There were 11 of us on a glorious spring day in Black Diamond Regional Park. We usually only find the white shooting stars in the field above Jim's Place. Today they were there right at the start! Wild cucumber was everywhere. And the Indian Warriors were having a pow-wow. And birds...several varieties of hawks, vultures, jays, juncos, flicer, and I heard chickadees and nuthatches. The group started together up the Chaparral Loop Tr, but we soon separated into sub-groups. The darker pink on the map is the route Susan, Phred, Elaine and I took and after lunch also John and Ulla. The lighter pink is the route for the others, I think. Mileage varied widely. Those of us who extended the loop to Coal Canyon walked about 5.5 miles. The others less.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/RF3E04
Something new this time...If you have double clicked a picture so
you can see the description, you will note that I have indicated
on which trail the picture was taken.
The original plan was to hike at Rockville Hills
today, but the weather was unsettled and at the last minute we
opted to stay closer to home.
Eight of us enjoyed a very windy walk in Redwood Regional Park,
starting from the Skyline Gate. We went out the East Ridge Tr,
down Prince Trail to Stream Trail. It was too early for lunch even
for us, so we wandered a bit in the valley. Ulla and John made a
loop up Mill to French and down Fern; the rest of us stayed on
Stream as far as Chown and then returned. We lunched at the tables
by the bridge crossing. Return was up Stream to Eucalyptus to
Phillips Loop and back to East Ridge and the cars. Distances
varied but ranged from 4.5 to 4.75 miles.
Highlights were lots of Trillium ovatum and masses of ladybugs!
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/yU6Q8u
It was much too warm for February (low 70s), but
absolutely lovely! There were sufficient manzanitas in bloom to
satisfy us and lots of green hills, too. The trails were dry
underfoot tho which makes us all concerned about rain.
Our hike started at Curry Point and went out Knobcone Point Rd to Balancing Rock. We went just a bit further than the green gate (SMD Curry Canyon Ranch property) and had lunch overlooking Sycamore Canyon Rd and Blackhawk Ridge. We retraced our route after lunch. About 4.5 miles.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/1mYgZ2
