I took my dog Esteban with me on a preliminary drive up along Highway 16 West in search of wildflowers. We took the route up through the city of Woodland — which gave me the opportunity to top off my gas tank — and past the 505 interchange. It was overcast, but there was no rain.

There weren’t a lot of wildflowers along the roadsides in the early part of the drive, and I was concerned that the trip might be a bust. I was happy, then, when I found outcroppings of flowers as I got closer to Camp Haswell, an old and now defunct Boy Scout Camp right across from the trailhead to the Valley Vista Trail.

The parking area at the camp was a mudhole after all of the rains, and the building at the site is totally decrepit now, but there are porta-potties you can use if you need a break. Here, I found clusters of Popcorn Flowers, Fiddleneck, Miniature Lupine, Shining Pepperweed and Blue Dicks. Later in the season there should be pink Owl Clover and yellow Goldfields here, too.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

Further along the road I was finding lots of Taw Manroot and California Dutchman’s Pipevine vines, some in bloom. The Pipestem Clematis had spread out wide canopies along the tops of some of the lower-growth trees and shrubs and was just starting to bud. In another week or two, it should be spectacular.

There weren’t many birds around, which was kind of surprising. I saw a single Flicker, a Western Bluebird, a couple of Scrub Jays, and a pair of Canada Geese on a rock in the creek. No sparrows, no swallows, no finches or Kingbirds, and no warblers. I was expecting more considering we’re going into the spring season. Likewise, I didn’t see many insects other than a few bees and some mosquitoes in a damp part of the forest.

The both Cache Creek nd Bear Creek were running, high, fast and muddy. I’ve never seen so much water in them.

I stopped at one of the turnouts at the Cache Creek Regional Park to get some photos and video of the creek there. As I drove in, I could see that some of the boulders there were covered in a variety of lichen.

As I was getting photos of some of the lichen, a young woman came up to me to ask if I was rock hunting. I told her, no, I was looking at the lichen. Then, of course, I had to explain to her what the lichen was. Then she asked, “But what does it do?”

As the National Park Service says, “…They are a keystone species in many ecosystems. They serve as a food source and habitat for many animals such as deer, birds, and rodents. They provide nesting materials for birds. They protect trees and rocks from extreme elements such as rain, wind, and snow… One of the reasons we don’t want lichen to disappear from the forest is that they also act as an air scrubber for the air that we breathe. Much like a mop cleans a floor, lichen help clean our air. Lichen trap particulate matter in the air like dust, while also absorbing smaller pollutants like sulfur, mercury, and nitrogen. This means cleaner, healthier air for us to breathe.” Cool stuff!

While I was walking around looking for more of the lichen, I got out of the sight of Esteban, who was waiting in the car. I suddenly could hear him barking, so I looked over to the car and saw him sitting in the front driver’s side seat. His leash, which is connected to a seatbelt in the back seat of the car, isn’t long enough to allow him to get into the front seat, so I wondered how he’d managed that trick.

I went to the car and realized, as I got closer, that he had somehow wriggled out of his harness and was no longer restricted by the leash attached to it. I got into the car, got him back into his harness, and moved the leash so he could sit in the front seat for the rest of our journey.

On the drive back home, I was so tired, I found myself almost falling asleep at the wheel. The rest stop I usually go to was closed — again — so I stopped at a Starbucks to get some coffee to give me a caffeine boost. It was the WORST Starbucks I’d ever been to. The wait in line took “forever” because the staff was so slow at taking and preparing orders. The drink they gave me was room temperature — not hot or cold — and flat, with little flavor (even with an extra shot). Disappointing. Still, it gave me the boost I needed to get me home.

This was hike #11 ofmy#52HikeChallenge for the year.

Species List:

1. Anna’s Hummingbird, Calypte anna
2. Bee, European Honeybee, Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera
3. Bay Laurel, California Bay, Umbellularia californica
4. Birchleaf Mountain Mahogany, Cercocarpus betuloides
5. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
6. Black-Eyed Lichen, Tephromela atra
7. Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum
8. Blue Dicks, Dipterostemon capitatus
9. Brown Cobblestone Lichen, Acarospora fuscata
10. California Buckeye Chestnut Tree, Aesculus californica
11. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
12. California Pipevine, Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia californica
13. California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica
14. California Quail, Callipepla californica [heard]
15. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
16. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
17. Cattail, Narrow-Leaf Cattail, Typha angustifolia
18. Ceramic Parchment, Xylobolus frustulatus
19. Concentric Boulder Lichen, Porpidia crustulata
20. Crater Lichen, Diploschistes scruposus
21. Crow, American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
22. Cumberland Rock-Shield Lichen, Xanthoparmelia cumberlandia 
23. Erodium, Musk Stork’s-Bill, Erodium moschatum
24. Field Mustard, Brassica rapa
25. Fern, Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis
26. Fiddleneck, Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii
27. Field Mustard, Brassica rapa
28. Gold Cobblestone Lichen, Pleopsidium flavum [darker orange-yellow than Yellow Cobblestone]
29. Grasses, Ripgut Brome, Bromus diandrus
30. Gray Pine, Pinus sabiniana
31. Great Egret, Ardea alba [along the roadside]
32. Green Rock-Posy, Rhizoplaca melanophthalma
33. Hoary Rosette Lichen, Physcia aipolia
34. Jointed Charlock, Raphanus raphanistrum
35. Lomatium, Foothill Desert-Parsley, Lomatium utriculatum
36. Lupine, Bush Lupine, Silver Lupine, Lupinus albifrons var. albifrons
37. Lupine, Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor
38. Manroot, Taw Man-Root, Marah watsonii
39. Manzanita, Common Manzanita, Arctostaphylos manzanita
40. Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata
41. Mistletoe, Broadleaf Mistletoe, Phoradendron macrophyllum
42. Mosquito, Super Family: Culicoidea
43. Mountain Lichen, Dimelaena radiata
44. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
45. Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus
46. Oak, Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia
47. Oak, Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
48. Oak, Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
49. Orange Atoms, Squamulea subsoluta
50. Pacific Pea, Lathyrus vestitus
51. Paintbrush, Woolly Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja foliolosa
52. Pin-Cushion Sunburst Lichen, Polycauliona polycarpa
53. Pipestem Clematis, Old Man’s Beard, Clematis lasiantha
54. Poison Oak, Western Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum
55. Popcorn Flower, Rusty Popcornflower, Plagiobothrys nothofulvus
56. Puffball, Lead-Grey Puffball, Bovista plumbea
57. Red-Tailed Hawk, Western Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis calurus
58. Rock Nipple Lichen, Thelomma mammosum
59. Salt Bush, Cryptocarpus pyriformis
60. Shining Pepperweed, Lepidium nitidum
61. Shrubby Sunburst Lichen, Polycauliona candelaria
62. Speckled Greenshield Lichen, Flavopunctelia flaventior
63. Stonewall Rim Lichen, Protoparmeliopsis muralis
64. Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia
65. Wavy-Leafed Soap Plant, Chlorogalum pomeridianum
66. Western Bluebird, Sialia Mexicana
67. Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis
68. Willow, Salix sp.
69. Yellow Cobblestone Lichen, Acarospora socialis
70. Yellow Map Lichen, Rhizocarpon geographicum
71. Yerba Santa, California Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon californicum