What We Saw On The East Peak Hike (September 16)

Here's Wendy's list of flora and fauna spotted on this hike:

WHAT WE SAW ON THE EAST PEAK LOOP September 16, 2008

TREES
California torreya (AKA CA nutmeg) with lots of ripe nuts, bay with bay nuts, chinquapin with nuts in spiny pods, hazel with nuts, madrone (bark more orange than manzanita, leaves larger), goldcup oak (AKA maul oak AKA canyon live oak, acorn with “beret”) interior live oak (acorn deep in cap, leaves both toothed and not toothed), toyon with green berries.

FLOWERS/PLANTS THAT AREN’T FLOWERING
Chaparral community plants: Pitcher sage (no longer in flower), golden fleece, chemise, manzanita (“little apple,” edible berry), yerba santa (shiny green leaves)
Also looked at honeysuckle berries, strong fiber on edge of ground iris leaf, huckleberry.
FERNS
Chain, braken, sword
LICHENS
Puff lichen (Hypogymnia), Usnea arizonica, rock tripe (almost black, attaches to rock at one central point)

ARACHNIDS
Turret spider dwellings (that structure no other spider has that can jam the fangs of the female is called an apophysis which is Greek for an off-shoot or out-growth)

GALLS
Stem galls on live oak made by Cynipid wasps
Lilian suggested I suggest some books of interest related to the hikes.
Oaks of California by Bruce Pavlik, Pamela Muick, Sharon Johnson, Marjorie Popper
Beautiful photographs and a chance to finally get those acorns straight, plus wildlife and oaks, fungi associated with oaks, history of oaks, and more.
Conifers of California by Ronald Lanner. Everything you wanted to know about CA torreya and other conifers including distribution maps, great illustrations of cones, etc.

OUR ROUTE

From the East Peak parking lot walk down the parking lot (away from the bathrooms), turned right on Eldrige Grade, ignore first (unmarked) left turn. At a marked bend in the fire road, turn left to Inspiration Point, then take Northside Trail to Collier Springs. Left on International Trail and take it to the paved road. Turn left, go a short ways, and turn left, off the road, onto Lakeview Trail. This will bring you back to the road below where we turned onto Eldridge Grade. Turn left on the road and go back to parking lot.
(Click here if you want to view and print a copy of this list. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).