I’m planning a trip to Humboldt County (from Sonoma County) at the end of April. The main purpose of the trip isn’t plants, but since I don’t get up there very often, I’m looking for suggested plants that aren’t found in my usual stomping grounds (Sonoma/Marin/Napa/Lake counties) or cool plant locations.
Ideally, on or near the road or the southern end of Humboldt Bay. My traveling companion is also into botany, so if the recommendation is cool enough, we’ll probably be willing to drive a bit further off-route.
I did my Masters at Humboldt and all my friends in Botany usually headed east for the interesting plants - the hills & mountains have some cool serpentine areas which is where you’ll find endemics, which I know I’m always excited about! Horse Mountain is east of Arcata off 299, but I’m sure there are some closer spots.
I know the dunes around Humboldt Bay also have a bunch of endemics, I’d try the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge & areas around there. Have fun!
This should help. Humboldt County is near the upper left along the coast. For scale, the county has 110 miles of coastline and is about 1.5 million acres.
Thanks, kestrel! That’s very helpful. Horse Mountain may be a bit too far inland on this trip, but I’m always excited to see serpentine endemics, so I’ll keep it in mind for future. I found a plant list that the FWS put out for the Dunes and Wetlands. This should help me come up with perhaps a target species or two to organize a little foray around.
