On Sunday, April 13, a small group of seven hikers joined Juliet for a 3.5-mile hike along the Sloppy Joe and T-Party trails in west Redding. It was a beautiful spring morning with plenty of green growth and emerging wildflowers along the seasonal creek and in the oak woodland.
Photo taken by Juliet Malik on April 13, 2025.
Some highlights included the spotting of an orange crowned warbler singing its heart out, a poison oak vine that wrapped so densely around a blue oak it resembled English ivy, patches of white meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba), blooming mule’s-ears (Wyethia sp.), tomcat clover (Trifolium willdenovii), woolly-fruited lomatium (Lomatium dasycarpum), and some canoodling ladybugs in a mugwort (Artemisia douglasiana)!
We discussed stream types: perennial streams flow year-round, intermittent streams are seasonal but get flow from both ground water and precipitation, and ephemeral streams are seasonally charged solely by precipitation. The small creeks in this trail system are possibly ephemeral as they dry up pretty quickly after the rains have stopped. Regardless, they host a bounty of riparian vegetation and provide great habitat for Pacific chorus frogs, which the group heard singing by the end of the hike. All in all a great way to spend a Sunday morning! ~Juliet Malik
