OK, I’ve arrived back home, barely have my stuff together, and reporting back in!
This will be a long-winded response and summary of the trip but here is the TLDR of dangers I learned of in California/Nevada:
· First and foremost, the greatest danger of this trip would have to be one’s brain melting from all the beauty there is to witness. From the rare like observing endemic flowers with super tiny ranges or a rare Baltimore Oriole (lol) in mesquites at Death Valley to what some might consider the mundane like a Bell’s Sparrow dashing on the wing to outmaneuver and catch insects, or enjoying coffee with an Eared Grebe and noticing for the first time the golden plumes by their eyes are reflective, there is just so much beauty to see… from landscape level to borderline microscopic. So many moments that I was just in awe, and felt so lucky just to observe what was going on.
OK for real though, here are some of the dangers. Nothing was really that bad and I never felt like I was at risk of any serious harm, but a few things I was definitely aware of during the trip;
· Honestly the biggest danger was the sun. In a lot of areas it was cool and windy and didn’t really feel like you were sucking up UVs, but after a few hours in the sun the first day I ended up a little toasty. In the desert and even in the valley it can be very difficult to find shade, and even if you’re in your car it’s not quite the same as indoors or tree shade. Being on a road trip where you’re either hiking or driving during all hours of daylight, taking the time to have a proper lunch indoors or under the shade of an umbrella can make a big difference. Death Valley was perhaps the most intense for this. I was very good about applying sunscreen, putting on SPF 100+ 3 times between 8AM and 2PM. I only did two short hikes (Badwater and Salt Creek) but enjoy keeping my arm out the window while driving. After Salt Creek I was feeling pretty winded so around 2:30 I took a breather at one of the general stores and looked at my left arm to find I wasn’t burnt but still had tiny blisters. Yikes! I had no idea it was even possible to get blisters without burning. Anyway, they weren’t severe, and fortunately my cabin at Panamint was beautiful so I spent the rest of the day watching warblers and orioles in the shade of a mesquite tree. Hydration is another big one to be aware of, since it’s so dry you don’t realize you’re sweating, but I’d been in deserts before and was good about keeping hydrated.
· The only other time I felt like I could potentially end up in a bad situation was up at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. I don’t know if I was psyching myself out, if my coffee was wearing off, lack of sleep, or what, but I started to feel a bit disoriented while walking the Discovery Trail and wasn’t sure if I was starting to get altitude sickness, and being alone I didn’t want to risk it so I cut the hike a little short and went back down the mountain. No biggie there but might have been bad had I stayed up there longer.
· Other than that, there were a few times I got the heebie jeebies when I was out hiking. I’d hear something and be reminded that there are mountain lions and get nervous for a bit, most of the time it was a jay or something rustling around. I don’t think I was ever in any real danger, and it went away pretty quickly with all the cool stuff to be distracted by.
Anyway, onto the trip itself! Maybe it’s weird to post a trip summary, but it’s the only way I can think of to thank those that helped me in the event they were interested in hearing about how it went. Here’s a map of the ~2 week road trip I did around CA/NV:
I started my trip in the Bay area, going to Mount Diablo and then Point Reyes before heading north. I took Route 1 which was incredibly scenic, making stops for wildflowers along the way. I went as far north as Inglenook, where I explored Inglenook Fen (California’s last remaining natural coastal fen) and Ten Miles Dune. The expansive dunes were amazing, especially seeing the tree-lined hills in the background, and the entire shoreline was cluttered with Whimbrels and other shorebirds that were feeding on Pacific sand crabs kicked up from the high winds and churning surf. The next day I explored the Ecological Discovery Trail at Jughandle State Park, which features terraces each 100,000 years older than the next with distinct plant communities, ending in pygmy forest.
After my coastal ventures I headed inland and thanks to @rupertclayton’s suggestion I was able to experience some massive old-growth redwoods. The size of these trees was spectacular and you couldn’t help but feel miniscule as you walked within them. On the way toward the Sierras, I ended a day at the Redbud Trailhead of Cache Creek recommended by @graysquirrel, @tiwane, and @screedius . The wildflower show here was fantastic and I was able to find both Hoover’s lomatium and orange calcite.
Looks like a normal forest until you get a sense of scale…
I spent the following morning checking out the waterfalls and wildflowers on the basalt mesa at North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve, and afterward I took highway 70 to go around the Sierras, which is where the Sierras end and the Southern Cascades begin. The wildflowers along the drive were fantastic, the drive scenic and overall very mellow. I was very happy that I heeded @jdjohnson ‘s advice to take this over I-80.
Speaking of @jdjohnson , she’s largely responsible for all the fun I had on the next leg of my trip. Once over the mountains, I explored the Great Basin Desert for the first time starting with a few fun botany stops around Reno and Carson City looking at buckwheats, monkeyflowers, and vetches. The following day I spent at what ended up being my favorite stop of the trip, Walker River State Recreation Area, specifically along the East Walker River. There were miles and miles of gravel roads here and very few people to speak of. I checked out some of the neat plants and looked for fossils at Aldrich Hill, explored a young and an old lava flow, and reveled in the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, with practically no people around.
Following the Walker River, I went to Mono Lake where I had the aforementioned experience with an Eared Grebe which was really quite special, and hiked around Panum Crater which gave great views of all of Mono Lake. Driving south I was fortunate that the road was open to the Ancient Bristlecone Forest, and though I may have felt the elevation a bit it was really special to be able to see trees that were thousands of years old and imagining how different things must have been when some of these trees were young.
After a stay in Beatty and perhaps the most caffeinated beverage I’ve ever had in my life (Mama’s Sweet Ice, highly recommend!) I took Titus Canyon into Death Valley, and was able to scope out some bighorn sheep on the way in! The drive was amazing and fun, not too rough but some parts were rough enough to be exciting. Klare Spring about halfway in had some neat plants, including a bunch of blooming stream orchids. The park proper was quite a sight and after the Artist’s drive I went down to Badwater Basin, and checked out the Salt Creek Pupfish at the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail. That evening I stayed at Panamint Springs, and hiked some of the washes at the resort at sunset and after dark. Sunset was beautiful and I was treated to bats and Lesser Nighthawks as shadows climbed up the mountains to the east, and after dark the stars were amazing.
Following a quick stop at Owens Lake where I saw Cinnamon Teal, rails, and tons of White-faced Ibis I went south and checked out Fossil Falls, which are now-dry (hence fossil) waterfalls carved into the basalt within an old lava flow. The bowls carved into the basalt were spectacular, it was really cool seeing plants growing within the basalt, and as mentioned before watching Bell’s Sparrows hunt insects on the wing was quite a treat. After Fossil Falls @sheriff_woody_pct had mentioned wildflowers were great at Kennedy Meadows, and was absolutely right. The drive up 9 Mile Canyon Rd was fantastic with wildflowers blooming everywhere, and so many beardtongue flowers fallen onto the road that I had initially assumed it was trash!
I ended my stint in the deserts east of the Sierras with a morning hike at the Desert Tortoise Natural Area in the Mojave. Lots of searching but unfortunately no tortoises on the hike, but lots of neat lizards, and got to see Loggerhead Shrikes and a coachwhip on the hunt. I again went around the Sierras but this time the southern end through Tehachapi Pass. From here I headed up to Mariposa which is where my friend was getting married, and coincidentally happened to be probably the best wildflower show of the entire trip. The Hite Cove trail as well as the Stockton Creek Preserve had a great diversity of plants in bloom, and had flowers absolutely blanketing the landscape like you see pictures of on lots of the wildflower peeping websites.
Following the wedding I only had a few days left and as such headed back to the Bay area which is where I was flying out of. There was one flower in particular that I had really been hoping to see and I had a full day to try to find one; a Tiburon Mariposa Lily. Tiburon Mariposa Lilys have an extremely small range which is limited to only a few hills on the Tiburon Peninsula north of San Francisco. Their habitat preference is essentially strictly serpentine soils, which are high in metals and therefore many other plants are unable to grow. I knew it was early as they typically bloom toward the end of May but I figured I would search everywhere in the hopes of finding an early bloom. I spent five hours walking every trail and although I found a few that were budding, I wasn’t able to find one in bloom. I figured seeing the plant with buds was the best I was going to get and was grateful for that, but upon getting to my hotel room I found that another iNat user had found a plant in flower. My flight was around noon the following day, but I couldn’t leave without giving it one final effort so I decided to wake up early and drive an hour and a half back to try to look for it again. I didn’t have long to look and after my time had run out I mostly gave up hope and started walking back down to the trail to my car, figuring I’d keep my eyes open but not get my hopes up. Not five minutes later I found the exact plant that the iNat user had posted the day prior, which was tucked behind rocks in such a way that you could only see if you were walking down this trail, and the previous day I had walked up it and taken another trail back to the car. I stood in awe of this beautiful plant for several minutes (and snapped a picture or two!) before I had to basically run to get back to my flight. It was a great adventure, to end such an amazing trip filled with great adventures.
All-in-all it was a once in a lifetime trip that was greatly enhanced by the advice of many kind users on iNat and the iNat forum so thank you all so much, I can’t think of how it could have been any better! And to those that suggested places that I wasn’t able to get to, they’re on my bucket list for next time!