BBVTC friend, Linda of Sempervirens Fund, needed some help preparing old growth groves in the Lagomarsino Open Space Reserve area in San Mateo County off of Summit road. We met at our regular 9am time but at Alice's Restaurant at the junctions of Hwy 84 and 35 (Summit Rd. or Skyline depending where you are). There was a good turn out with 14 crew members and Ranger Loro.
From Alice's we head north about 5 miles and turned left onto Swett Rd. Then another 5 miles to the parking area on Native Sons Rd. We hiked a short distance to the groves and it was already warm with the temperature at 88F as we arrived.
These were very large trees but still not as big as the Mother and Father of the Forest in Big Basin. There were also a few very large Douglas Fir.
Tom looking over the map of the groves with Linda
The crew in front of a very large stump.
One of the old growth redwoods with a smaller one with unusual flat top branching.
One of the larger trees had a large Dusky-footed Woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes) nest inside.
It took a little bush whacking to get our bearing with the map but once we did it was fairly easy to locate the individual trees.
It was one hot day getting up to 98F but luckily we were in the shade most of the time. On the way out Linda shared some grapes, which were very sweet.
And another treat was watermelon back at the cars. We put in 98 hours on one of the hottest days of the year and I would like to thank Gene for giving me water since I ran out of my 2 quarts about 2 hours before we finished. I would like to thank Ranger Loro, Linda, Mike, Gene, Dale S., Dale P., Herman, Tom, Janie, Bill, Fran, Peter, Michelle,and Francis. Hope to see you next month.
See you on the trails.
Jeff
Bird Count
4 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 Raven
4 Chestnut-backed Chickadees
1 Brown Creeper
1 Hutton Vireo
2 Pygmy Nuthatch
1 Stellar's Jay
1 Acorn Woodpecker