|
Page Revised: 1/20/05 |
|
|
Available Sites Arroyo Sequit |
Date of Review 1/18/05 |
|
See the photo gallery of
What’s Blooming at: http://www.nps.gov/samo/bloom/bloom.htm |
|
|
Recent heavy rains have
damaged some of the Rec Area’s trails. If you
are not up to stream crossings and climbing into and out of washouts you
might want to call the park office to check on trail conditions. |
|
|
Arroyo Sequit |
Loop Trail |
Date: 1/18/05 |
|
|
|
The loop trail was dry and in good
condition but had several sections washed out by the recent heavy rains. It
is now necessary to climb down the deep and steep banks of the creek and
cross the creek by balancing on stones. If you are up to this moderate
physical activity then the 1.5 mile loop trail is worth the effort. As in
several other units in the Rec Area you now have
the sound of water and a view of a significant water falls. Most flowers are
not out in great quantities yet. Flowers are immediately visible in the small
parking and on the paved road leading up to the loop trail. Look for Spring
Vetch, both White and Purple Nightshade, Greenbark Ceanothus, California
Fuchsia, Woolly Lomatium, Indian Warrior, Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry, Mule
Fat, Hollyleaf Redberry, a good-sized patch of California Peony, and once you
get up to the house a beautiful stand of Bermuda Buttercup. On the loop trail
itself you can find Shooting Stars, several Prickly Phlox, scatterings of Black
Sage and Deerweed, and many Chaparral Currant, Bush Sunflower, and Wild
Cucumber. The Bigpod Ceanothus and the Bigberry Manzanita are still blooming
in places but most seem to be finished. I also found examples of Wild Morning
Glory, Canyon Sunflower, Golden Yarrow, and Popcorn Flower. Looking carefully
you can still find examples of Woolly Aster, Gum Plant, Felt-leaf
Everlasting, and Twiggy Wreath Plant. (TV) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Fair |
|||
|
Rancho Sierra Vista |
Satwiwa garden |
Date: 1/15/05 |
|
|
|
Satwiwa garden has nice early spring blooms
in a very small space. Many golden currants are in bloom along with a few
hummingbird sage plants. There is one small yellow monkeyflower
along with one or two fuchsia flowered gooseberry with multiple flowers. Both
of these are great plants for home gardens. Several blooming sugarbushes make a nice backdrop for the garden. (SB) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Fair |
|||
|
Rancho Sierra Vista |
Trail to the waterfall
and through upper Sycamore Canyon |
Date: 1/15/05 |
|
|
|
Only a few flowers are out, but the flowing
stream and waterfall add to the general enjoyment of this 4.5 mile trip. One
morning glory has several flowers. Both chaparral sunflowers and canyon
sunflowers are trying to catch sun some after all the rain. Lots of greenbark
ceanothus is blooming and there are a few remnants of big pod ceanothus still
blooming. Also seen were California everlasting and purple nightshade. (AS) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Poor |
|||
|
Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa and
Sandstone Peak Trails |
Date: 1/14/05 |
|
|
|
A very brief update to the report on 1/1/05:
The trail condition is generally good but there are muddy patches and there
is one place where you have to pass a large rock completely covering the
trail. The stream crossing at Split Rock will require balancing on the rocks
in the streambed to keep your feet dry. The flower situation is essentially
the same as on 1/1/05. (TV) |
|||
|
Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail |
Date: 1/3/05 |
|
|
|
Very few flowers on this two mile
round trip to the Grotto and back. This hike, done right after a rain, will not
include those flowers that remain closed in the cool of the day. Still a good
number of Big-pod Ceanothus blooming although many have lost their blossoms
to the heavy rains of the last week. A few of the Greenbark Ceanothus have
begun to show their pale blue blossoms and Wild Cucumber can be seen in
several places. Otherwise, the remaining flowers seen were pretty much
isolated examples and easily missed. Perhaps in compensation the lively
babble of the creek and the many visible waterfalls
were worth the walk on the muddy trail. (TV) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Poor |
|||
|
Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa and
Sandstone Peak Trails |
Date: 1/1/05 |
|
|
|
This hike is an annual New
Year’s Day event with the Conejo Group of the Sierra Club. The hike
consists of a counterclockwise loop, beginning up the Mishe Mokwa Trail and
coming back down the Sandstone Peak Trail, using the connector trail to get
back to the starting point; a distance of about 6 miles. This year the emergence of the usual
flowers is much later due to colder fall weather. Today a thick overcast
barely cleared Sandstone Peak. There are still a lot of Big Pod Ceanothus
blooming, but many are now forming seedpods. Without the sun, the Red Stem
Filaree flowers refused to open. The Chaparral Current is still quite
beautiful, in shades of red to light pink. A single Pearly Everlasting was
just beginning to bloom and Bay Laurel is budding. There is a fair amount of
mud in places on the trail. A few hours of sunshine would probably dry it
out. The sound of running water is everywhere. The stream crossing at Split
Rock is 8 to 10 feet wide. Side streams cross the trail on the way down from
the hillsides. About a tenth of a mile beyond Split Rock, on the right, is a
huge Chalk Live-Forever. I expected to find Silk Tassel in bloom in the area
of Split Rock, as in years past, but could only find dried tassels from last
season. There are Shooting Stars and Black Mustard coloring some of the
grassy areas. Many Bigberry Manzanita are blooming. After checking the flower
book I have come up with a good way to remember the difference between the
Bigberry and the Eastwood Manzanita:
the Eastwood variety is hairy, the Bigberry is not. Clint Eastwood
played Dirty Harry in the movies. (BE) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Fair |
|||
|
Rancho Sierra Vista |
Satwiwa Loop Trail |
Date: 12/20/04 |
|
|
|
Only 12 species are blooming (so far) on
this 1.5 mile easy trail, but more then half of the trail is covered with
blooms of big pod ceanothus and wild cucumber. Other notable flowers were
shooting stars (earliest we have ever seen them), mulefat,
deerweed and everlasting. Greenbark ceanothus is covered with buds and the
buds on the California peony should be open within the week if this warm
weather continues. (SB) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Good |
|||
|
Solstice Canyon |
Solstice Canyon Trail |
Date: 12/12/04 |
|
|
|
Along the easy trail to Tropical
Terrace, beautiful fall colors are everywhere. The most amazing thing,
however, is the number of spring flowers already blooming. Standouts among
the 20 species seen were milkmaids, wild cucumber, both purple and white nightshades,
black sage, beggar ticks, bay trees and slopes covered with big pod
ceanothus. Be sure to smell the flowers on the bay trees which smell like
mild gardenias and so different from the spicy smell of the bay leaves. The
alders have already produced both catkins and cones. Fall holdovers (mostly
bristly seeds, but some flowers) included brickle
bush, cliff asters, California fuchsia, coyote brush, bush mallow and
ashy-leaf buckwheat. This is definitely a promising beginning to our flower
season. (SB) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Good |
|||
|
Circle X Ranch / Point Mugu State Park |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 12/11/04 |
|
|
|
This hike was the second of the
2004-2005 NPS Backbone Trail Series. We will be hiking the entire Backbone
Trail, one part each month and reporting on the flowers seen. This hike was
from the Sandstone Peak Trailhead in Circle X Ranch to Danielson Ranch, a
distance of 9 miles. This included the Sandstone Peak Trail, Chamberlain
Trail, Old Boney Road and Blue Canyon Trail. The weather was unseasonably
warm, cloudless, and visibility unlimited. It is still early in the growing
season and with our hike starting at an altitude of 2,100 feet we were
effectively yet earlier in the season compared to lower elevations. Even here
the Big Pod Ceanothus is blooming profusely. We could see a variation of
color from white to pale lavender or blue among the different plants. The
Bush Senecio that have been blooming the along the ascent to Sandstone Peak
the last few months still had a few blossoms for us. The scarcity of flowers
leads us to be delighted in seeing even Black Mustard and Common Groundsel.
There were quite a few Chaparral Current in the early stages of blooming.
Eastwood Manzanita is dominant along the trail but the only Manzanita blooms
seen were on the Bigberry Manzanitas. As we
descended below Chamberlain Rock we saw the tiny white flowers of Rattlesnake
Weed (Spurge) on decomposing shale hillsides. Some California Fuchsia and
Mule Fat are still to be seen in low places in Blue Canyon. (BE and TV) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Fair |
|||
|
Circle X Ranch |
Backbone Trail below Triunfo Peak |
Date: 12/02/04 |
|
|
|
This relatively new section of the
backbone starts in the South parking lot of the Mishe Mokwa trailhead and
proceeds four miles South-East of Yerba Buena before intersecting Yerba Buena
again. A good portion of this trail is spent looping around Triunfo Peak. The
trail provides grand views of the ocean and the day we did the hike we could
see both San Nicolas and San Clemente as well as the much closer Santa
Catalina and the Islands of Channel Islands National Park. Evidence of deer
is plentiful including many tracks and plants growing in unusual shapes and
sizes because of the heavy browsing. This hike included a side trip to
Triunfo Peak. We are beginning to see a few examples
of the first flowers of the new blooming season including Chaparral Currant,
Bigberry Manzanita, Bigpod Ceanothus, Golden Yarrow, Two-tone Everlasting,
and Sugar Bush. Still blooming in a few places from the last season are Rock
Rose, Bleeding Heart, Twiggy Wreath Plant, Cliff Aster, Woolly Aster,
California Fuchsia and California Sagebrush. (TV) |
|||
|
Naturalist's rating: Poor |
|||
|
|
|
Contact
Information: Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West
Hillcrest Drive Ph.
805-370-2301 web. www.nps.gov/samo |
Thank
you for your
contributions: Burt
Elliott |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
him at 310-457-6408 |
|
|
||
