Photowalk: Forest Hike
Hiking in nature is one of my favorite pastimes, and observing the details of the trailside environment never fails to give me inspiration for my art and creative work. Today I took one of my favorite routes, an approximately 4 mile in-and-out trail that begins above the community college where I work and winds its way into The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, ending on the west side of Aptos Creek.
The trail begins in an oak grove, where you can usually hear the call of both downy and pileated woodpeckers, who perch high in the oaks long the wooded hillside. Native plants such as pink honeysuckle and sticky monkey-flower, along with more invasive species like Himalayan blackberry, can be spotted along the trail.
Soon the trees open up to a chaparral meadow, where the trail meets one of two residential street entrances. Here there are an abundance of invasive plants, including poison hemlock and cape broom. While attractive, these non-native species crowd out the more delicate native meadow dwellers. Here I spotted a couple of brush rabbits, but today they were all camera shy!
The trail skirts a meadow, passing behind a row of residential homes, until it reaches the edge of the State Park. Here, the trail makes a steep descent through oak and bay trees. The trail is flanked with woodland underbrush like wood-sorrel and California hedge-nettle and of course poison oak. I also spotted these two small feathers on the trail, which I think belonged to a mockingbird.
As the trail descends toward Aptos Creek, ferns begin to appear. You can also hear the running water of the creek.
Suddenly, the descent is over and the trail opens up into the majestic redwood forest. It’s a transition that never fails to astonish and delight.
From here, there are many options to continue into the Forest of Nisene Marks. I usually opt not to cross the creek, but on the other side of the flowing water there are miles of trails in the large eastern parcel of the park. I continue along the west side of the creek, enjoying the peaceful sound of the water. I am impressed at how much debris has piled up in the large “snag” area during our extensive and powerful winter storms which brought strong winds and massive flooding to the area.
I spend some time at the end of the trail alongside the peaceful soothing water. On my way back, I spot some more plants that prefer to be close to the water, such as maidenhair fern and horsetail. I also spot a very small banana slug, only about three inches long! Banana slugs are usually about 6 to 8 inches long, so this was a tiny guy.
It was a beautiful day and a relaxing enjoyable hike. On my way out I also saw two stellar jays who screamed at me from the oak trees, a common buckeye butterfly, and several fence lizards, all of which were too quick to photograph. Thanks for joining me on this photowalk adventure!
