4/28 Fernandez Ranch and 4/21 Donner Cyn

 4/28 Fernandez Ranch

Nine of us and two very well behaved dogs enjoyed the quiet of Fernandez Ranch on a warm, bright day. Things are getting terribly dry and open areas were "crunchy" under foot. Luckily this loop has lots of shade and most of the sunny bits are downhill. Under 2.75 miles

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/8F26A7

4/21 Donner Cyn

It was a small group today, just 8 of us. But it was a glorious day to be out on "our" mountain. We parked and the end of  Montaire Pkwy and headed out Donner Canyon. Then we took Heatherington Tr from the creek crossing by the Donner Cabin site, Donner Tr, a bit of Wasserman, Bruce Lee Springs and finally Clayton Oaks. We had lunch on a shady bank up on Clayton Oaks Rd. There were some very good flowers as well as a reminder of how dry the winter has been and how stressed much of the plant communities are. But it was nice to have easy creek crossings :-). About 3.75 miles

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/xV7v0g

4/14 - WCOS Shell Ridge

 

We were a small group today. We started by exploring the volunteer garden/eco-restoration at the Sutherland Dr  entrance to Shell Ridge. Jeanne and Lynn joined us for that part of the outing. The majority of the flower pictures are from this area (for background see: https://wcosf.org/projects/sutherland.html)

Leaving the garden area we made a long lollipop along the Indian Creek Tr to the Joaquin Ranch Tr, a short bit of street and then up to the Briones-Mt Diablo Tr and back. Altho we stared as 9, there were only five of us for first trail lunch in over a year at one of the memorial benches along Indian Creek. Just under 3.5 miles.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/K4oz75

3/7 - Briones

We started from the parking area at the end of narrow, twisty Briones Rd, took the single track down to Pine Tree Tr and then turned East on Toyon Tr. There was a bit more down before a long up hill to meet Lagoon Tr.; across the open area by the Maricich Lagoons and down the Old Briones Rd to complete the loop. I had never walked this loop counter-clockwise and it was interesting to see things from the different perspective it provided. There were lot of different flowers, just not as tall or lush or as many individuals as we are accustomed to seeing given the very dry winter. Still I took over 100 pictures. 3.5 miles

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/464b41

3/31 - Perkins Cyn

There were 13 of us today. The group rapidly separated into smaller sub-groups and after the first half mile we were never all together again. It was a very warm day (high 70s); the ambling progress suited the day and there were lots of flowers. The good news for me was verifying the connection between the trail which heads up the steep slope section of the Perkins Tr (which eventually connects to Ray Morgan Rd), and the single track trail which leads past the dams. Mileage varied widely but was not more than 2-3 miles.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/momcat_ksw/27K2k8