Hiking through the Land of the Eternal and the Everchanging Forest, at Butano State Park

Dancing Redwood

Date: June 8, 2024
Place: Butano State Park, Pescadero, California
Coordinates: 37.201929, -122.339150
Length: 6 miles
Level: strenuous

 

Which our chikas transitioning into adulthood, Pappa Quail and I are taking more and more time off to ourselves, and our favorite way of spending such time is out in Nature. On June 8 we took a Nature Day off, starting it with a lovely, and very rich nature hike in Año Nuevo State Park. That hike filled all of our morning but after lunch we were ready for more, so we went to nearby Butano State Park for a hike in the redwoods. Butano State Park is one of many redwood parks and open spaces in the San Francisco Peninsula. I suggested going there but I was also a bit apprehensive - this park was impacted by the CZU Lightning complex fire of 2020, and I didn't know what we would see when we got there. The attendant of the entrance booth gave us a map and recommended us where to hike.

Our hike as captured by my GPS

I spotted the first wildflower of this hike as soon as we exited the car. Later on the trail there were so many of these stickyseeds that they made large uniform patches of light blue. 

Jessica's Stickyseed, Hackelia micrantha

Our trailhead, that of Jackson Flats Trail, was behind the visitor center. The trail plunged immediately into the forest, which in that spot comprised of mainly thin pines and firs. 

Jackson Flats Trail

Right from the first steps there were wildflowers along the trail. Not carpets and carpets of them, but plenty enough to make me happy. 

California Hedge Nettle, Stachys bullata

The day had turned gray even before we arrived at Butano State Park, and there was no direct sunlight from the sky. There were, however, numerous little sunflower relatives shining from below - the Madia tarplant. 

Woodland Madia, Anisocarpus madioides

Roght from the start we were on the incline. We had begun a four miles stretch of an uphill hike, mostly at a mild slope, but nearly completely continuous. 

Jackson Flats Trail

The beginning wasn't very challenging, but we still took it slowly. Pappa Quail was listening to the forest birds and I was looking down for wildflowers. 

Yerba Buena, Clinopodium douglasii

Not all wildflowers were down, however. The vining honeysuckle grow right into the trail at the level of my eyes. 

Pink Honeysuckle, Locinera hispidula

It wasn't only wildflowers that I found, but also a few wild strawberries. Needless to say, these berries disappeared as soon as I took the photo. 

Wild Strawberry, Fragaria vesca

Another plant I like to nosh while hiking is the black nightshade, but the plants I saw blooming on this hike were not fruiting yet. 

Black Nightshade, Solanum nigrum

Then the trail became somewhat steeper and I started feeling the heat. That the sky was cloudy didn't cool the air in the forest - we were inland enough for the air to be hot. Moreover, there was no breeze within the forest. The trees were completely still. 

Jackson Flats Trail

Pappa Quail was going up the trail at a nice pace but he stopped and turned around when he heard me yelp with excitement - I spotted an orchid blooming below one of the bushes by the side of the trail. I promptly bent down on my knees to get a better photo position and took a series of photos. As it turned out, this orchid, beautiful as it is, is an invasive species in Califiornia. 

Broad-leaved Helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, non-native

I kept a much better walking pace after the orchid sighting. A section of the trail was flanked by large thimbleberry bushes, most of them in the green berry stage but some had a few flowers still. 

Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus

Other bushes that were in full bloom were the ocean spray. The photo below is of a close up on one small cluster of flowers but the entire bush when blooming looks like a fluffy white cloud that descended from the sky, or a bit of ocean foam that drifted on land. 

Ocean Spray, Holodiscus discolor 

Pappa Quail pointed out to me a trillium plant, as it is one of the plants he knows I get excited seeing on our hikes. The bloom season of the trillium was long time over, but the cute shaped fruit in the middle is also attractive and worth noting. 

Pacific Trillium, Trillium ovatum

The trail leveled a bit. we started seeing small groves of redwood below us away from the trail but for the most part, we were still walking between other trees, mainly thin pines and firs, and some broad leaf trees such as laurels and tanoaks. 

Jackson Flats Trail

When we finally saw the redwood on the trail is was with one big wow, because these redwood trees, although young, where very tall and majestic-looking. Two of these trees in particular grabbed my attention because one of them had a curved trunk, something that is very unusual for redwood trees. Together, these trees reminded me of a couple engaged in dancing. I chose an enlarged photo of this couple as the header of this blogpost. 

There was much less forest undergrowth under the redwoods. The thick layer of dead redwood leaves prevents many plants from germinating there. Only plants that adapted to the redwood forest can establish themselves underneath the redwoods. 

Western Starflower, Lysimachia latifolia

Where the forest floor was covered with vegetation it was mostly the redwood sorrel. The bloom season of the sorrel was mos;t over now, but there were some flowers blooming here and there.

Redwood Sorrel, Oxalis oregana

We reached the first trail junction on our hike and I was glad to see that it was well marked because there were some other, unmarked trails that were leaving off the main trail around that place. Right before turning on Mill Ox Trail we passed one of the few older trees in the park, which probably wasn't logged because it was hollow.

Mill Ox Trail was one of the few short segments of trail where we did go downhill. Still between the redwoods, we made our way down to where the inner park road was. 

Mill Ox Trail

We passed more giant old redwoods on our way, all of them the stump remains of logged old growth trees. Around the old stumps were the younger, renewed root growth redwoods that made today's forest. 

Some of the stumps provided support for a different kind of recovery and renewal: they became pedestals to other plants, supporting, and probably nourishing them as well.

Dead wood however, supports the growth mainly of fungi. Bracket mushrooms, some of them very colorful, were growing out of nearly every downed log or branch we've passed on the hike. The outside part is merely the reproductive organ of the fungus. Most of its body, the hypha, is hidden fro sight, buried inside the dead wood, where it decomposes it and consume the released nutrients, returning them to the soil in the process.

Fungus

We heard the calls of a wren. The pacific wren is one of the few forest birds that I can identify by its call, and all the better for that because this one is very difficult to see as it doesn't like to be out in the open. The bird we heard however, did not follow the protocol and did pop out into the open so Pappa Quail could take its photo.

Pacific Wren

We reached the road and crossed it to the other side. To pick up our next trail we had to pass through a utility gate and walk a few steps on a dirt road. There we turned onto to Six Bridges Trail and found ourselfs on a bridge right away, crossing the lovely Little Butano Creek.

Butano Creek

We crossed Little Butano Creek a couple more times, and I noted how nicely it was flowing, so late in the season, and home many ferns were growing alongside the water.

Little Butano Creek

Other than the ferns we found there the usual redwood forest undergrowth plants, such as the redwood sorrel and the trillium, and we also found some delicate foamflowers in bloom near the trail.

Foamflower, Tiarella trifoliata 

It was there that we spotted the first banana slug on our hike. I soon found a few others and immediately fell into the habit of counting them, to see how many banana slugs I'll see that day.

Banana Slug

For a short distance the Six Bridges Trail was almost level, ascending on a very mild, almost unnoticeable slope. 

Six Bridges Trail

Six Bridges trail actually begins near the park entrance, and it is one of the loop trail options. We were happy enough getting there on the longer route however, and enjoyed going upstream along the creek right under the redwood trees. 

Little Butano Creek. 

We were looking for the foot path that would lead us up to the Ben Reis Campground but that trail junction wasn't marked so we missed it and reached the road. We stood there for a moment, going back and forth about wether to go up to the campground on the road (longer and less interesting), or backtracking a bit, searching for the elusive foot path. Eventually we thought we could see where the hikers trail was so be backtracked and found the trail junction. It was a short and steep way up and I was rewarded with sighting milkmaids in bloom - way late for its usual season.

Milkmaids, Cardamine californica

A few years ago a hiking friend of mine raved about the campground of Butano State Park, recommending it to me as the nicest desolate campground in the entire Bay Area. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to camp there before Covid 19 and then the big fire of 2020 hit the park. While the immediate area of the campground was not damaged by the fire, the campground closed and has never reopened. Wherever we looked, everything was in bad state of disrepair. 

Ben Reis Campground

We sat at one of the picnic tables for a while, snaking and resting a bit. The attendant of the entrance booth told us that we aught to pick up the Goat Hill Trail at campsite # 22. We had a bit of a difficulty getting to it because the narrow trail had too much debris on it. When we found campsite #22 however, it was easy enough to see where the trail continued, now called the Goat Hill Trail. 

Goat Hill Trail

Our uphill hike resumed, and this time it was steeper. More over, the clouds finally cleared away and the sunshine returned to the forest, filtering down through the canopy. It was getting hotter now. It was drier as well, but there were many banana slugs around still, and I kept counting them, including the baby ones, which made the greater part of the number. 

Banana Slug

We were also out of the redwoods by now, once again hiking between thin pine and fir trees. Here and there we crossed small clearings where the sunlight was brighter and supported a great deal of forest undergrowth. 

Pine Trees

There were more broadleaf trees now along the trail, and one of these was the red elderberry, which was laden with clusters of pretty, red berries. 

Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa

The higher we ascended the more frequent were the forest clearings. There were also more wildflowers blooming along the trail. Pappa Quail who walked ahead of me was making sure I wouldn't miss any one of them. 

Cobwebby Thistle, Cirsium occidentale

In one of he cases I had to ask Pappa Quail to photograph the flowers for me because the blooming rose bush that I saw was too far from the trail and a stronger lens was needed.  

Baldhip Rose, Rosa gymnocarpa

Pappa Quail didn't respond right away to my request. I had to wait patiently for a while before he turned his attention to me and to the wild rose. After all, birds to fly and can disappear while the flower would not go anywhere. 

Wilson's Warbler

Large ferns closed in on us from both sides, add to the occasional thistle, bull nettle and poison oak that we needed to watch for and dodge if necessary. The trail almost leveled at times but most of the way we were on the incline, in varying angles of steepness.

Goat Hill Trail

We were making a good pace, now that the day grew seriously hotter and that both of us were sweating. We slowed down every now and then to look at things, such as wildflowers.  

Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium bellum

The Goat Hill Trail went through a number of different habitats with different plant communities. It seemed like each leg of the way I was seeing a whole different array of wildflowers. This truly was a natural diversity trail. 

Coast Morning Glory, Calystegia macrostegia 

For a short while the trail was going down and we were descending. Live oaks became a prominent member of the forest on the higher part of Goat Hill Trail, which was about the northeast part of our hike. 

Goat Hill Trail

We were getting near our next trail junction. The trail leveled again, then we were going uphill once more. The upper part of the trail was flanked by lovely patches of the Jessica's stickyseed light blue blossom. I was happy these lovely looking flowers were not at their fruit stage. 

Goat Hill Trail

We paused for a short hydration break at the next clearing we crossed and I looked around and admired the 50 shades of green sported by the trees and the pother vegetation. The sun was very bright now, but it was also on the descend. Pappa Quail looked at his watch but I wasn't concerned. 

Out in the dry open area was a large patch of horsetails, an ancient plant type that I usually see in wetter places. As we neared them I saw there a small brook that although it wasn't flowing anymore, it was still pretty damp. 

Then all of a sudden we were once again inside a forest of thin pine trees. Since the sun was more on the west now, the thin pine shade was a bit more effective. it also helped that we were high enough now to enjoy a light breeze that came over from the ocean. 

All the time I kept counting banana slugs that we saw on our way. There were many baby slugs about, I suppose it wasn't long ago that the big hatching happened. I also took photographs of each and every banana slug I saw, in case I lost my count. By the time we approached our next trail junction with the Olmo Fire Road, I had counted 69 slugs, and I was eager to find at least one more to make it a round 70. 

Banana Slug

I didn't see another slug, but I did see more new wildflowers - this time a pink honeysuckle in full bloom that was vining down into the trail, hanging from another tall bush. 

If we thought we would get some respite from the uphill ascension when we reached Olmo Fire Road, we were mistaken. As soon as we turned on that dirt road, the uphill slope steepened. We did get a short downhill stretch though, when we got closer to the last trail junction of our hike, the one with the Año Nuevo Trail. 

Olmo Fire Road

It was a short distance on Olmo Fire Road however, and we did get to see some more wildflowers blooming along that part of the trail. 

Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus

The Año Nuevo Trail started with a good uphill stretch too. At that point we already understood that if most of the hike so far was on the uphill it meant that the downhill part would be much shorter, and by default, much steeper too. 

Pine forest near the Año Nuevo Trail

Little birds hopped around us near the trail. These were dark-eyed junco - a very common forest bird here in California, but also one that is not easy to photograph well. Tha is because these little birds are hyperactive, and they know exactly where to be to have the worst possible illumination for a photo. Well, the juvenile in the photo below wasn't experienced enough, and Pappa Quail got a nice photo of the young bird. 

Dark-eyed Junco, juvenile

There was thick forest undergrowth flanking this trail as well, and I kept seeing more and more types of wildflowers among them. 

Pacific Pea, Lathyrus vestitus

It was at the highest point of our hike that we finally saw what the entrance booth attendant told us about - the view point of the Año Nuevo Park and the Año Nuevo Island way down below, in the ocean. We were there, watching this island from the shore mere hours before, and now we were seeing it from far above the coastline. 

Año Nuevo Island View

It was at that point where we finally begun our descent toward the trailhead where we've started our hike. It was also the place where we entered the fire-damaged area of the park as well. We were walking now through a forest of tall thin pines with charred, black trunks. Many of the pines were dead, but many of them were very much alive still - their canopies green. This indicates that the fire swept through very quickly, and was stopped or died down before the damage was complete. 

The CZU Lightning Complex Fire happened nearly four years before, on August of 2020. Four years is a good time for the recovery process to take forth, especially in a moist, temperate area such as the San Francisco Peninsula. Of the first things that bounce back are plants with bulbs and tubers underground - if the fire that was fast enough and didn't bake the bulbs in the ground. 

Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium bellum

Brambles and other bushes and vines with a long, extensive root system are also pretty resilient beings that recover fast from fire damage. There were many blackberries along the higher part of the Año Nuevo Trail, but most of the berried were still unripe. It was a good thing, I suppose, otherwise I'd slow down considerably. 

Blackberry, Rubus sp. 

Annual plants pf course, are also quick to make a comeback after a fire. Most of the annual and biennial plants that covered the forest floor grew well into the trail, leaving us a very narrow path to walk on. Most of these were exactly the plants we really wanted to avoid touching - mostly Italian thistle and bull nettle, both invasive species in California. It was a really itchy going for a while there. 

Año Nuevo Trail

The trail started sloping downward at last, mildly at first. By now both Pappa Quail and me were hot, sweaty and tired from the long uphill hike. We paused again for a water break and for me to sniff some ceanothus that I saw blooming by the trail. 

Blueblossom, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

All of a sudden we were at the precipice. Or at least, that's how it felt. The trail simply dropped below us into a series of switchbacks with steep downhill connectors, some of which turned out to be quite eroded and hard to descend without worrying about slipping on the dust layer that coated the trail. The view ahead to the opposite side of the ridge though, was wonderful. Somewhere down below was the visitor center and the end of our trail. 

Ahead of us the forest was changing again. The pines were replaced by firs and cedars and the groves were separated by long bands of open space, some of which looked too straight and may have been made by foresters to help contain the fire. 

Pappa Quail stopped part way down - he'd seen a large pigeon perched on top of a tall fir, far away. I wondered aloud how he could even see the bird and know it was there before he raised his camera. Apparently he just saw it fly there a moment before and followed it with his eyes. 

Band-tailed Pigeon

After we passed the steepest part of the trail downhill we picked up our pace. It was after 5:00 pm now and both of us were getting hungry and eager to get home in time for dinner. The trail now was much more comfortable to walk on, without dusty slippery slopes and thorny plants growing into it. The trees on the trail side now included live oaks as well and we welcomed their nice shade whenever we passed under them. 

Año Nuevo Trail

Before long we were down at the lower part of the trail, and the slope nearly leveled. We were also getting into a much moister area, and thick, water loving vegetation soon walled the trail from both sides. 

Common Vetch, Vicia sativa

It was there that I was caught by surprise by one bull nettle that was bent into the trail. I accidentally brushed the nettle with my arm and I felt the sharp stinging right away. I washed the affected area with some of my drinking water, which didn't do much. When the burning sensation intensified I smeared some hand sanitizer gel on the affected area to try and cool it down, and this helped some. 

Año Nuevo Trail

The next trail junction was with the Six Bridges Trail, right before the Little Butano Creek. Thick riparian vegetation blocked most of the view of the creek but I could see that it was flowing nicely just below us. 

Little Butano Creek

To complete our hike we didn't turn onto the Six Bridges Trail but continued straight to cross the creek on a simple bridge of wood planks that were laid across.  The bridge was stable enough and didn't wobble when we crossed it. 

Año Nuevo Trail

I paused briefly in the middle of the bridge to take some photos of the flowing creek before it disappeared under the thick vegetation. Past the creek crossing it was only a few more steps to exit the thicket and meet the asphalt road. The entrance booth and the visitor center were across the road, straight ahead. 

Little Butano Creek

 We completed our hike and started our drive home. It was a long day, having two hikes and seeing so much. The two state parks we visited that day, Año Nuevo State Park and Butano State Park, are very close to one another, but so very different, in pretty much everything. Being in both of them in the same day is a perfect combination of nature lovers in the Bay Area, without a doubt. 

Oh, and I never found the 70th banana slug and had to settle for the odd number of 69. Still, a very respectable numbers of slugs on one hike, I'd say.