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The Trail Companion
Spring 2000
Theme: San Francisco Bay Area Wildflowers
A Few More Wildflower Tips
by Geoffrey Skinner
I couldn't resist adding a few of my personal favorites to Tim Oren's list, with more of a focus on woodland flowers:
- Los Trancos Open Space Preserve (Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District)
- Pacific bleeding hearts along the Franciscan Loop Trail (April-May)
- Butano State Park
- California lady-slippers and bush poppies (March-April)
- Stevens Creek County Park (Santa Clara County)
- A cliff garden above Stevens Creek Reservoir (February through mid-May)
- Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
- A terrific giant trillium dispay and leopard lilies along San Francisquito Creek (mid-February-July)
Other good bets in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a variety of grassland flowers include all of the trails in Santa Teresa County Park; any of the open trails at Monte Bello OSP, but particularly Bella Vista Trail and Monte Bello Road; High Meadow and Upper High Meadow in Rancho San Antonio OSP, as well as the Duveneck Windmill Pasture Area (and many nice flowers can be found along Black Mountain Trail all spring); Spring Ridge Trail and the top of Windy Hill OSP; the Serpentine Trail in Edgewood Preserve; the Summit Loop Trail in San Bruno Mountain Park; and the Bay Area Ridge Trail in Skyline Ridge OSP.
Further afield, the west side of Pinnacles National Monument has jaw-dropping displays of flowers in mid-spring, and Henry Coe State Park has too many good flower trails to name (check with the Pine Ridge Association for both tips on wildflowers in bloom and docent-led hikes). Wherever you choose to go this spring, take the opportunity to enjoy the flowers!
Related Stories
- Six Sure-Fire Wildflower Hikes
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- A Few More Wildflower Tips
- Los Trancos Open Space Preserve
- Butano State Park
- Stevens Creek County Park
- Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
- Identifying the Mystery Plant
- Wildflower and Plant Guides - Web and Electronic Resources
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