March Musings

 

March greeting from Straus and Elsie.

    Straus and Elsie continue to thrive with RV life as half of the inhabitants of LesThora. This spot they're resting on, in their separate beds is where we'll usually find them. Their days are pretty lazy with occasionally chasing each other from one end of the RV to the other. When we first were planning for this year of RV life we thought we'd need to find a home for them, but then we decided to bring them along and it has been a good decision. We enjoy their company, and they seem very content to be here with us. We find for us that cats are much easier pets in an RV than a dog would be. We have no problem leaving these two inside while we hike or work or even go away over night - not so easy with a dog. We do sometimes miss having a dog around though, and Rob makes friends with most of them that pass by, even overing them a dog biscuit.

One of the many dogs Rob has offered a biscuit to.

Last week on Monday and Tuesday, March 1 and 2, we headed to Colfax and celebrated an early birthday with granddaughter Avienda who turned 8 on March 4.

The almond tree in Colfax that had just a couple of blossoms a week before was now fully blooming.

The Japanese plum still only had a few blossoms - we head back to Colfax next Monday and I wonder will both trees be all done blooming by then?

    This Monday, March 8, on our day off we headed over to Tomales Bay State Park for a short hike through a very different type of forest than here at Samuel P Taylor. The trail had recently been worked on so was nice and wide. It was beautiful walking through gnarly oaks and lots of big bay trees.

This was the sign for the trail at Tomales Bay State Park that we came up from the beach, but we took another trail down, forming a loop of about 3 miles.

Very different look than the Redwood forest

Another view of the trail

Some interesting "tree art" at Tomales Bay State Park

Looking out at Tomales Bay from the trail

Looking across the forest at Tomales Bay State Park

A beautiful boardwalk that was part of the trail through wetlands

Pretty pink blossoms that I didn't manage to identify

Some pretty red berries

Craggy old tree near the berries

This moss, or lichen, reminded me of the Spanish Moss of Florida

Not everything at Tomales Bay State Park was different than Samuel P Taylor - Here is blooming Hounds Tongue - lots of it is in bloom now at Samuel P Taylor too.

Some baby poison oak leaves - of course poison oak is everywhere!

Pebble Beach - the first beach we came to on our Tomales Bay State Park hike

Some ducks in the bay

This colorful point of land was viewed from Pebble Beach

We got to watch this squirrel as we hiked between Pebble Beach and Heart's Desire Beach.

I also saw the tail of another critter as it crossed the path in front of us - probably a gray fox.

Looking across the bay in front of Heart's Desire Beach

Heart's Desire Beach at Tomales Bay State Park

Indian Beach as viewed from Heart's Desire - we hiked over there several weeks ago.

On the trail headed up to the car

A madrone leaf on the trail 

We saw a few of these colorful leaves on the ground that looked like remnants of fall.

I noticed several patches of these leaves on our hike back to the car - the blossom confirmed that they must be wild strawberries.

    Last Saturday morning on my after campfire, before breakfast walk to a bench on Pioneer Tree Trail I heard a large group of people talking as they gathered on the bridge over Lagunitas Creek. I was curious what was going on so I listened as their leader said how surprised he was by the turnout of 90 hikers rather than the 40 who had sent RSVPs. He said the hike would be a 6 mile loop with an optional additional 3 mile  up "one little" hill. The group proceeded up Pioneer Tree Trail and as I reached them and many passed me I asked a few people if they knew what trail/trails they were taking. "No, not really, we're just following the leader." I wondered all morning just what their route might be because nothing I could think of would be 6 miles, with the option of an added 3 to make it 9. After noon when coming back from doing campground rounds I saw a number of the hikers and talked with them and then I ran into the leader who told me the route. Whoops... they went up Pioneer Tree Trail as far as the "illegal" Sweet Pea trail that rangers have recently blocked, then across Bolinas Ridge, down Shafter Grade to Cross Marin and back to the parking lot for 6 miles. That route is probably 6 miles, and there was some innocence in their use of the Sweet Pea trail as it has only recently been posted to keep out. I can imagine the leader getting to the trail that was familiar to him with 90 people behind him and thinking, "Now what do I do?" So he just went up what was a familiar route to him. The 3 mile additional "little hill" detour was up Ridge Trail off of Cross Marin to Barnabe Peak and back down to Cross Marin via part of the Devil's Gulch Trail. I was certain that had to be more than a 3 mile detour and the "little hill" was over a 1200 foot climb to the summit. It is a trail we have taken before, but I decided I wanted to double check just how far it was, so Tuesday morning I headed out to check it out. I figured the detour added 4.7 miles, not 3 to the Saturday hikers' total miles, and in fact when I looked at their Facebook postings (I joined their Facebook group because of my curiosity) folks were posting total mileage over 11 miles, not 9! My round trip from our campsite on Tuesday morning, in between rain showers, was almost 8 miles, but it was a beautiful hike with lots to see.

One of two deer I saw not too far up Ridge Trail.

I later saw two more deer and then one alone - I wonder if I just kept seeing the same deer.

Some "pretty," colorful new growth of poison oak

I was wondering what this dead stuff on the side of the trail was - it looked familiar, but I couldn't quite figure it out in its dead state.

Scotch Broom

    

    When I saw this live patch of Scotch Broom with just a few yellow flowers starting to bloom I realized the dead plants were Scotch Broom. This was the first time I've noticed Scotch Broom in the park - a plant I'm very familiar with from the Sierra Foothills. It is not native to California and is horribly invasive. We have some on our Colfax property and horses and goats won't eat it and it's extremely hard to pull up - just ask Ruth. But despite it's negative affect on the environment, North San Juan, a small community near Nevada City, used to have (maybe they still do) a Scotch Broom festival each spring when the plants were in full bloom. I went once with a friend's family when I was in junior high or high school to the fireman's breakfast where the hall was decorated with "bouquets" of Scotch Broom. I've always thought those bouquets must have been full of tics, my most feared and hated natural critter.

Hiking up Ridge Trail - it's impossible to get the full extent of the incline in pictures!

Looking east from the Ridge Trail - the houses in the valley are in the little town of Lagunitas.

First glimpse of the lookout, my summit goal

Getting closer - this is the first time I've been up on Barnabe since the grass turned green.

A view of Tomales Bay from the Ridge Trail before reaching the peak.

Coastal Manroot - first time I've seen this in the park.

Proof I made it to the top!

Elevation 1,466 feet - I'm not sure what elevation our camp site is, but probably no more than 200 feet.

A view toward Tomales Bay on the way down on the Fire Road

    Wednesday, March 10, our oldest daughter, Sheila, turned 50! Having a daughter 50 years old makes me feel older than knowing I'm 70. Sheila lives in Europe in the country of Cyprus and we had hoped to be there with her to celebrate, but of course COVID has prevented that. We are hoping to celebrate her 50th and my 70th birthdays together in Sweden in September hiking Inn to Inn, so I need to keep up the hiking miles now. It felt wrong to not be able to be with her on her 50th birthday - quite a milestone. We did manage a Face time call with her the evening before here, 6:00 AM there, as she was preparing to go for her regular early morning swim in the Mediterranean Sea.

Beautiful white cloud with blue sky above and our campsite there on the right side, March 10, 2021.

This tree is across the creek from "my" morning bench in a beautiful Redwood Grove.

    There is a seasonal creek that's been flowing since the first rain in November that runs between the bench and that tree. This morning for the first time I decided to walk down and across the creek to look at this sweet grove from a different perspective.

Can you see the bench down there?

One of the big trees in this "sanctuary" grove

Looking up into the canopy

The backside of the tree that I look at from the other side each morning.

This is a very large "room" I could walk in standing up.

A close up of the front of the tree with a window into the large hidden room.

    Have you gotten your COVID vaccine yet? We have finally this week gotten our first of two Pfizer vaccines. From the beginning I have taken COVID seriously and adhered to cautions and protocols, but I didn't think I was that concerned about getting the vaccine. I have noticed on Facebook that many of our friends and acquaintances have had theirs and I wondered when we'd have the opportunity to get ours, but I didn't think I was that anxious to get them, not like the camper we talked to a couple of weeks ago who said she felt like she'd won the lottery when she was finally able to make an appointment for her first shot. A day or so after talking with her we got emails from Kaiser, our medical provider, inviting us to schedule our first shots so we did - for last Tuesday - but when we showed up for the shot they gave us an inflexible return appointment for the second shot that we could not be present for. No big deal I thought, we'll just reschedule. Well, I guess it was a bigger deal for me than I realized - just ask Rob what my mood was like for the next few hours until we could arrange the rescheduling. I finally had to admit that it felt like I knew I'd won the lottery, but I'd lost the ticket! We got our first doze of the vaccine two days ago, and are scheduled for the second one on March 30, and I realize a weight of worry I didn't know I had is beginning to lift. 

    I promised I'd keep posting pictures of my beloved trilliums, so here are some:

With Raindrops on the leaves

A group of trilliums along one of the trails

The face of a little beauty

This purple trillium was once white, but as they get older they often turn pink/purple.

One of the larger trilliums I've been watching for the blooms to open for two weeks now.

This one looks like it will be a champagne color, not white.

My Eureka friends know my love affair with trilliums and Jamie and Angela sent me this beautiful trillium mug this past week. This mug and other nature inspired pottery and tiles are made by Angela and her sister Maria. Their business is Tree Frog Pottery and you can find them on Facebook.

My morning cup of tea by the campfire

Redwood Violet Plants

    Of course trilliums aren't the only harbinger flowers of spring. There are many, many of these Redwood violet plants around the park, but so far not many are blooming. The plants line the trail along Pioneer Tree Trail for a long ways and I am anxious for them to start showing their pretty little yellow blossoms.

Here is a patch of the Redwood violets amidst the ferns.

Ferns beginning to unfurl in a process called Circinate Vernation

More Circinate Vernation on the ends of these ferns

Gold Back Fern

This tiny little fern will leave a print if you press it against clothing or paper.

Leaves forming on a buckeye tree

Buckeye tree branches

I'm really enjoying all the various stages of leave formation on these trees.

The first Golden poppies I've seen in the park.

These were in the Devil's Gulch area.

This odd looking plant caught my attention on a trail nearby. I think it is a form of Butterbur.

It reminded me of rhubarb.

A blooming Hog Weed. 

This is the first I've seen, but there are hundreds more to come.

This brilliant yellow blossoming tree is the only one I've seen in the park, and I don't yet know what it is. Though it's the only one we've seen at Samuel P Taylor we did see several around Point Reyes Station.

There is large variety of fungi in the park and many visitors come to look for them.

 Of course, no foraging allowed.

A waxy redcap

A waxy redcap just appearing

A group of waxy redcaps

Some older redcaps

A butterfly - hard to get them to pose.

A white butterfly

Here is Rob looking over the railing at Lagunitas Creek.

We saw folks from Fish and Wildlife today - they think the Steelhead are pretty much gone for the season unless we get some more significant rain. They saw one Steelhead fish in the creek yesterday.

    The biggest change for us as camp hosts is that the park now has firewood to sell - first time in a year and a half. Last Saturday we sold 40 bundles of the overpriced, but very nice hardwood. Having the firewood to sell means we feel one of us needs to be around our campsite in the early evening so generally one of stays here while the other walks to the day use area to lock those bathrooms for the night. We're still spending a half hour or so together each morning sweeping some part of the campground area. People are always thanking us for keeping the campground beautiful, and I tell them that is because of the wonderful maintenance staff. 

Elsie looking especially bright eyed.

Straus on my shoulder

Straus in a goofy pose

Straus looking pretty

Both kitties cuddling