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DavidS
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Yesterday an overcast Saturday Feb 21, I drove over the hill to Butano State Park to hunt for fungi photography subjects. Given a few days to dry out from the down pours a few days ago, the trails though wet and in places mucky were not that bad. The entrance station and visitor centers are not manned at this time of year. After putting the $6 fee into the iron cylinder I drove east into this east to west trending second growth redwood forest canyon and parked at the Ox Mill Trailhead where there were about a dozen vehicles. Geared up with about 35 pounds of camera gear, food, and extra clothing in case the threatening rain began, I headed across the wooden bridge on jump across Little Butano Creek. The trail then winds up the south facing canyon slope. Several people with cameras and tripods were about that upon some conversation found were from the Milpitas Camera Club. One guy was set up with DSLR to take a pic of some of the red mushrooms I would see more of.
After an easy climb I went right at a trail junction east on the Jackson Flat Trail that gradually traverses upcanyon. Although I carried my heavy 4x5 camera gear in the pack and big Gitzo tripod, I did not expect I would find anything to bother taking it out to shoot at. After a December and January with little physical activity, I needed to build up some hiking strength, so taking the camera along had further value. Far more useful would be my tiny 7mp Coolpix for closeups and macros while keeping my eye out for anything I might work with the big dog when conditions were optimal. Unfortunately my 4 year old increasingly dated Coolpix's flash function has failed that makes work in such a dim environment difficult. Yep its time for a new close up tool really soon. For the next half mile I was surprised at all the Hounds Tongue along that trail.
http://davidsenesac.com/_a-z_evad/but_htongue.jpg
More of those forget-me-not type flowers than I've come across anywhere else. Only about 10% of the plants were yet blooming so that area ought be worth returning to by mid March. Many tree trunks and branches in that cool damp redwood forest are covered with light green algae, moss, crustose lichens, turkey tail mushrooms, and Spanish moss. I was glad to see far less huckleberry than one sees at nearby Big Basin as it makes offtrail rambling difficult. Here and there at small benches were cattail marshes. The most numerous early wildflower throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains is currently the white hued milk maids:
http://davidsenesac.com/slideshows/wflwr_coast/3milk_maids.jpg
Green leaves Redwood sorrel were nicely abundant all about forest floor areas and a few even had early flowers. I stopped and worked a nice fallen branch with several glistening orange blobs of jelly fungus, dacrymyces palmatus, and a sleeping banana slug:
http://davidsenesac.com/_a-z_evad/jelly_fungus.jpg
Over my 3 mile journey, banana slugs were racing everywhere at their milimeters per hour speeds. I snapped a macro pic of dew on a white mushroom growing on a fallen log.
http://davidsenesac.com/slideshows/misc_cu/wh_mushr_dew.jpg
Where the canyon bends north I left the trail and picked my way between undergrowth and brush down a soft steep slope to the creek trail that was still a hundred feet or so above the creek in a narrow choke section. That trail soon dropped to the creek where it re-crossed three times on is way back down to the road end.
http://davidsenesac.com/_a-z_evad/Little_butano_cr.jpg
Not unexpectantly there were more redwoods and sword ferns along the stream. Also more of the red mushrooms I have yet to clearly identify although it looks maybe one of the hygrocybe's:
http://davidsenesac.com/slideshows/misc_cu/red_head_mr.jpg
It appeared most of these fungi were just now pushing up so one ought to see more in the coming weeks. I found the easy trail along the creek most pleasant and hope to return in March for a more serious effort when trilliums and other wildflowers will be far more numerous. Maybe even a Calypso then too?
David Senesac
http://www.davidsenesac.com
(Edited by DavidS at 2:09 pm on Feb. 22, 2009)
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Total Posts: 76 | Joined Feb. 2005 | Posted on: 1:55 pm on Feb. 22, 2009 | IP
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Butano trip report
