Plant Guide to Long Valley Nature Trail, San Jacinto Mountains
Introduction and Explanation of Plant Trail Guides
Introduction
Highlights of This Trail
Fieldwork Dates and Summary of List Changes With Time
Botanical Trip Reports
The Plant Guide
Comments On Specific Species
Introduction
The Long Valley Nature Trail begins near the bottom of the concrete sidewalk from the upper Tram Station. It is an easy walk of just 0.6 miles, with only 80 feet of elevation gain and loss. The trail has nine informative signs telling a bit about the natural history of this area. No permit is required.
Most of the trail is a loop that can be done in either direction. For this guide, we have traversed the trail counterclockwise as seen from above, heading to the right at the beginning of the loop 0.05 miles from the Tram sidewalk, as shown on the following map:
The Nature Trail is shown in green in the above map; the Desert View Trail that connects with it is shown in dark blue. Although the map shown at the trailhead appears quite different from the above map, they are actually pretty much the same. The differences are:
- the map at the trailhead has north to the lower right, instead of having north up, probably to orient the map the way one sees the trails at that point;
- the map at the trailhead shows the old Desert View trail, which had an extra crossing of Long Valley Creek on the south of the Nature Trail; and
- the map at the trailhead distorts the Nature Trail and makes it appear wider than it is, probably to fit the name inside the trail on the map.
This trail has been covered just twice for this guide, on 16 August 2007 in a drought year and on 3 August 2012. More species would probably be seen in a normal rainfall year, as well as more specimens of some species found in the guide.
This trail, and the connecting Desert View Trail, are the only trails, out of the 114 for which we have produced plant trail guides across southern California, that contain a leach field from a septic tank. This leach field produces the densest stand of wild tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus, that we have ever seen.
Highlights of This Trail
The botanical highlights of this trail are:
Number of Unique Taxa On This Trail
The following histogram gives the number of trails in our database that contain each taxon on this trail (not including the taxa seen only off-trail given at the end of the guide). We had 114 trails in our database when this histogram was made; 13 of those trails, including this one, are in this area of San Jacinto Mountain. A number of "1" means the taxon has only been found on this trail among the trails in our database; numbers of "13" or smaller may indicate taxa found only in this area of San Jacinto Mountain.
| Number of Trails Containing A Taxon | Number Of Taxa On This Trail | % of Taxa On This Trail |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0% |
| 2 | 0 | 0% |
| 3 | 0 | 0% |
| 4 | 3 | 19% |
| 5 | 1 | 6% |
| 1-5 | 4 | 25% |
| 6-10 | 1 | 6% |
| 11-15 | 2 | 13% |
| 16-20 | 1 | 6% |
| 21-25 | 2 | 13% |
| 26-30 | 2 | 13% |
| 31-35 | 3 | 19% |
| 36-40 | 0 | 0% |
| 41-45 | 0 | 0% |
| 46-50 | 1 | 6% |
| Total Taxa | 16 | 100% |
We found 1 additional species not in the above table, since they have not been fully identified yet. The unidentified ones are marked with ? or sp in the id? column in the guide, and have no entries in the #all column.
Fieldwork Dates and Summary of List Changes With Time
The following table gives the dates the trail was walked and taxa recorded. After each visit, the table gives the total number of taxa on the list and the breakdown of the taxa without positive identification. See Explanation of Plant Trail Guides to understand the symbols below.
| Visit Date | Visit # | # taxa | # "?" | # "sp" | # "~" | # "ssp" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/16/2007 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
We thank Philip Erdelsky for help with the fieldwork on 8/16/07, and for taking the picture of the trail map at the trailhead.
Botanical Trip Reports
The Plant Guide
This version has been converted to the 2012 Jepson Manual Second Edition plant species names.
See a family order version of the flora for this area, and a print version that has the tram plant trail guide, the long valley nature trail, and this desert view guide.
Version for printing, without lines and other text on this page: html (2 pages) or pdf Clickbook booklet (1 page). (See printing instructions for an explanation of these options)
The mileages in the guide come from a GPS recording of this trail on 8/16/07, measured with Topo!. They are probably accurate to 0.01-0.02 mile.
| Mile | S | # | id? | Common Name | Latin Name | #here | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | l | Begin guide by going left at sign "Trail Information" near bottom of concrete sidewalk from Tram; elevation ~8395 feet (2559 m). Sign shows a (not very accurate) map of this Nature Loop Trail and Long View Loop (aka Desert View) Trail. | |||||
| 0.00 | b | 1 | Jeffrey pine | Pinus jeffreyi | 50 / 9 | ||
| 0.00 | b | 2 | San Bernardino rubber rabbitbrush | Ericameria nauseosa var. bernardina | 50 / 9 | ||
| 0.00 | r | 3 | wild tarragon | Artemisia dracunculus | 99 / 9 | ||
| 0.00 | l | (white fir, Abies concolor; Fremont's goosefoot, Chenopodium fremontii) | |||||
| 0.01 | r | 4 | Parish's snowberry | Symphoricarpos rotundifolius var. parishii | 10 / 3 | ||
| 0.02 | l | Jct. blocked trail (possibly older route of Nature Trail) | |||||
| 0.02 | l | 5 | groundsmoke | Gayophytum diffusum ssp. parviflorum | / | ||
| 0.02 | l | Sign: "Desert View Trail [ahead]" | |||||
| 0.02 | l | (yarrow, Achillea millefolium; Parish's bedstraw, Galium parishii; Grinnell's beardtongue, Penstemon grinnellii var. grinnellii; wax currant, Ribes cereum var. cereum) | |||||
| 0.03 | l | Sign: "Welcome to Long Valley", which now calls this trail the "Long Valley Discovery Trail"! | |||||
| l | 6 | San Gabriel beardtongue | Penstemon labrosus | / | |||
| 0.05 | r | 7 | wax currant | Ribes cereum var. cereum | 10 / 3 | ||
| 0.05 | l | 8 | forest goosefoot | Chenopodium atrovirens | / | ||
| 0.05 | r | Y Jct. for loop portion of this trail; go right to do the loop in the order of this guide | |||||
| 0.05 | l | 9 | goldenrod | Solidago velutina ssp. californica | 20 / 3 | ||
| 0.07 | l | Long Valley Meadow; sign: "Fragile Area; stay on trail" | |||||
| 0.08 | r | 10 | white fir | Abies concolor | 10 / 9 | ||
| 0.08 | l | 11 | lodgepole pine | Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana | 5 / 5 | ||
| 0.08 | r | sp | (willow-leaved dock, Rumex salicifolius; Idaho bentgrass, Agrostis idahoensis; blue grass, Poa sp.) | ||||
| 0.08 | r | 12 | abrupt-beak sedge | Carex abrupta | 30 / 9 | ||
| 0.08 | r | 13 | swamp sedge | Carex senta | / | ||
| 0.08 | r | 14 | brown sedge | Carex subfusca | / | ||
| 0.08 | l | 15 | tall mannagrass | Glyceria elata | 5 / 2 | ||
| 0.08 | l | (western marsh cudweed, Gnaphalium palustre; larger mountain monkeyflower, Mimulus tilingii; pearlwort, Sagina saginoides) | |||||
| 0.08 | l | Sign: "How special is Long Valley?" | |||||
| 0.08 | l | 16 | Nevada cinquefoil | Drymocallis lactea var. lactea | 1 / 1 | ||
| 0.09 | r | Jct. use trail | |||||
| 0.09 | r | (western wallflower, Erysimum capitatum var. capitatum) | |||||
| 0.10 | r | Jct. trail to Adventure Centure (winter sport equipment rental) | |||||
| 0.11 | r | (San Jacinto lupine, Lupinus hyacinthinus) | |||||
| 0.11 | l | 17 | western needlegrass | Stipa occidentalis | / | ||
| 0.13 | l | (Mexican rush, Juncus mexicanus) | |||||
| 0.15 | r | (San Jacinto Mts. Keckiella, Keckiella rothrockii var. jacintensis) | |||||
| 0.17 | l | 18 | mat muhly | Muhlenbergia richardsonis | 5 / 1 | ||
| 0.18 | r | (Ross' sedge, Carex rossii; little-leaf mock orange, Philadelphus microphyllus; Fendler's meadow-rue, Thalictrum fendleri var. fendleri) | |||||
| 0.18 | l | 19 | false monkeyflower | Mimulus pilosus | / | ||
| 0.18 | l | Sign: "Birds on the wing" | |||||
| 0.23 | l | Sign: " 'Cool' plants and birds" | |||||
| 0.25 | l | 20 | Fendler's meadow-rue | Thalictrum fendleri var. fendleri | 2 / 1 | ||
| 0.28 | l | (ranger's buttons, Sphenosciadium capitellatum) | |||||
| 0.30 | Cross Long Valley Creek; low point on trail, elevation 8320 feet (2536 m) | ||||||
| 0.30 | b | 21 | slender hairgrass | Deschampsia elongata | 10 / 1 | ||
| 0.30 | l | Sign: "Dependent on moisture" | |||||
| 0.30 | r | South jct. with Desert View Trail; go left | |||||
| 0.35 | l | Sign: "A different habitat" | |||||
| 0.39 | r | Sign: "The fight for survival" | |||||
| 0.44 | r | 22 | western wallflower | Erysimum capitatum var. capitatum | 10 / 3 | ||
| 0.44 | l | 23 | yarrow | Achillea millefolium | 10 / 2 | ||
| 0.45 | r | North jct. with Desert View Trail; continue ahead on left | |||||
| 0.46 | r | Sign: "Meet Jeff" | |||||
| 0.51 | r | Dense field of tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus, due to leach field of septic tank from Tram restrooms | |||||
| 0.53 | l | Sign: "The fragile meadow" | |||||
| 0.54 | End Nature Trail Loop. Continue ahead to the Tram sidewalk, or go back to do the Desert View Trail. | ||||||
| 0.59 | Tram sidewalk | ||||||
Mile: 0.00 includes all mileages from 0.000 to 0.009; etc.
S: Side of trail on which the first occurrence is found: left, right, both, or center
#: On-Trail species are numbered in order of first occurrence on trail (touchable without leaving the trail). Off-trail species are in parentheses.
id?: Species without an entry in this column are positively identified. "?" means we are just guessing the identification; "sp" means the genera is probably known, but the species name is uncertain; "~" means we have 95% confidence that this is the determination, but have not yet positively identified it; "ssp" means the subspecies or variety needs to be determined.
#here gives the minimum number of on-trail plants of this species on this trail, with the number of locations on this trail following the /, using maximum values of 99/9. 1/1 means a single plant in a single location; 10/9 means 10 plants occurring in at least 9 locations, etc.