Mount Tamalpais

My friend Nan invited me to join her on a hike on Mount Tamalpais (called Mount Tam by locals) last week.  The hike was led by a volunteer for the state park system, and it was to be a wildflower hike.  It was a little early in the season, so the wildflowers were few and far between, but the ones we saw were lovely.  The scenery and vistas, on the other hand, were fantastic.  I love the oak forests and open meadows:

Mount Tamalpais (pronounced "Ta' mal pie' us") is in Marin County, and is the highest mountain for miles around, 2571 feet at its peak. The view below is looking south along the California coastline.  Although the camera doesn't quite capture it, we could see down the coast for a hundred miles at least.

 
The green rocks ahead of the group in the photo below is serpentine rock.  It contains naturally occurring asbestos.  I found it fascinating, because when the current Academy building was first built in 1876, its exterior was faced with serpentine.  It was later changed to brick.

Here is a closer view of the serpentine rock: 

 

 
Imagine the color of the Academy building, below, in the soft green of the serpentine rock.  (Please do not use this photo for public distribution without the permission of the Academy of Natural Sciences):

Shortly after the serpentine rock outcrop, we entered a small forest with a large tree riddled with woodpecker holes:

We were told that acorn woodpeckers cache their acorns in the holes, and return occasionally to turn the acorns, so that they don't rot.  Fascinating!  Nature is so complex, and animals are intelligent in their own ways.

We went around a bend in the path, and this time had a view of the San Francisco Bay, including Tiburon (center) and Angel Island (further up and left of center):

We turned around, and had another view of the Pacific Ocean:

And to the northwest, Point Reyes:

I promised wildflowers, so here is the first.  We saw only one of these in bloom on the 3 hour hike.  It is a miniature lupine, or Lupinus bicolor.

I am not sure what the tiny pink flower below is.  I suspect it is a wild geranium or mallow.  Perhaps one of my botany friends can inform me?

We eventually walked through a heavily wooded area in a deep ravine:

Here we found the California fetid-adder's tongue, or slink-pod (Scollopus bigelovii):

And vanilla grass, or California sweet grass (Hierochloe occidentalis), native to the Bay Area:

I love the tiny forms of moss found on forest floors:

The hike leader showed us lichen with reproductive bodies (the brown leaf-like structures):

Here is a fungus the leader called "turkey tails" (for obvious reasons):

This next fungus is called witches' butter (!) or jelly fungus (Tremella mesenterica).  The hike leader said it feels like jelly, but I wasn't about to touch it.

This last one is a pretty little pink flower.   I have no idea what it is, despite my excellent "Field Guide to Wildflowers of North America" book.  

The next blog post will be on the gold rush years in San Francisco!  Stay tuned!