Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Hike to the River: Spring Wildflowers

Red Shack Trail

Friday we took a long afternoon hike to the river near our house. This is our usual trail but we went the entire distance to see how high the river is with some of the spring runoff from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The wildflowers are amazing right now...here are a few favorites.

Mustang Clover close up
This was really the star of the wildflowers on this particular hike, mustang clover. This flower is blanketing the hillsides. What a show!

Mustang Clover 1
Here is a photo of it along the trail.

Poppies
The other wildflower making its glorious appearance is the California poppy.

American River
We made it to the bottom of the river canyon and realized our beach is completely covered in water right now. We had to be content to sit on the rocks and watch the water rush by.

Resting on the trail
On the way back up, we stopped for a break in the shade. The insects were buzzing and we even saw our first mosquitoes of the season.

purple monkeyflower
Here is a new to me wildflower on this trail, purple monkeyflower. There was a patch growing right along the trail on a moist bank.

Pearly everlasting 1
I also saw for the very first time on this trail some pearly everlasting.

Two new wildflowers to add to our running list for this trail.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our outing. We definitely had a wonderful time on this spring afternoon.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom