At The Backroads

California Poppy @ Mt Woodson Trail

We hiked to Mt.Woodson from Lake Poway today, and observed the promise somehow of more wildflowers in the trail in maybe 2 or 3 weeks. The hike from Lake Poway to Mt Woodson is about 7 miles round trip to the peak with an uphill climb of about 2300 ft.

Lake Poway from Mt Woodson Trail

A Popular Resting Spot About 2/3 way of the hike

View of Rolling Rocky Hills Near the Top of Mt Woodson

We started at about 8:20 am, and at about 9:00 am we noticed a halo around the sun. I wanted to take a picture of the halo with the sun, but I could not even take a long look since the sun was just too bright, almost was blinding me to take a look at it. I took a picture instead of just the bow when the sun was covered by the hill.

Halo Around the Sun ( Sun is Hidden in the Hill)

The bow looks like a rainbow to me, only that not as colorful. If not for Solar Halo and Really Big Moon post in Blackholes and Astrostuff, I may not be even aware of what the bow is. I really am learning a lot in that site regarding astrology and give me hints for more photo opportunities I could look for when I take a hike.  This halo around the sun lasted quite long, and now I feel sorry a little bit that I did not try hard enough to take a quick picture with the sun in it :( but at least, was able to take the half of it :).

It is another beautiful day today, sunny, blue sky with nice clouds scattered in the sky. Saw some spots of wildflowers here and there along the stretch of the trail too, but I give it 3 weeks maybe for the hills to become more colorful. If I am wrong, pardon me, as I actually also have limited knowledge about wildflowers. The most that I saw in the trail are the purple phacelias.

Purple Phacelias @ Mt Woodson Trail

Phacelias

There are two spots where I saw abundance of phacelias, one at the little island after crossing the small suspension bridge at Lake Poway, and the other one, where I took the picture, is near the intersection of Lake Poway and Mt Woodson Trail. There were a lot of California poppies growing, but they were still very green, and most of them don’t even have buds yet. There were also several brittlebush lining up the trail, but just like the poppies, most of them are just sprouting, so my guess maybe in 3 weeks, I see more wildflowers from this trail. On the other hand, I saw some poppies in bloom mixing with the phacelias, very little though.

California Poppy

I still need to find out the name of the other wildflowers I saw in the trail. Most of them are yellow in color. I will name them later when I find out what they are.

Wildflower in the Trail (1)

Wildflower in the Trail (2)

Wildflower in the Trail (3)

Buds from a Bush

But just seeing the green-ness from the sprouting bushes makes me hopeful that maybe in 2 or 3 weeks there will be more colors in this trail.

At the end of our hike, we relaxed at the lake, and I was lucky enough to spot this white pelican.

White Pelican

I do not see a lot of white pelicans in San Diego, what I see mostly are the California brown pelicans. So, I get happy whenever I get to see a new one. And at the top of the tree where we were resting, a small bird kept on singing to us, and here s/he is.

Singing Bird

Today was really a beautiful hike. I am anticipating for a beautiful spring here at Lake Poway, and the uphill hike to Mt Woodson is always rewarding for me even without the flowers.

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