First hike recap

Hi everyone!  Thanks for a really wonderful first hike.  Unfortunately, I only got a couple of ho-hum meadow pictures, so please feel free to send me some or post in the comments section.

There's no way I can recap all the things we saw yesterday, so if you're interested, I urge you to follow up with your own research. My favorite field guide is the Audubon Field Guide to California (here's a link; I feel like it's been updated since this so if you can get an updated one, do. I think the update date is 2001.  https://books.google.com/books/about/National_Audubon_Society_Field_Guide_to.html?id=MtsTAQAAIAAJ).

I also really love the East Bay Regional Park Wildflower Photo Guide - FREE - sorted by flower color, and with an emphasis on common names.  Download it here: http://www.ebparks.org/about/stewardship/plants.  Get the district-wide one.

You can also scroll down in this blog for things we've seen in recent classes, including Milkmaids, Houndstongue, Indian Warrior, and California Buttercups.

Here are some of the things we saw & some links for more information:
1.  Silver bush lupine (and a few other lupines too): http://calscape.cnps.org/Lupinus-albifrons-(Silver-Lupine)?srchcr=sc560d70d4551df
2.  The ridiculously diminutive California plantain, obligate larval host plant for the very endangered Bay Checkerspot Butterfly (see my previous email for a description of BCB recovery efforts at Edgewood park):  http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/californiaplantain.html
3.  Cream cups:  http://www.desertusa.com/flowers/Cream-Cups.html
4.  Blue Dicks (Indian potatoes!): http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_dica14.pdf
5.  Blue eyed grass (actually an iris): http://www.calfloranursery.com/plants/sisyrinchium-bellum
6.  Coast Live Oak:  http://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/public-works/indigenous-tree-program/coast-live-oak
7.  Valley Oak: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=461


Don't forget to post or email your pics, and I'll see you in two weeks!

Welcome New Students!

Hello Spring Quarter students, both new and returning!  I'm really looking forward to meeting you and having a wildflower-filled few months!

Here is the *tentative* schedule of hikes.  Please always check this blog the day before, in case weather or other circumstances force me to reschedule or otherwise change things.

3/26/16 - Edgewood Park, San Mateo, CA.  Website:  http://parks.smcgov.org/edgewood-park-natural-preserve

4/9/16 - Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, Redwood City, CA.  Website:  http://www.openspace.org/preserves/russian-ridge

4/23/16 - CLASS TIME CHANGE - 11AM - 3PM.  Santa Teresa County Park, San Jose, CA (entrance off Bernal Road). Website:   https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/SantaTeresa.aspx

5/7/16 - Coal Mine Ridge Open Space Preserve (class resumes normal time; 1-5).  Portola Valley, CA.  Website describing preserve: http://bahiker.com/southbayhikes/cmr.html

5/21/16 - Huddart Park, Woodside, CA.  Website: http://parks.smcgov.org/huddart-park


Email me if you have any questions or concerns, and I look forward to seeing you this Saturday!

Final hike tomorrow, March 19, 1 PM, Monte Bello

Hiking weather should be perfect!  Can't wait to see you all!

Registration is still open for next quarter, so I hope you sign up!

Cheers, Miriam

Final Hike Postponed Due to Weather!

Dear Students, hopefully you all got my email.  

I've been eyeing the forecast, and it looks like it's definitely going to rain during our class tomorrow.   While it probably won't rain hard, the trails are sure to be sloppy and all over the place.  So, with your permission, I'd like to reschedule our final hike until the following weekend, 3/19/16.  We will meet at Monte Bello at 1 PM, as we had planned for this week.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Weather Watch

Dear Students,

I've got my eyes on the forecast.  It looks like we may have a break in rain around midday Saturday so we would still be able to hike.  If it looks like we have to cancel, then I will post it here by tomorrow night (Friday).  But I hope we can hike at Monte Bello for our final hike Saturday!  Check back here tomorrow night for an update.

Final Hike - Monte Bello

Hi everyone - thanks for a terrific hike last week!  Crystal and Josefin shared some pictures - here we are!  Hopefully you remember the wildflowers we learned.


This is Indian Warrior - Pedicularis densiflora.  Learn more about it here:  http://calscape.cnps.org/Pedicularis-densiflora-(Indian-Warrior)?srchcr=sc56273769ec551


This is Trillium Chloropetalum.  Remember, three petals, three sepals, and three leaves!   Learn more about it here:   http://www.greatplantpicks.org/plantlists/view/1573


We also learned California Buttercup, Houndstongue, and Milkmaids!  We smelled Madrone blossoms and saw more of the sneaky guises of poison oak.  Thanks for a great hike!

Our last hike (sniff sniff!)  will be at Monte Bello Open Space Preserve.  This place is silly gorgeous.  It goes through varied habitats, all of them lovely.  Here is the location on Google maps: Monte Bello.  Here is the preserve website:  http://www.openspace.org/preserves/monte-bello.  Carpool arrangements on your own (the road is Very Windy!), let's meet at the Preserve at 1 PM.  Please let me know if you cannot make it.

Registration for Spring semester has started.  I would love to hike with any and all of you, so I do hope you sign up!  Or, if you can't make it, tell a friend!  http://paadultschool.org/classes/peninsula-nature-hikes/

See you soon, don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.