Catching up

 06/10 - Lafayette Community Park and Linda's Garden

There were 15 of us on a day which got almost too warm for comfort as the morning progressed.

Jennifer told us lots of the history of the Community Center and the park as we walked a CW loop of under 1 mile, mostly under the shade of oaks.

Linda lives relatively near by and invited us to visit her garden after the walk and share some light refreshments. What a garden! And she continues to develop it, adding natives to replace portions of the more traditional plantings. We also enjoyed a tour of some of the marvelous art in the house - works by her husband, her mother and father and Linda herself.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/u710wvg071

06/03 - Tilden Botanic Garden

I couldn't be there, so no pictures

05/27 - Pine Canyon

There were 9 of us today. Nearly perfect walking weather. Lots of birds, sufficient flowers and nearly dry creek crossings. The clouds were magnificent. about 3 miles

Only one of the stream crossings had any water and it was shallow and slow moving.

The Salvia spathacea is still there and using binoculars, we could see multiple plants

The oak which has supported the monster grape vine for so many years has fallen and appears at least partially dead; there is weak new growth at the base of the trunk tho.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/986E3M7878

05/20 - Springhill

There were just 6 of us today. We enjoyed the mostly shady walk from the Springhill TH to Briones. Lots of birdsong, a fair number of butterflies and a nice patch of Red Ribbon Clarkia. 1.75 miles

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/t40N0pA7cq

05/13 - Pt Pinole

 

7 of us walked a CW loop of just under 3 miles at Pt Pinole. The weather was perfect, clear, warm in the sun but cool in the shade with a nice breeze. There were lots of birds, some butterflies and enough flowers to satisfy us. The highlight was the newish native plant garden at the south end of the parking lot, tho many of the plants aren't actually "native here".

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/cR6568jW72

05/06 - Devil's Elbow

 

There were 11 of us today. It was a lovely day for hiking after a cold, gray Tuesday. We saw flowers we expected, didn't see others; and there were some we had not seen in bloom before. I had focus difficulties with many of the smaller flowers, so just because I didn't include a picture, doesn't mean we didn't see the plant.

The map says this is a 2 mile hike. Everyone felt it had to be longer than that.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/E3TFU57116

04/29 - Mitchell Canyon

 

It's been close to 10 years since we walked Mitchell Canyon in the spring; the lure of the fall color has had us taking that route in October/November. But today a big group reverted to April, and we were rewarded with lots of flowers and more butterflies than we usually see. Most of the group made it to the tables under the oaks before returning to the cars. 3.8 miles according to google earth.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/9p1116uSp4 

04/15 - Perkins Canyon

 

There was a big group today - 15!!

There was plenty of water in the creeks and enough flowers to keep us busy looking. There were butterflies and birds, too.

This is a short loop, only 1.5 mile but it feels longer; there is so much to see and plenty of up and down.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/t8E7K9r1G9

People asked what was mined here - In 1863-4 L.W. Hastings discovered quicksilver (mercury) on the northeast side of North Peak and Perkins Canyon; it was mined until the 1950's (https://www.mdia.org/history-of-mount-diablo).  

Perkins Canyon is named for Solomon D. Perkins (l822- ?), a native of Missouri, who purchased the property in 1859 and farmed in the Morgan Territory area. He didn't build the dams, tho. They were built in 1905 by E.A. Howard a SF lumberman and Contra Costa Co. land investor.

04/08 - Skyline Gardens

 

There were 10 of us today on the hike which was originally planned for last week, but cancelled by a late March storm. We walked from the parking area by the Steam Train (Grizzly Peak and Lomas Contadas) as far as the picnic table just before the trail descends toward Fish Ranch Rd.

It was a lovely day and altho many flowers were through blooming (e.g. the lupine was mostly showing seed) there was lots to see. Under 2.5 miles

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/YpC5X980vQ

03/25 - Shell Ridge

 

There were eleven of us on the walk at Shell Ridge. We started from the end of Marshall Dr (Indian Valley Elementary School) and took Corral Spring Tr along the east side of the ridge, then made a CCW loop around Deer Hill and Deer Lake before returning the way we came.

After the hike we reconvened at Jennifer's; she has made over her garden the last few years and it is filled with natives along with mature fruit trees, favorite roses, etc.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/u0uNz3e21t