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Page Revised: 11/25/05 |
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Available Sites Circle X Ranch |
Date of Review 11/24/05 & 11/20/05 |
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What's Blooming photo
gallery: www.nps.gov/samo/bloom/bloom.htm |
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Circle X Ranch |
All trails |
Date: 11/24/05 |
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While there have been few changes in the
flowers at CXR since the last What's Blooming report, there have been
significant changes in hiking experience itself. The new section of the
backbone trail below Triunfo Peak has been recently repaired and is now in
excellent condition. The two good rains have knocked down the dust and
cleaned up the vegetation and left us with fresher air. Many small green
plants have made their appearance along the trails and indeed, some of the
trails are now covered with green grass. The generally clearer skies are
providing better views of distant vistas such as the Angeles mountains and
the Channel islands. And, of course, the weather is now much cooler. A few new winter flowers are
beginning to make their appearance, but overall we have actually lost ground
since the last report as many of the late-summer bloomers have essentially
disappeared. For example, the entire six-mile Mishe Mokwa loop yielded only
about a dozen different flower species and half of these were lightly
represented. Highlights included woolly aster, twiggy wreath plant, Tejon
milk-aster, cliff aster, chaparral current, California fuchsia, bush senecio,
and California sagebrush. Elsewhere at CXR we’ve seen annual
paintbrush, white hedge nettle, willow herb, sugar bush, bigberry manzanita,
deerweed, rock rose, bleeding heart, golden yarrow, canyon sunflower, coyote
brush, mule fat, scarlet pimpernel, tree tobacco, telegraph weed, bush
mallow, two-tone everlasting, felt-leaf everlasting, California laurel,
California buckwheat, ashy leaf buckwheat, wand buckwheat, and both white and
purple nightshade. Again, many of these are only very lightly
represented. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Poor |
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Upper Zuma Canyon and
Circle X Ranch |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 11/20/05 |
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Each November the Sierra Club plans a
series of hikes to celebrate the Backbone Trail. This hike was one of this
year’s series and began at the Kanan Road trailhead and ended at the Mishe
Mokwa trailhead, a distance of 14 miles. The flowers were generally few, but
there were some surprises, probably due to a recent period of very warm
weather. Twenty eight species were noted as well as a very large crop of red
Toyon berries. Starting out on the Upper Zuma Section were the usual Cliff
Aster, Black Mustard, Woolly Aster, Telegraph Weed, Twiggy Wreath Plant and
an occasional California Fuchsia. Mule Fat and Sugar Bush are blooming along
with widely scattered Bush Mallow. Looking upstream from the first bridge is
a large stand of Snow Berries with their pure white berries. A single Bicolor
Everlasting and a few Chicory were noted. After the bridge and a short
up-hill section, is an area where the Common Madia appears in the summer and
one greeted us today. Just after crossing Encinal Canyon
Road and starting up the latest section of the Backbone Trail to be
completed, we came to a warm area with almost a spring-like flower display.
There were Purple Night Shade, Coyote Brush, Deer Weed, Greenbark Ceanothus,
Canyon Sunflower, Slender Sunflower, Morning Glory, Tree Tobacco, and Scarlet
Pimpernel blooming. We had been seeing the leafing out of
the Chaparral Currant along way, but it was not until we got to the highest
point as the Backbone Trail winds around Triunfo Peak that we saw the early
flowers. Bleeding Heart is sprouting there and one plant had flowers. There
were several Bigberry Manzanita blooming there as well. (BE) |
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Naturalist's rating: Generally Poor. |
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Topanga State Park |
Santa Ynez Canyon Trail |
Date: 10/5/05 |
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This is a wonderful hike. It is cool here on even the hottest
days. There is still a lot of water in
the creek, a testament to our record breaking rain year. I went without much expectation of flowers,
and so, was pleasantly surprised.
There is more California fuchsia than anything else. Little patches of cudweed aster and cliff
aster and California buckwheat. I was
surprised to find several patches of Indian pinks, by the book they should
have finished months ago. There are
several scarlet monkey flowers blooming in the creek and I saw a single wild
rose. There were many places where
deer have rubbed their antlers, many California sister butterflies and lots
of tadpoles and froglets in the creek. Not the spectacular flowers of spring but a
wonderful place to be outdoors on a hot day.
(DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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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
Elliot |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone
Tony at 310-457-6408 |
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