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Page Revised: 12/13/04 |
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Available Sites Solstice Canyon |
Date of Review 12/12/04 |
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See the photo gallery of
What’s Blooming at: http://www.nps.gov/samo/bloom/bloom.htm |
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The trails have greened up
nicely and we are beginning to see the first flowers of the new blooming
season. The warm weather late in this week may well accelerate the opening of
the many flower buds visible on some of the early-blooming perennials. |
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Solstice Canyon |
Solstice Canyon Trail |
Date: 12/12/04 |
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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) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Circle X Ranch |
Grotto Trail |
Date: 12/10/04 |
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Very few flowers on this two mile
round trip to the Grotto and back. New in the last week or so we see quite a few
Big-pod Ceanothus beginning to bloom nicely. Otherwise the only plants in
bloom on this trail in any quantity are California Fuchsia and California
Sagebrush. Isolated stragglers left from last year's blooming season include
Woolly Aster, Wand Buckwheat, California Buckwheat, Felt-leaf Everlasting,
and Cliff Aster. Telegraph Weed deserves it's own note as it has been quite
exuberant in it's blooming over the last few weeks, however, it is only
visible at the very top of this trail. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Circle X Ranch |
Mishe Mokwa to
Sandstone Peak loop |
Date: 12/06/04 |
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Very few flowers blooming on this six
mile loop that includes a stop at Sandstone Peak. A half inch of rain yesterday
has made the trail quite muddy in a few places although for the most part
this trail is well drained. Almost nothing is left from last year's blooming
season. We found one faded Wooly Aster in bloom, a single example of Bush
Senecio, some mostly finished California Sagebrush and Coyote Brush, and a
sparse scattering of California Buckwheat. The only flower present from the
new blooming season in any quantity was the delightful Chaparral Current.
Early examples of both Bigberry Manzanita and Bigpod Ceanothus can also be
found. There were several other plants showing buds but the recent cool
weather will no doubt slow down their opening. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Circle X Ranch |
Backbone Trail below Triunfo Peak |
Date: 12/02/04 |
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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 provide 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 as a consequence of the heavy browsing. This hike included a side trip
to Triunfo Peak. |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 11/13/04 |
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This hike was the first 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. The hike was from the
western Backbone Trailhead in La Jolla Canyon to Danielson Ranch; a distance
of just over 8 miles. (Ray Miller
Trail, Overlook Fire Road, Wood Canyon Vista Trail, Sycamore Canyon Fire
Road) Hiking from La Jolla Canyon to
Danielson Ranch during the best wildflower season we would expect to record
about 40 species. This day we noted 16 species with several having only a few
flowers. Tree Tobacco, Telegraph Weed, and the Mustards are almost always to
be seen. Woolly Aster, Cliff Aster, California Fuchsia, Coyote Brush,
Chicory, Wand and Ashy leaf Buckwheat, and Mule Fat are nearing the end of
their blooming cycle. Early blooming Rattlesnake Weed, Bladder Pod, Chaparral
Current, Greenbark Ceanothus, and Deerweed were seen. By the time this report
is published many more species will be blooming. We saw many new buds, but
restricted ourselves to only report plants in flower. (BE and RMW) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Rancho Sierra Vista / Point Mugu State Park |
Wendy Trail / Boney Mountain Trail |
Date Observed: 11/11/04 |
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On 11/11/04 we hiked the Wendy Trail to
the Satwiwa Trail to the Upper Sycamore Canyon Trail to the waterfall and
then the Boney Mountain Trail to the Danielson Monument. This was a 6 mile
hike during which only 15 species of flora were found to be in bloom. This
was a decidedly a poor showing, but the first blooms of the new season were
encountered, the lovely pink and white of the chaparral current. The views
down into upper Sycamore Canyon with the sycamore trees still yellow against
the darker green of the other trees and chaparral were spectacular. The
waterfall at the head of the canyon was flowing with a steady stream of water
and the creek babbled incessantly. Yellow was the leader in number of species
blooming with sow thistle, hedge mustard, sweet fennel, telegraph weed and
lots of Calif. sagebrush. White was represented only by coyote bush, cliff
aster and ashy-leaved buckwheat. Wooly aster and vervain contributed lavender
to color scheme. Pink/red were represented by wild roses, wand buckwheat,
chaparral current and lots of hoary fuchsia. Also seen was Russian thistle
blooming. (RMW) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Rancho Sierra Vista |
Hidden Pond Trail |
Date Observed:10/29/04 |
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The recent rains are evidenced by the
deep runoff ruts cut in the trails on the steeper slopes of the Hidden Pond
Trail out of the Rancho Sierra Vista area on 10/29/04, but no water is
running in any of the creeks as yet. Only 15 different species were
displaying blooms with only a single sample of many of them. For a 9 mile
hike only 15 species rates a poor rating on the old bloom-o-meter. The Hidden
Pond was virtually still hidden in as much as only a 20 foot puddle was seen
whereas the dried Tules implied nearly 3/4 acre pond when the water was
plentiful. Since the pond is atop a mesa like meadow, there are no streams to
feed it so I assume it must get all of its moisture from direct rainfall,
which would indicate that a lot more rain is needed to fill it up. The dominant color of blooms were in
the yellow hues and included hedge mustard, telegraph weed, a single deerweed
and prickly pear and coast golden bush, sweet fennel and a few bush monkey
flowers. Amongst the whites were coyote bush, ashy-leaved buckwheat, cliff
aster and mule fat. In the lavender part of the spectrum we still see wooly
aster, a few bush mallow and wand chicory. Wand buckwheat added a little pink
to the color starved flora. Other sightings include turkey mullein. The hike started at the parking lot
at Ranch Sierra Vista and proceeded south to the upper part of Big Sycamore
Canyon, thence west along the Hidden Pond Trail to near Ranch Center with a
return on Ranch Center Road. (RWM) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Rancho Sierra Vista |
Native
Plant Garden |
Date Observed: 10/11/2004 |
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Reliable water brings out continual
bloom here. You'll see both spring (fuchsia flowered gooseberry, verbain,
California wild rose, sticky monkey flower, purple sage, bladderpod, yerba mansa)
and summer blooms (California fuchsia, conejo buckwheat, wand buckwheat) as
well as dried berries (rose hips) and pods (yerba mansa, narrow-leaved
milkweed) (SB) |
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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: Robert W.
Maughmer |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
him at 310-457-6408 |
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