Field Notes From Plant Explorations: Recent Comments

Comment on Lanphere Dunes ~ Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge

2010-02-17T04:56:55Z

See Humboldt Bay NWR website and navigate to photographic plant guide to see photos of this and other species.

link

Comment on Rarities and Ramblings | Horse Mountain Botanical Area ~ Six Rivers National Forest

2010-02-15T10:40:01Z

Fabulous!

Comment on Scoliopus bigelovii ~ Fetid Adder's Tongue | Russ Park 2010

2010-02-03T17:36:20Z

Gosh and I thought I was on top of things by noticing the Indian-plum leafing out. Better let this jo go tepid and get outside huh. Nice shots, Allison.

Comment on Papoose Lake ~ Trinity Alps Wilderness in the Klamath Mountains

2010-01-31T20:07:01Z

Informative commentary -- great shots of your Papoose Lake trip. I try to get to Papoose every few years -- one of my favorite Trinity Alps lakes. I've climbed the southwest ridge myself -- whenever I cross-country from Papoose to the Russell Cabin Trail -- that's how I go. It's a short but steep and very brush off-trail route. (The Russell Cabin Trail connects with the main North Fork trail at Backbone Creek just a short distance from the Hobo Gulch Trailhead.)

Comment on Hawai’i: Plant Evolution, Origin and the Genus Vaccinium (‘Ohelo)

2009-12-26T07:02:05Z

Michael, thanks for the impressions. Jude and I also enjoyed veg in Kona, on Mauna Kea, and the south side of the Big Island last year. We did a tour with a guide named Garry who's with Hawaii Forest & Trails. Didn't know what to expect but it was really good, and we recommend him. While in the Hakalau NWR (protected and regenerated forest on ne. slope of Mauna Kea) we had an ohia lehua pointed out to us which was perhaps forty inches in diameter. Garry said that the ohia grow only millimeters per year (radially) at most after their youthful flush, and that this tree could have been a thousand years old. I stood there gazing at stout limbs where, quite likely, long-extinct birds such as the Hawaiian 'O-'O, Mamo, or Akialoa may have foraged. Spending minutes with this giant was the equivalent of seeing "the big Doug" on a nw. CA hike. As a birder, I listened to the songs of half a dozen native species--trills, whistles, and other semi-tropical utterances--and had to wonder what that forest chorus would have sounded like pre-Captain Cook+ with the extinct birds also chiming in.

// Speaking of big dougs, did you know there is a ~100" dbh Douglas-fir along Hwy 101 in Del Norte Redwoods S.P. that is easily seen from the highway? Park at the entrance to Mill Creek CG and walk back south about a few hundred feet; the big boy stands west of the road about 75' off it and is obvious. Aside from diameter it is not an especially heroic tree, but it's the largest non-redwood I have seen in the park. Rave on. JOIN THE SPOTTED OWL PARTY. U.S. OUT OF NORTH AMERICA! NO FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012 / Fix

David- Thanks for your impressions as well. I loved the birds up high as well and longed for more. Hakalau NWR sounds like a can't miss next time we hit the island. As for the spotted owl party, I'm in...saw a short-eared owl on the Big Island too!

Comment on Hawai’i: Plant Evolution, Origin and the Genus Vaccinium (‘Ohelo)

2009-12-25T22:35:01Z

My botanogeek wife and I enjoyed reading about your travels! Sounds like a great trip. Merry Christmas!

Comment on Limestone Ridge ~ Trinity Alps Wilderness

2009-10-17T18:52:47Z

Michael-

Thanks for the all the write-ups. The one "gaining an understanding of geology and fire ecology on Limestone Ridge" was most informative. I offer the follow the following for the ridge's name. The rocks of this belts include little and big pieces of limestone, some quite large. Steve Mackay's "Rock climbing, northwest California" lists and describes rocks with large enough chunks that climbers have many routes over them. Also there are caves, the most famous is at Del Loma. I am told that there are others on the New River watershed.

These limestone rocks can be interesting or not botanically. We should take a trip next spring; they are near roads between SR 299 and SR 36.

John

Comment on Bigfoot Trail ~ Section 8

2009-10-13T00:25:35Z

Mike

Much better Video this time.

How did you go from the Manzanita Trail to the un-named pass to Canyon Creek. The North Fork of the Trinity is in the way.

John Sawyer

John- The trailhead is from the end of Canyon Creek road. It is little used compared the the superhighway to the lakes. Bear Creek Trail climbs 3500+ feet in 5 miles to an unnamed pass then drops to Stuarts Fork. -Michael

Comment on Carnivorous Plants of the Smith River Region ~ Stoney Creek Trail

2009-10-12T13:11:48Z

Mike,

Stumbled into your blog and wanted to say kudos for your excellent reportage on these sites. I have been into both of these areas because of my research on carnivorous plants* and orchids over the past 20+ years in the western US.

Your report on the Stoney Creek area is curious as even most cp folks never go there because it is just so obscure compared to so many other cp sites in the cp capital of CA--Gasquet.

Did you know that Youngs Valley also has Darlingtonia (scatterred), Pinguicula (Cracker Meadow, Raspberry Lake), and Drosera (reported, but not seen)? Have you seen these species thereabouts? I have always come into the Valley from the west, have you tried any other approaches?

Dr Hawk

*Carnivorous Plants of the West, Vol II: CA, OR,WA. 1995

Comment on Eureka Dunes ~ Death Valley National Park

2009-10-08T00:34:22Z

Very nice photos, hope to visit the area sometime for an Ansel Adams experience, that is photographing the dunes and surrounding area with a large format camera and b/w film.