More than 20 volunteers turn out for a Ventana Wilderness Alliance sponsored work day on the Little Sur Trail. Read the rest of this entry »
Fixing Up the Little Sur Trail
February 12, 2012
3 Comments | 
Big Sur, On Foot, Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | 
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Posted by xasauan
Wildflower of the Week: Paintbrush
February 9, 2012
Coast Paintbrush (Castilleja affinis) in Garland Regional Park
Paintbrush, or Indian Paintbrush, is one of the most easily recognized wildflowers in California. It’s found pretty much everywhere and if you spend much time outdoors you probably know it when you see it. Yet determining the species (let alone subspecies) of a given plant can be challenging. While all paintbrush may look pretty much alike to the casual observer, botanists have recognized upwards of 200 individual species – and subspecies beyond counting. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Big Sur, Diablo Range, Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Wildflower of the Week: Checkerbloom
February 1, 2012
Checkerbloom (Sidalcea malviflora)
There isn’t a lot in flower out there yet, but one thing that quickly responded to the mid-January rain (at least along the coastal terraces) was checkerbloom. This member of the Mallow family generally prefers open meadows, but is also quite common in the pine forests of the Monterey Peninsula. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Big Sur, Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | Tagged: canada geese, Carmel Bay, East Molera, Little Sur, Pico Blanco, Pt. Lobos | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
A Saturday on Rattlesnake Creek
January 28, 2012A Saturday with no obligations! I head off to the Ventana Wilderness with no particular destination in mind …
The parking lot for the trailhead at Los Padres Dam is gated for some reason these days, so it’s necessary to park down the hill at the Forest Service Station. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | Carmel River, Fungus, On Foot, Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | Tagged: Big Pines Trail, Cachagua, California newt, Cardamine californica, Carmel River Trail, Cynoglossum grande, Danish Creek, Gray squirrel, Helvella, Los Padres Dam, Los Padres National Forest, mountain lion, Ramaria, Rattlesnake Trail, tick, Ventana Wilderness | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Wildflower of the Week: Shooting Stars
January 23, 2012
A shooting star (Dodecatheon clevelandii) near Garzas Creek in Garland Regional Park. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Cycling the Arroyo Seco-Indians Road
January 15, 2012
Leaving the Arroyo Seco Campground. You know it’s mid-winter when the road is still shaded at 11:00 am. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Cycling, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | Tagged: arroyo seco campground, arroyo seco river, indian paintbrush, last chance camp | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Spectre of Drought
January 11, 2012
The sun sets over Soberanes Pt., bringing yet another week without rain to an end.
The ground is drying out, there’s no rain in sight, and the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center is calling for drought through at least the end of March. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Big Sur, Carmel River, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Politics, Santa Lucias, Water | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Trail Work
December 18, 2011
Pine Ridge Trail near Bad Gulch
The high winds at the end of November brought down an immense number of trees in the Santa Lucia mountains, leaving many trails looking more or less like this. Hundreds of trees, in fact, have fallen on the Pine Ridge Trail between Big Sur Station and Sykes (the most heavily traveled section of trail in the Ventana Wilderness). Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Big Sur, On Foot, Santa Lucias | Tagged: Big Sur, November 2011 wind, Pine Ridge Trail, Sykes, Trail Maintenance | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
The Fate of the Oaks
October 12, 2011
Trail under coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) on Big Sur’s East Molera Ridge. Quercus is derived from the Celtic quer cuez, meaning “fine tree.” Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | Big Sur, Fungus, History, Plants, Santa Lucias | Tagged: acorn, black oak, blue oak, coast live oak, lithocarpus, phytophthora ramorum, quercus, Sargenta-ruc, SOD, sudden oak death, tanbark oak, tanoak, valley oak, whispering oaks | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
The Cerro Finally Opened to the Public
September 16, 2011We’ve remarked before on the glacial pace at which newly acquired public lands are opened to the public in these parts, so we’re glad the Forest Service has taken the first step toward genuinely opening the Brazil Ranch, purchased almost a decade ago. That step has been to open a trail from the entrance road to the top of Serra Hill, and a trail poison oak infested bush whack from the road to a point overlooking Bixby Bridge. In our tradition of checking out newly opened areas and trails, we went and took a look. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Big Sur, On Foot, Plants, Santa Lucias, Wildflowers | Tagged: Bixby Bridge, Bixby Mountain, Brazil Ranch, Pico Blanco, Post Summit, Prominence Point, Serra Hill, Uncle Sam Mountain | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
