With rain threatening, winds whipping, and temps dropping, we decided to stay close to home and check out the hills between Inks Creek and the promontory, leaving from Oak Slough Trailhead, Sacramento River Bend Recreation Area.
We mostly took the Yana Trail to Inks Creek, with a stop at Osprey Pond and a decidedly unwise detour via the fishermen’s trail, which was choked with waist-high vetch! For details about trail options from Oak Slough Trailhead, please see the write-up by Chris Harvey, Oak Slough Trailhead, Fall 2020, or our write-up, Oak Slough to Inks Creek, December 6, 2020
Photo by Don Burk.
After crossing Inks Creek, we hiked off-trail into the hills to the east, between the creek and the promontory, as far as the Recreation Area boundary. Much of this area felt wonderfully untouched, even though the fencing was proof that it certainly was not.
Don was very excited to find the seed heads of a CNPS LIst 4.2 species, woolly meadowfoam, Limnanthes floccosa ssp. floccosa, at a new location on the Hog Lake Plateau. We also went back to check on an extensive carpet of fawn lily that we had seen back in early March. We knew we had missed any potential bloom period, but we were still shocked that we could find hardly a trace of them. No fruits to be seen; barely a dead leaf could be found. There were literally thousands of them covering the slopes in March. Amazing!
Here’s a slideshow of some of our cooler finds. All photos by Don Burk. Enjoy! ~Laurie & Don Burk
