind wasn't blowing tho and we saw many more flowers than we expected. Lots of rose family things in bloom: Ninebark, blackberries, thimbleberries, and even a rose!

Flickr has changed again; they call it improvements/updates. In any case, the images seem slightly larger. Remember to mouse over the images to see the id's.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/169J41

05-06 Morgan Territory Regional Preserve

There were just five of us today, as many were on a garden club outing to the Presidio. We made a CCW loop along Condor, Volvon, Stone Corral and Coyote trails in Morgan Territory Regional Preserve. Our hike was 5.4 miles. It is getting very dry, but there were quite a few flowers, including so many yellow globe lilies that we quit being excited about them. Also large swaths of blow wives, lots of Triteleia laxa, both blue and pinky-white delphineum, etc. We ate lunch out at the far north end of the Volvon loop around Bob Walker Ridge.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/398261/