Post by rebeccad on May 4, 2020 20:44:20 GMT -8
On Saturday I went for a walk in the park. Chico, CA, has possibly the best "city park" anywhere, starting with a 2-block-wide greenspace along the creek through the heart of town, then blossoming out into a wildland canyon as it leaves town. In total it's almost 3700 acres, and 11 miles long. I rode my cheap heavy mountain bike (which is usually used to haul groceries) 6 miles up the park road, then started hiking on the trail to the north rim. Spring is pretty far along around here, but there were still some flowers, and it felt like I got far from civilization, and all within the city park!
The trail started to climb at once (as you'd expect of a trail heading up the side of a canyon), and almost immediately brought me to swaths of DYCs amid the pine and oak trees.
Not sure what the flower is, but it has a really cool bud.
And then it has a gorgeous blossom!
After a couple of miles of serious sweat, I popped out on the North Rim. I'd never been up there before, but there was a sign that said "North Rim View" so I turned that way, instead of climbing this closer knoll.
Up on the top it was a bit drier, and the flowers were different, including a number of mariposa lilies.
Closer view.
I have no idea what these little things were. They were dry, and about half the size of a dime, and looked like lace doilies.
And, as usual, the greenest thing around is... poison oak. In this case, with a bright paintbrush poking through.
I shot this on the way back down. I'll have to cross post it in the "tree silhouette" thread. Probably a valley oak, but I'm not great at remembering the differences.
When I got back to my bike, I mounted up and rode back down the road, past a lot of people who'd come out to play in the park while I was out hiking. Some of them were even maintaining safe social distances. Total time, maybe 3 1/2 hours. Total improvement to my mood, 100%. But it made me want to go backpacking