The fire road above Lagunitas creek from Alpine dam down to Kent Lake has a lot to offer, even in mid-summer. It's also about halfway between two of our field trip locations this year: the Carson Country to the east and Bolinas Ridge to the west.
Count on some surprises, but real possibilities include:
- Terrestrial orchids (in bloom or in leaf, some we're likely to see are fetching)
- Bead lilies with blue beads
- False indigo, perhaps accompanied by the large, yellow-and black California dogface butterfly (our state butterfly!)
- Skinks (lizards) with shockingly blue tails
- Ospreys
- Landlocked steelhead trout (don't get any ideas)
For certain we'll enjoy the wooded canyon.
The fire road down to Kent Lake has some up and down each way. The full down and back is 10 miles (total), but we'll very likely turn around earlier than that, depending on weather (should be perfect) and interest.
Note that there's not a ton of parking, but there are spots above and for about 250 meters west of the dam (at Cascade trailhead). It can happen that there are a ton of people headed up the Cascade trail to Mt Tam, but that means you just have to park a bit further away.
End time is approximate.
References
Botany
Geology
Recommended Equipment
Hats, water, sturdy shoes, hiking sticks if you use them, sunscreen, layers, lunch or a snack, hand lens, binoculars: the usual.
Please leave your dogs at home
I love dogs, too, but if dogs get under foot, even well-behaved dogs, we risk plants and people, particularly on the hillside single-track stretch of the loop. And it's against CNPS field trip rules.
Leader
Roy West is a writer and long-time CA native plant volunteer. He is not a real botanist.
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