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.

Lake Cuyamaca

In my previous post, I was so anticipating for spring, which is very true. Though San Diego may seem in the surface to have no distinct seasons, but for a keen observer, it actually has, maybe not just the average distinct seasons most associate with. Fall and winter means a lot of low tides at daytime and a lot of marine wildlife migrating into its shore. Spring explodes with colors given the right conditions, I always love seeing wildflower fields as far as my eyes can see. Along the coast and inland valleys, it actually looks like spring now, I am seeing a lot of green in the field that I am hoping that the greens will turn into another year of good wildflower bloom.

However, to wish for a lot more wildflowers mean wishing for a lot of rainstorm, and rainstorm along the coast is usually snowstorm in the mountains. And these storms equal happy vegetation. I know it is not a very common picture for San Diego to have snow, which is true, as the coast does not get snow. The coast is the place for the sea, the sun and the sand. My favorite past time would always be watching the sunset.

Pacific Beach @ Dusk Yesterday

However, it is different in the mountains, which are less than an hour away from downtown San Diego or in most of its communities.

California has a microclimate weather, which is not necessarily North vs South, but is more about West vs High Elevation vs East. And whenever there is rainstorm in the coast, the snow fun seeking San Diegans head to its mountains, and one of the more accessible location for them is the Cuyamacas.

Lake Cuyamaca Community

Lake Cuyamaca is a popular place for bird watching. Its strategic location provides the diversity of its wildlife. It  is surrounded by Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, 3 miles West of Desert Rim and Anza Borrego Desert State Park. However, I do not have much patience for photographing birds, I always tell myself I am a hiker first. I hike and I take pictures of whatever that interest me in the trail. And if I see birds along my way, happily, I capture them. But I do not have the patience to wait for these birds to appear or to really look for them in the trail. That was what happened to me in my last walk at Lake Cuyamaca’s shore. When I saw a bird approaching me, I stopped and asked myself if it is a crow? If it is, I will not take a picture since I already have too many crow pictures. As I was not sure what bird it is, I just readied my camera while it was approaching me, and here are the pictures I took of this unknown bird to me.

Is this a Turkey Vulture?

Turkey Vulture (?)

Then, I saw one perched low on a tree, however, I did not have a good angle to take a closer picture. I know if this bird will hear me, it will fly away, so I snapped a picture before I attempted to find a better angle.

 True enough, I had not even inched closer but just moved my feet to continue with my walk and this bird flew away from my sight.  Since I am not into birding, I therefore have very limited knowledge about the names of the birds. A lot of times, I take them picture, if on inspection I end up with something I do not know of, I search for their names by matching picture and names. For the bird above I caught, I visited Lake Cuyamaca Birding website at http://www.lakecuyamaca.org/wildlife.htm. I googled for the images of the birds in the list that I am not so familiar of, and my closest match up is the turkey vulture. I am not so sure though. But anyway, I was happy enough to add these pictures of birds in hiking encounters.

Here is a comparison of Lake Cuyamaca at winter and fall.

Lake Cuyamaca @ Fall

Lake Cuyamaca, Winter

For more information on Lake Cuyamaca, please visit my previous post at http://sandiegobackroads.today.com/2008/09/05/lake-cuyamaca-2/