In these descriptions of the flowers blooming along the trails and roads, usually only the first encounter of a flower is listed, except for exceptional displays. Beginning on May 4, if a flower is beginning or ending it is designated with (b) or (e) after the name.
December 9 11:00 am to 3:46 pm, conditions cool, overcast.
- Waterline Road, Granite Loop, Vista Grande Trail, Multi-Use Trail: (the flowers listed here are from memory, not written down at the time, and hence are in no particular order) mustard, toyon (red berries), honeysuckle (a few yellowish berries still), (a few last goldenrod blooms, most finished)
(wand buckwheat, California aster, sticky tarweed, Palmer's goldenbush, horseweed, telegraph weed, vinegar weed: all long finished. Poison oak and squaw bush leafless.)
December 2 1:19 to 3:48 pm.
- Sylvan Meadows Loop Trail: a single gray everlasting (full), Palmer's goldenbush (few last blooms, most in full seed), mustard
(matchweed, California buckwheat, nearly all everlastings: all in seed)
November 18 1:37 to 3:59 pm.
- Vernal Pool Trail to Vernal Pool: mustard (e), wand buckwheat (e), sticky tarweed (e)
November 4 2:19 to 4:29 pm, conditions sunny, cool, with a slight breeze.
- Vernal Pool Trail to Vernal Pool: mustard, sticky tarweed (e), wand buckwheat (flowers now more reddish), California aster (e), California poppy (last petals on ground).
- Vernal Pool Trail from Vernal Pool to Ranch Road: (everlasting is finished, with seeds mostly dispersed now), (white-flowered currant budding out), sugar bush (buds), toyon (green-red berries).
- Ranch Road from Vernal Pool Trail to Trans Preserve Trail: knotweed.
- Trans Preserve Trail from Ranch Road to Vernal Pool Trail: goldenrod (weak full bloom in heavy shade).
October 21 2:34 to 4:31 pm, conditions cloudy, turning showery.
- Sylvan Meadows Ranch Road from Hidden Valley Trailhead to Junction with Trail heading southwest: sticky tarweed (e), mustard, California Aster (e), horseweed, telegraph weed (e), Palmer's goldenbush, vinegar weed (Trichostema lanceolatum), a field of wand buckwheat (eriogonum elongatum), rattlesnake weed (partial bloom).
- Trail heading southwest from Ranch Road to junction with trail heading northwest out of SRP: coyote gourd (gourds), slender tarweed (e).
- Trail heading northwest out of SRP to its end at Camino Noraeste: toyon (green berries), California fuchsia, poison oak (red leaves), squaw bush (red leaves), toyon (red berries), Russian thistle, everlasting (dried form)
- Loop Trail connecting to the middle of the trail heading northwest out of SRP: poison oak (white berries), goldenrod (b), California sagebrush (e).
October 14 1:42 to 4:47 pm, conditions sunny, calm.
- Coyote Trail, Trans Preserve Trail, Ranch Road to a bit past the Lomas Trail junction: sticky tarweed (e), wand buckwheat (eriogonum elongatum), Palmer's goldenbush, vinegar weed (Trichostema lanceolatum), mustard, poison oak (a few red leaves left), California aster (e), goldenrod, lotus with purple-pink and white flowers (e), wild heliotrope (e), 3-4' tall asters (e)
- Trans Preserve Trail from the Coyote Trail to Ranch Road: cocklebur (burs), holly-leaf redberry (red and black berries), honeysuckle (red berries), rattlesnake weed, telegraph weed (full bloom with some seeds).
- Ranch Road to Trans Preserve Trail / Oak Tree Trail: (no new flowers)
5:03 to 5:20 pm, conditions sunny, calm, pleasant.
- Nighthawk Loop Trail: sticky tarweed (e), California aster (e), Palmer's goldenbush, wand buckwheat, California fuchsia.
June 30 3:28 to 7:50, conditions sunny, on-the-warm-side-of-pleasant (temperature was 80° at the start), quite breezy on the Plateau and other high areas, but calm below the Plateau top.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Trailhead to Vernal Pool: slender tarweed, winecup clarkia (e), mustard, milk thistle, dove weed (b), poppies (e), everlasting (buds are beginning to open to dried flowers)
- At the Vernal Pool: Gold ring from slender tarweed (also around eastern small pool at trailhead), San Diego button celery.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Vernal Pool to Ranch Road: fleabane aster (e), laurel sumac (flowers and berries), bush monkeyflower (e), honeysuckle (e), yellow mariposa lily, poison oak (some red leaves), milkweed (buds).
- Ranch Road, Vernal Pool Trail to Adobes: (nothing new).
- Punta Mesa Trail, Adobes to Adobe Loop Junction: scarlet bugler, foothill penstemon, deerweed (e), white sage (e), chamise (b), toyon, California buckwheat.
- Punta Mesa Trail, Adobe Loop Junction to Monument Road: fringed Indian pink, Turkish rugging, (hairy ceanothus seeds all scattered along trail up to 10' away from the plants!), canchalagua, bedstraw?, filaree (e), lotus.
- Monument Road, Punta Mesa Trail to Trans Preserve Trail: rattlesnake weed (e)
- Trans Preserve Trail to Vernal Pool Trail: curly dock, unknown flower in wet area by the curly dock away from trail, soap plant (e), milkweed (buds), unknown 3' tall stalk with flowers at end.
May 26 12:35 to 4:54, conditions sunny and pleasant (high ~74°), with a slight breeze in the late afternoon.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Trailhead to Vernal Pool: one owl's clover (rest were long gone), winecup clarkia, splendid Mariposa Lily, mustard, (plant like a mountain dandelion in seed and flower), popcorn flower (e), Jolon brodiaea, filaree (e), soap plant flower stalks with buds (no blooms yet), scarlet pimpernel, morning glory, prickly pear, one blue dicks (saw a few more later, but the vast majority are long gone), California poppy, California everlasting, blue-eyed grass (only a few blooms, rest in seed), dove lupine (only a few in bloom), windmill pink, vetch (nearly ended), a few checkerbloom left.
- At the Vernal Pool: Gold patches from slender tarweed, brass buttons, stunning beautiful downingia, curly dock.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Vernal Pool to Ranch Road: short popcorn flower, lupine, dudleya, fleabane aster (leafy daisy), caterpillar phacelia (e), purple sweet pea (e), bush monkeyflower, black sage, deerweed, chamise (b), southern honeysuckle (b), narrow-leaved bedstraw, golden yarrow, foothill penstemon, cinquefoil.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Ranch Road to Adobes: elderberry, matilija poppy, ceanothus cultivar, palo verde, nolina.
- Los Santos Trail, Adobes to Adobe Loop Trail: cut-leaved (common) geranium, western vervain, plantain, bull thistle, Spanish clover, common bedstraw.
- Ranch Road, Adobes to Trans Preserve Trail: stinking gourd (calabazilla).
- Trans Preserve Trail, Hidden Valley Road to Vernal Pool Trail: blue larkspur, California figwort, gray everlasting, (fringepod all vanished!).
May 4 2:53 to 7:20, conditions sunny, breezy and pleasant.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Trailhead to Vernal Pool: tall popcorn flower, red maids, filaree, mariposa lily (b), dwarf lupine, checkerbloom (e), owl's clover (e), goldfields, muilla (e), lace parsnip (e), ground pink, morning glory, mustard, blue dicks, blue-eyed grass, poppy, purple vetch, Jolon brodiaea, California buttercup, short popcorn flower at edge of former pool, downingia at the current pool edge.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Vernal Pool to Ranch Road: brass buttons, lupine, caterpillar phacelia, unknown purple flower, purple sweet pea (bloom and seed), bur clover, bush monkeyflower (orange and red), (chamise buds), golden yarrow (b).
- Ranch Road, Vernal Pool Trail to Adobes: Hairy ceanothus
- Punta Mesa Trail, Adobes to Monument Road: green everlasting, purple sanicle, poison oak, (unknown 3' high yellow small-flowered 3 part leaf), locoweed (bloom and seeds), deerweed, gray everlasting, black sage, yucca on hillside, yellow clover, horehound, hoaryleaf ceanothus! (e), unknown plant (1" high "little brushes"), Canterbury bells, mule fat.
- Monument Road, Punta Mesa Trail to Trans Preserve Trail: (nothing new, very few blooms, mostly grasses in seed)
- Trans Preserve Trail to Vernal Pool Trail: rattlesnake weed, (milkweed buds), cinquefoil (b), sharp-toothed sanicle.
April 19 6:05 to 7:26, conditions sunny and pleasant.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Trailhead to Vernal Pool: baby lupine, blue dicks, tall popcorn flower, ground pink, goldfields, muilla, lace parsnip, checkerbloom, morning glory, California buttercup, owl's clover, shooting stars, poppy, short popcorn flower at near pool edge.
- Trans Preserve Trail north from Vernal Pool Trail, about halfway to Ranch Road: miner's lettuce, filaree (seed and bloom), wild cucumber (large fruits and ending bloom), sharp-toothed sanicle, johnny-jump-up, purple sanicle, chocolate lily (last blooms and seed), blue-eyed grass, buds on cinquefoil.
April 14 4:19 to 6:07, conditions cool, cloudy and breezy.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Trailhead to Vernal Pool: tall popcorn flower, lace parsnip, checkerbloom, goldfields, ground pink, blue dicks, muilla, morning glory, baby lupine, sharp-toothed sanicle, unknown 3" high blue-purple six-petal flower, johnny-jump-up, shooting stars, mustard, poppy, California buttercup, short popcorn flower at near pool edge.
- Vernal Pool Trail, Vernal Pool to Ranch Road: Jolon brodiaea at far pool edge, blue-eye grass, purple sanicle, scrub oak, bush monkeyflower, chocolate lily.
- Ranch Road, from Vernal Pool Trail to Trans Preserve Trail: morning glory.
- Trans Preserve Trail, from Ranch Road to Vernal Pool Trail: filaree, miner's lettuce, poison oak.
April 2 1:00 to 3:30, conditions warm, clear, and breezy.
- Waterline Road from Visitor Center: locoweed, baby blue eyes, wild cucumber, common lomatium, squaw bush, unknown red-orange-flowered mint-like plant (growing under squaw bush, growing out of boulders, just before the footbridge), blue dicks (the most common flower seen today on this hike), bur clover, unknown checkerbloom-type (flower had edges turned inward so it looked rounded, globular, yellow stamens, white center, pinkish-purple petals, flowers tightly bunched on long spike, leaves were compounded into five leaflets each with three lobes at tips), golden johnny-jump-ups, miner's lettuce.
- Junction Tenaja Truck Trail, remained on Waterline Road: shooting star, white forget-me-not, red maids, black mustard, CA buttercup, fiddleneck.
- Junction Vista Grande Trail, remained on Waterline Road: telegraph weed, gray everlasting.
- Junction Fault Road, remained on Waterline Road: muilla (very common today), chocolate lily, ground pink, purple sanicle (chocolate lilies were always found with blue dicks and, most of the time, purple sanicle as well)
- T-Junction with Monument Hill Road, went west on Monument Hill Road: goldfields, shepherd's purse
- Junction with Fault Road, continued on Monument Hill Road: blue-eyed grass, spectacular display of red maids at intersection, mule fat, arroyo willow, filaree (two kinds, E. circutarium and E. brachycarpum), morning glory (Calystegia macrostegia ssp. arida), everlasting (green-leaved form), California poppy, oxalis (the common kind, not pes-carpae the one on the list called Bermuda buttercup, by the prickly pear circle), rattlesnake weed.
- Vista Grande Trail from Monument Hill Road: best section for shooting star!!! almost gone here. Many plants in this section not yet ready to bloom, will be outstanding in perhaps about three weeks to a month
- Junction Waterline Road, continued on Vista Grande Trail: white-flowered currant, Mission manzanita, milkmaids.
- At Visitor Center: shinyleaf barberry.
- Along Clinton Keith Road: hoaryleaf ceanothus, (one) brick red monkeyflower, deerweed, wild sweet pea.
4:30 to 7:00, conditions clear and breezy, temperatures in 60s.
- Vernal Pool Trail, from Trailhead: unknown small white flower; goldfields, lace parsnip, checkerbloom, johnny jump-up, red maids, blue dicks.
- Junction Trans Preserve Trail, continue on Vernal Pool Trail: California poppy, buttercup sp.
- Junction Vernal Pool Loop Trail, continue on Vernal Pool Trail for only a short distance: shooting star.
- Trans Preserve Trail north from Vernal Pool Trail: miner's lettuce in bud, wild cucumber, chocolate lily, poison oak (buds), unknown pinkish-whitish flower with broken stem, purple sanicle.
- Junction Hidden Valley Road, west on Hidden Valley Road: stinging nettle buds, mustard.
- Junction 90° right turn to continue on Hidden Valley Road, continue west on road to Los Santos Trail: filaree (full seeds!), elk thistle.
- Junction Los Santos Trail, left turn onto Los Santos Trail: unknown yellow flower like a tall white popcorn flower, white-flowered currant, milkmaids.
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Copyright © 2000-2003 by Tom Chester and Jane Strong.
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Updated 27 January 2003.