Hi everyone! I really enjoyed exploring the wonders of Wunderlich with you today! It was nice to see both familiar and new faces out on the trail. Please feel free to add your own photos, as well as questions or comments, in the "comments" section. We got a good start learning some of the key plants. We spent a lot of time learning how to identify poison oak. Here's a good little summary of that plant: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/garden/bloom_10_06.shtml. We also spent some time distinguishing PO from its lookalike friend, California Blackberry: http://calscape.org/Rubus-ursinus-(Pacific-Blackberry). We saw California Coffeeberry, which, despite its alluring name, isn't recommended for snacking on trailside due to its laxative effects. Read more about Coffeeberry here: http://www.parksconservancy.org/conservation/plants-animals/native-plant-information/california-coffeeberry.html.
The park's website states: "The cool, lush, second-growth redwood groves and
mixed evergreen forest are contrasted with areas of
hot, dry chaparral. At the Park’s lowest level, a foothill
woodland includes white valley oak, black oak, and
California laurel.
Visitors may see black-tailed deer, raccoons, squirrels,
brush rabbits, lizards, and less commonly bobcats,
coyotes, and gray foxes. Commonly seen birds include
wrentits, acorn woodpeckers, chickadees, towhees,
scrub jays, and Steller’s jays."So of this list, we were lucky to see Black oak, California Bay Laurel, plenty of redwoods, black tailed deer (mature and young ones), and lizards. We saw tanoak, madrone, and coast live oak. We smelled yerba buena (Satureja douglasii) and Stachys (the hedgenettle / horsemint plant). We also heard but did not see red shouldered and red tailed hawks. All and all, a good day! Thanks for being a sweet group, and I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks!
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