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| Our hike as captured by my GPS |
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| Trail |
The hail didn't last long and the hailstones quickly melted in the following rain.We sheltered under a tree for a few minutes, but we soon got bores. Besides, the tree wasn't sheltering us all that well and if getting wet, we might as well do it hiking. From the Manzanita Group Camp Site we headed westward down the Ridge Trail.
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| Blackberry, Rubus sp. |
The dry winter that preceded didn't support much mushroom bloom, but we did see a few of them here and there.
We were walking in a beautiful redwood forest. The rain continued lightly for a little bit but then ceased. It wasn't enough to soak the ground even, so we didn't have to deal with muddy trails. The trees continued to drip a bit longer after the rain stopped.
There weren't very many wildflowers. Much fewer than I would expect at this time of year, which was another result of the heavy drought. Still, I marveled at every flower I saw.
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| Hedge Nettle, Stachys ajugoides |
It didn't take very long before we spotted the first banana slug on this hike. There weren't as many of them as we've encountered on the Purisima Creek hike but I think our hike in the redwood forest wouldn't have been complete without seeing some banana slugs.
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| Banana Slug |
I got very excited to see the first iris too. Irises are among my favorite wildflowers. We so many more irises later on the hike.
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| Douglas Iris, Iris douglasiana |
Although the rain had stopped, moisture was everywhere still. Nowhere was it more beautiful than as droplets covered spider webs, looking like delicate pearl ornaments.
The trail exited the redwoods and widened. We continued downhill through a forest of smaller trees that included many broad-leaved kinds. For a brief moment the sun came out and promised a brighter weather and some warmth.
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| Ridge Trail |
We enjoyed the open trail only for a short distance before we were once again under he redwoods. On the forest floor bloomed one of the few species that thrive under the thick canopy of the redwood forest - the redwood sorrel.
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| Redwoods Sorrel, Oxalis oregana |
The trail led us along a small creek that was flowing between the trees. As I write these words in March of 2023, this little creek is probably overflowing and floods the trail, but there was only a thin flow when we were there last spring.
The redwoods on Mount Madonna are young, less than 200 years old. That's because the old growth trees were logged during the massive settlement and development of the Bay Area in the years if the Gold Rush and after. The forest was allowed to regenerate when the are became protected. Evidence of the massive logging and destruction where everywhere, though. A sad reminder of the careless past.
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| Old growth redwood stump |
Although the most dominant, the redwood sorrel wasn't the only forest floor plant. False lily of the valley grew there too, and carried its delicate feathery blossom at the time of our hike.
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| Feathery False Lily of the Valley, Maianthemum racemosum |
I was happy to spot some blue dicks here and there at the more exposed areas of the trail. Blue dicks are generally very common in the Bay Area but last year there were miserably few of them blooming, no doubt the effect of the severe drought.
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| Blue Dicks, Dipterostemon capitatus |
A movement in the trees grabbed our attention. It wasn't a bird but a dark gray squirrel that was busy munching on something, and didn't mind us passing nearby.
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| Squirrel |
One other wildflower that I was excited to see was the wild rose, which had only very few delicate flowers.
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| Baldhip Rose, Rosa gymnocarpa |
All the time we were walking downhill, and I kept thinking to myself that at some point we'll need to ascend all that we've descended. We were still pretty high up Mount Madonna, so it wasn't surprising that when the view finally opened up we could see quite far away.
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| The Coastal Range. View east from the Ridge Trail of Mount Madonna. |
My friend pointed at one of the chaparral bushes and named it with pride - it was one of the few plants that she remembered by name. I was proud of myself too for getting a reasonable photo. Usually the low contrast of these flowers make it difficult for me to photograph.
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| Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus |
Looking southeast at the Coastal Range I saw a few peaks that I didn't know. I think the one on the right may be Fremont Peak.
Out in the open there were more wildflowers to see. Most of them were chaparral bushes or vines, like the honeysuckle.
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| Pink Honeysuckle, Lonicera hispidula |
Amongst all the greenery I spotted a small buckeye tree in full bloom. It was quite far from the trail so I had to use my strongest zoom to take its photo. There weren't many buckeye trees along the trail and O would have liked to see more. They have a stunningly beautiful bloom, and they are also magnets for butterflies.
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| California Buckeye, Aesculus californica |
The chaparral provided what was lacking in the annual bloom that spring. The chaparral of Mount Madonna wasn't dominated by one or two species but had a good variety of shrubs and bushes, and many of them were in bloom.
The California Buckwheat was one of the common shrubs there, a lower plant with a very prominent bloom.
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| California Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum |
The Chamise is one of the most dominant chaparral bushes in the East Bay. Here in Mount Madonna it was one of many, but when in full bloom, it really stands out.
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| Chamise, Adenostoma fasciculatum |
My friend started to look at the time. Her time was limited because she had to pick up her children from school. I assured her that soon we'll be taking a turn and be on the way back.
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| Ridge Trail |
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| Chaparral Pea, Pickeringia montana |
We run into a couple of elderly hikers who were going up on the trail we were coming down on. We paused and chatted for a bit. After we went each on their way my friend and I turned on the Blackhawk trail that would take us back to the Manzanita Campground area. A few steps up that trail We started seeing more of the herbaceous wildflowers.
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| Morning Glory, Calystegia sp. |
Perhaps it was the overcast and wet weather, or the smaller than usual bloom, but there weren't many butterflies around. I did see a few however, and one of them even stayed put long enough to get caught on camera.
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| Azure butterfly |
My friend, who moved a few steps ahead of me while I was busy with the butterfly, called me to come over. She already knew what I get excited about, and pointed out a mariposa lily that she saw. And she was right, That lily certainly made my day.
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| Yellow Mariposa, Calochortus superbus |
The sky got overcast again, and soon the rain resumed. It was a light, almost misty rain, not intense enough to render the trail muddy, but enough for me to pull a cover over my camera and quicken my pace.
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| Blackhawk Trail |
Blackhawk Trail follows one of the park's creeks. The creek was obscured by thickly growing trees, a mix of laurels, oaks and redwood - all three are signature tree species of the Bay Area. When I saw an opening in the trees I stepped over to look at the creek. There was water in the creek. Not much, though. The flow was a trickle, but the water holes were full.
Looking at the time again, my friend prompted me and we quickened our pace. Once more we were walking under the thick forest canopy, comprised mainly of thin redwood and aromatic laurels that grew unusually tall because they had to compete with the redwoods for the light.
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| Blackhawk Trail |
As we made our way quickly up the trail the rain stopped and the clouds parted, letting the sunlight through. At one point I paused to admire the aetherial illumination flowing through the green filter of the canopy leaves.
Up the trail we turned onto a connector path leading back to the Manzanita Campground and the picnic area behind it where we had parked. The trail connector took us through an area of chaparral where we got to see blooming yerba santa - another prominent chaparral species in the Bay Area.
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| Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon californicum |
We completed the loop by joining the hard packed gravel road that connected to the main park road. The clouds that covered the sky for most of the morning where slowly receding away and the final lag of our hike was bathed in warm and soothing sunlight. Being the strange weather year it was, that morning rain wasn't the last precipitation event that spring.
