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Available Reviews
Conejo Open Space Paramount Ranch San Vicente Mountain Park Malibu Creek State Park Topanga State Park |
Date of Review
05/19. 05/14. 04/22. 04/10. 04/09 & 02/02. |
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| Conejo Open Space |
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05/19/2024 |
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On Sunday we visited parts of the Los Robles Trail, operated by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency. Starting at the Oak Creek Canyon Loop, veered west to the Los Robles Trail and ended at the Los Padres trailhead. This was the best display of flowers I have ever seen in this region.
Black sage, deerweed, sticky monkey flower, canyon sunflower, California everlasting, elderberry and golden yarrow were abundant. In significant patches were purple clarkia, elegant clarkia, California poppy, morning glory, fiesta flower, purple nightshade, dodder, miner's lettuce, buckwheat, caterpillar phacelia, vervain, horehound, chamise, bush sunflower, willow herb clarkia and popcorn flower. In only a few areas were mariposa lily, fringed pink, prickly phlox, chia, common large monkeyflower, and cliff aster. — Kathy Jonokuchi |
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| Paramount Ranch |
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05/14/2024 |
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This park is formerly the home to an elaborate “Western Town”, used for filming westerns. The town and the entire park burned in the Woolsey Fire of 2018. The town is being rebuilt and the natural areas of the park has made a strong resurgence.
Park in the dirt lot near the bridge. Cross the bridge. The area of the Western Town is fenced off and under construction. I skirted around on a beaten trail to the back of the area. I turned left on the Coyote Trail. At first I was a bit shocked at the vast quantity of invasive plants; mustards, thistles that seem to be thriving. Going further I became aware of the lovely native plants that are blooming among the invasives. The first thing I noticed was that the creek that winds along this trail is banked with creek monkey flowers. I started to become aware of purple nightshade, vervain, California everlasting, elderberry, morning glory, elegant clarkia and owl’s clover blooming alongside the trail. In the distance I could see great swaths of golden yarrow. There was an impressive clump of blooming foothill penstemon. There was rose snapdragon. There were Catalina mariposa lilies tucked into the grasses. Looking up the hills there were a lot of chaparral yucca in bloom. I saw twenty-eight species of blooming flowers before the Coyote Trail completed its loop and rejoined the main trail. At that point I had walked about a mile from my car. You could turn right and return to the parking lot at that point. I turned left and continued with chaparral to my left and grassland to my right. I only saw four additional species of blooming flowers; bush poppy, goldenstar lily, rock rose and California chicory but there are many more of the flowers I had already seen. Every quarter mile or so a trail turns to the right and you can make a loop. This is an easy and pleasant hike and right now there is a lot in bloom. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| San Vicente Mountain Park |
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04/22/2024 |
| On 4/22/24 we hiked, for the first time, the Westridge-Canyonback loop at San Vicente Mountain Park in Encino, part of the Mountains Recreation and Conservancy Authority. There's a trailhead with parking off Mulholland. Part of the loop going counter-clockwise is a preserved Nike missile control tower with supposedly great views but today it was very foggy for the entire morning. The first part of the loop was a fire road with hillsides of bush sunflower, bush lupine, hollyleaf cherry, morning glory, California everlasting, purple nightshade, caterpillar phacelia, Spanish broom, sugarbush and chamise. In smaller numbers were popcorn flower, filaree, stinging lupine, and eucrypta. Heading back to the parking lot on this loop, I walked briefly down a residential part of Mandeville Canyon Rd and then turned east on Hollyhock Pl for the trailhead. There were canyon sunflower, clematis, ferns, miner's lettuce, horehound, ceanothus, fiesta flower, mustard evening primrose, sticky monkeyflower, and dodder. There was evidence of small landslides with downed manzanita and toyon. The park service cleared most of the trails. I'm sure there were more wildflowers but the early May Gray made it hard to see anything. — Kathy Jonokuchi | ||
| Malibu Creek State Park |
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04/10/2024 |
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I hiked from the Lower Parking Lot down the trail marked “To All Backcountry Trails”. This took me down Crags Road. Immediately on the right was a hillside completely covered in blooming chia, globe gilia, fern leaf phacelia, miniature sun cups, dove lupine and wild morning glory. These flowers are all small and low, it would be easy to walk by them. But if you look down and pay attention you will find a wonderland of flowers.
On the left is Malibu Creek, the waterway, and oak trees dripping their yellow catkins. I continued down the road seeing California poppies and the occasional bush poppy. I crossed the creek on the pedestrian bridge and turned left on the far bank onto Mott Rd. Just a little way on I turned right onto the marked Chaparral Trail that winds up and around the hill until returning to Mott Rd. a little further on. On the Chaparral Trail I saw purple nightshade, wild cucumber, prickly phlox, flowering ash trees, virgin’s bower and lemonadeberry. There were several varieties of ceanothus and a hillside covered in owl’s clover. It was the best part of the hike. The trail returned me to Mott Rd. and I walked back to the bridge and retraced my steps. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Topanga State Park |
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04/09/2024 |
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In Topanga State Park right now, many of the trails have large patches of deep mud. One of the few that is easily passable is The Dead Horse trail. It connects the Dead Horse parking lot off Entrada Road with the Trippet Ranch area. I took the trail from the Trippet parking lot, walking mostly downhill and then returned. One could also start in the Dead Horse parking lot and thus save the downhill for the return.
From the Trippet parking lot walk on the paved road/trail by the pond. Just past the pond turn left onto the Dead Horse Trail. For the first bit you will have woods on your left and meadow on your right. The oak trees are covered in dangling yellow catkins, these are their flowers. There are a lot of lovely spring flowers in bloom: big clumps of blue eyed grass, buttercups, hummingbird sage, miner’s lettuce, dove lupine, Pacific sanicle and blue dicks. Soon you enter chaparral where there is blooming black sage, sticky monkey flower, wild cucumber, deerweed, popcorn flower, chamise and California everlasting. Some of the most spectacular sights are the large clumps of blooming Eastwood manzanita, large shrubs covered in tiny, white, bell-shaped flowers. The day that I hiked, these shrubs were alive with bees and great quantities of painted lady butterflies. For the length of the trail the ecosystems will alternate between woodland and chaparral. In the woodland areas there is purple nightshade, canyon sunflower, fiesta flower, elderberry, fuchsia flowering gooseberry and a lot of greenbark ceanothus. This is a very nice walk for viewing flowers. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Topanga State Park |
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02/02/2024 |
There had been a big rain and then a beautifully clear day. I thought I would take the opportunity to hike the Musch Loop. The pond that is at the beginning of the trail is full of water and a group of mallards have taken up residence there. Leaving the pavement and walking on the dirt trail I came to realize that the recent rains had made the trail muddy, quite muddy in some places. But I persisted and was rewarded by the sight of many big pod ceanothus bushes that are coming into bloom. More are still in bud, but many are in full bloom and are really lovely. The wild cucumber is also getting started, shooting up vines that climb sturdier vegetation and opening clusters of white flowers. The hummingbird sage are just getting started. I saw a few other flowers in bloom but really, the big pod ceanothus own the trail.
— Dorothy Steinicke
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Contact Information:
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Santa Monica Mountains NRA 401 West Hillcrest Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 805-370-2301 www.nps.gov/samo |
If you would like to contribute a wildflower report you can e-mail the editor at: SMMWildFlowers@gmail.com |
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What's Blooming
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or go to
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