5/9/2008
Hurray! The monkey flowers are out in the Feather
River Canyon!
Richard from Taylorsville spent last Wednesday in
the Feather River Canyon checking out the wildflowers.
Richard:
"I took the photo of the poppies at Jarbo, and the lupine just above Rock Creek
Dam and the orange flowers (monkey
flowers) at Pulga and the geese in the water behind Rock Creek
Dam."
"Always be on the look out for little goslings,
they have hatched now and are a pretty sight to see in the feather
river."
" Drive slowly by the dams here there are
many geese. Momma goose has a habit to get her little ones toooo
close to the road, so be careful."
Jim Wilcox is our "petal peeper" on the east
side in the Little Last Chance area where he's been doing
stream restoration work. To get there you can go to Antelope
Lake and take 176 south towards Beckwourth. He says the
soil in this area doesn't hold moisture well therefore because of
the light spring rains the flowers aren't as plentiful as in other
years but they're still there. A few are shown below:
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Wooly Sunflower |
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Unknown |
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Long-leafed Phlox |
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White red clover |
5/5/2008
Spring seems to finally be here!!
Wildflowers and waterfalls in Northern California -
Feather River Canyon and Beyond
Report from Cynthia Lusk, Forest Service:
"Lots of flowers are in full bloom, in the Feather River Canyon
right now!"
"Purple Lupine is very colorful, right along Hwy 70."
"These photos were taken along the Chamber
Creek Trail (which has 7-8 logs across the trail right now, but
we will be cleared soon...". (The trail is
6 1/2 miles south of Belden or 35 1/2 miles from Quincy in the
Feather River Canyon).
"Many
wildflowers along Chamb
er
Creek Trail:
Sticky Monkey Flower, Indian Paintbrush, Lupine,
Larkspur, dogwood (left), and another 4-5 I don't know the names of"
(ground iris-below left)
"Chambers Creek waterfall, 3 miles up
Chambers Creek Trail, Mt. Hough Ranger District."
Joe Willis, teacher and naturalist:
"Things are happening along Indian Creek next to Hwy 89 and
on the Mt. Hough Road. I drove up to around 5000' and got a
few good flower shots. "
Indian Creek:
"Arrowleaf
balsamroot (left), often mistaken for mule ears, Balsamorhiza
sagittata, flowering along Hwy 89, midway between Greenville Y and
Crescent Mills.
Showy phlox, Phlox speciosa (right), hard to spot unless you get out
and walk. These were near the aforementioned balsamroot."
Other wildflower spots in Plumas County
Indian
paintbrush at around 5000' on Mt. Hough, Castilleja sp., there are
many species. 027, buck brush, Ceanothus cuneatus, blooming well at
4000-5000', and already going to seed in lower canyon.
Horsetails (right), sterile fronds, not a flowering plant, a fern
ally, relic of the dinosaur age, and beautiful, AKA scouring rush,
Equisetum sp., these are coming up alongside the path from parking
lot to upper campus at FRC.
Gooseberry
(left), taken on the FRC nature trail and a dandelion (upper left),
justifying its existence by supporting a lustrous copper butterfly,
taken in American Valley.
Spring seems to finally be here. Joe
5/2/2008
Wildflowers in the Feather River Canyon:
Visitors coming up the canyon say it looks lovely right now.
They especially like the lupine that are everywhere.
4/27/2008
Wildflowers
in the Feather River Canyon: "I can't give you names but things
are finally popping out. The Lupine are everywhere, all the way up
to Twain. The rest are coming up the canyon slowly, " says Pete
Dryer of Northwest Management.
Lupine and poppies (upper left)
Lupine and paintbrush (upper right)
Milkweed? (below)
Rock Penstemon (right)
I went hiking by Keddie Cascade with my
dad, Joe Willis, and he let me use his camera for the attached
photos. The tiny blue and white one is some kind of monkey flower
or relative, the yellow one with a fly on it is buttercup.
The reddish ones with spurs are larkspur which dad says is in
the same family as buttercups. The purplish one is shooting star.
I am in 8th grade at Plumas Charter School. Sincerely, Ryan
Willis
Call the Visitors Bureau (800-326-2247) for
directions to the Keddie Cascades.
Waterfall
near Greenville: Not many wildflowers in this area yet but the
waterfall is quite nice. Karen Kleven actually saw a kayak go over
the falls and come out the other end. It's a leisurely walk down a
well marked trail. To get there take Highway 70 towards Quincy
and turn off on Highway 89 (about 10 miles from Quincy) towards
Greenville for about 2 miles. Look out for the turn-off to
Indian Falls on the river side where you will see a good size turn
out. Drive a few minutes down to a parking lot. The
trail is right there with some nice signage.
4/24/2008
Falls and flowers galore!
The
Feather River Canyon has some great treats between Pulga and
Belden.
Karen Kleven, a Quincy resident, had this to
say about her trip last weekend through the canyon: "It
definitely felt like spring unfolding. There were so many
shades of green from the dark green conifers to the chartreuse
foliage just appearing on the maples. My favorite flower was
the gigantic lupine (photo by Martin Oberg) amidst the
smaller lupine. Near Cresta Dam on the river side a large
dogwood was in bloom."
Cynthia
Lusk, another outstanding "petal
peeper" who works for the Forest Service, is actually paid to
cruise around the forest. We're glad she likes to take photos
while she's out and about. She sent us a nice photo of
scarlet fritillary (left) embedded in rocks in the canyon plus a
purple flower (right) which we need help identifying. But best
of all we
have a new waterfall (right) to share with you off the
Tobin Trail (the trail is on the same side of road as the
Tobin Resort).
Martin Oberg, from Fernley, spent two days checking
out the flowers in the canyon with his wife. They stayed in Quincy
taking day trips down the canyon. When asked what he thought
he said:
"It was definitely worth the trip because
there was plenty to see. Lots of pull outs and some waterfalls
were visible from the road. But don't go to Table Mountain
because it's over. I didn't get any photos of paintbrush." He
took over 50 photos kindly stopping by the Visitors Bureau on his
way home to share them with us. Three of his photos are below.
The higher elevations in the Lakes Basin area are
still snowed in but Cynthia Lusk got this beautiful photo of Frazier
Falls. To get there presently you'll need skis or a snowmobile
but it will be open soon for hiking and biking.
4/15/2008
The Feather River Canyon is starting to blossom
Pete
Dryer, who manages the public campgrounds in the canyon, sent
us some new photos of the lower canyon. Before we had
poppies in buds and now we have full blossoms (right) plus some
lupine (left).
Also let's not forget the redbud (right) which was the first to bloom
and is still holding strong plus the first signs of dogwood (left)
blossoms.
Joe Willis spent last weekend exploring Table
Mountain and the Feather River Canyon for new signs of
wildflowers. His report is below:
"Although
Table Mountain is starting to get brown, some late bloomers
are just now emerging. Many fo
lks
seem attached to trying to catch the mountain at its peak which is
understandable, but there is much to be gained by continuing to
return...taking a closer look. "
The buttercup (left) and the bitterroot (right) from the
forget-me-not family were blooming at Table Mountain.
Going up the Feather River Canyon out of
Oroville Joe says, "You won't see many flowers besides lupine and
redbud while going 55 mph, but if you stop by any tributary and walk
around you will discover many flowers, ferns, and small creatures."
One
of these tributaries is Rush Creek (which was described in the
waterfall section as Rock Creek) but Jo
e insists that it's not Rock
but Rush. But anyway it's just beyond the tunnels (left) - look for
the railroad
trestle on the left and park there. While walking up the
cascades Joe found some bush monkey flowers (below) and
wall flowers (right).
"They're (monkey flower and wall flower) just starting to bloom in the lower canyon.
In a few more weeks, watch for them along the cliffs coming toward
Quincy from the Greenville "Y".
4/11/2008
A few flowers around Quincy
Joe Willis, naturalist and teacher, and a prolific
"petal peeper" has some flower updates around the Quincy area. Joe
is very much into the whole process not just the bloom.
"Here are a few oddball signs of spring around
Quincy. Mostly along the Keddie Cascades Trail "about 5 miles
northwest of Quincy.
New
lupine leaves catching dew drops (left). Big Leaf Maple
bud (right)
Sierra violet (but it's yellow!) being pollinated by hover fly
(below right).
Sierra violet (below left)
There were many red larkspur plants in foliage
but
no buds
yet. In another couple of weeks they should be great along the
trail.
Currently, on Claremont all around the Boyle Ravine
there are clusters of fawn lily.
Also, manzanita are blooming on the mountains
all around Quincy.
4/9/2008
Latest on the Feather River Canyon from Feather Publishing
The local newspaper just printed an
article
entitled: "Wet and Wild: Tour features waterfalls and
wildflowers" by Delaine Fragnoli who spent the day with her
family exploring the canyon and Table Mountain last weekend.
Here are a few excerpts:
"We began spotting wildflowers as we neared Pulga: a
bunch of poppies here, some bush lupine there, and a profusion of
western redbud. ..We arrived at Table Mountain, where we enjoyed a
picnic lunch...The hike to the Table Mountain waterfall proved
pleasant , but the waterfall itself was a bit disappointing (not
much more than a trickle). We headed back to the canyon along
Cherokee Road. By the time we reached Rock Creek Cascades,
we had counted almost two-dozen different kinds of flowers or
blooming plants and nearly as many trickles, cascades and
waterfalls."
Tomorrow we'll have some more photos of the Quincy
area where a few flowers are starting to unfold.
4/7/2008
Waterfalls and redbud in the canyon - still snow
on the peaks
Yesterday a man from San Francisco dropped into
the Visitors Bureau asking for information about the best
places to check out wildflowers in the Feather River
Canyon. We told him that about 50 miles down the canyon
the redbud was quite nice but no big displays closer to Quincy as of
yet. It won't be long until the monkey flowers start hanging
from the rocks, but not yet.
He was also interested in finding some new
waterfalls so we sent him to the one up the dirt road across
from Shady Rest stop in the canyon. On this trip he had
tried to go to Frazier Falls near Graeagle but found
the road blocked by snow. Just a reminder that the higher
elevations in our area are still covered with snow so if you're
coming up you can find spring and winter activities - hiking
in the Feather River Canyon and skiing in the Bucks Lake, Lakes
Basin, and Chester area.
On his way up he had stopped at Table Mountain
but wasn't that impressed. He said, " I'm used to tall
flowers. They were all so tiny." I guess the beauty is
in the eye of the beholder.
4/1/2008
Pete
Dryer: "The Redbud were West
of Pulga, just below Canyon View a week ago. Now they are all the
way down to the Canyon floor and go East of the Cal Trans station.
The Redbud (attached) is, again, just below Canyon
View.
You will excuse my plant identity. I am guessing at some of the
species." Pete thinks the photo on the right is sandwort.
Richard McCutcheon, a tireless petal peeper had this to say
about the Feather River Canyon: "Flowers (below) and the redbud
(right) along the
highway was just over the Pulga Bridge at Four Tree Rd. The
pretty fall (below) and mossy rock are right at the entrance to Four
Tree Rd. The larger fall (below) is at Tobin. "
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Indian Paint Brush |
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Poppies |
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Falls near Four Trees
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Falls near Tobin |
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Last
Chance Creek outside of Taylorsville toward Antelope Lake is
starting to show a little color. Jim Wilcox, director for a
stream restoration program in Plumas County, got these photos last
week near Last Chance Creek. He kindly keyed them out to be
Fern Leaf Lomatum.
3/31/2008
From
Karen Rodriguez who spent some time at Table Mountain
last week: "Table Mountain was
wonderful and we can tell its going to get better soon. Here are
some pictures of the area. The first 3 white small white flowers we
haven't been able to id. And the calochortus lily we
don't know which one it is. Maybe you could help us with that. I
think we counted around 42 species we saw. The
shooting
stars are from
the Cherokee Cemetery. CSU Chico has a book of table mt. flowers but
its limited and found a site with pictures but its also limited.
http://www.butte.edu/instruction/biol/Butte_flowers/main.html
If you know those flowers, let me kno
w.
Try and get there soon, you'll love it."
3/27/2008
Signs of spring from Joe Willis, naturalist
and science teacher, and a dedicated petal peeper.
Photographs were taken near the Greenville "Y" or at the Highway
89/70 intersection about 10 miles from Quincy.
"Here
are four signs of spring, although not strictly confined to
"petals." The tree frogs are out in force and cannot be ignored when
looking for wildflowers. They are the Pacific Tree Frog, AKA Hyla
regilla, although some herpetologists now call it Pseudacris regilla,
believing it more closely related to the "chorus" frogs back east
than to the true tree frogs.
Then
there's the beautiful big millipede, Spirobolus sp., which one can
smell, like a sweet cyanide, among the aromas of many new flowers
and cherry bark, and a more advanced stage of "pussy willows", Salix
sp., in which you can plainly see these "buds" have turned into
flowers. This is the same willow I photographed back on Feb. 18 at
the beginning of the blog.
The little white flower, only 1/4" across, is the beautiful, but
hard to spot, spring whitlow grass, Draba verna. It has four petals
(like all members of the mustard family, Cruciferae (crucifix), but
the petals are deeply cleft so it appears to have eight. These were
photographed by the Greenville "Y".
Others to be watching for in the canyon would include fawn lily and
other lilies, various brodiaeas, also lilies, watercress (a
mustard), and of course the many ferns. I'd recommend getting a
pocket guide to the ferns at B&N before heading up the canyon. If
you explore stream sides and shady sides of cliffs, you can find at
least a dozen species now very lush. Various hardwoods are budding -
oaks, maple, alder, willow, cottonwoods, and many of them fully
flower before the leaves turn large and green so it's a great time
to examine these flowers, most ot the trees having separate male
(catkins) flowers and female ("cones") flowers. Those on the black
oak, big leaf maple and alder being particularly prominent."
Table Mountain: Pam Beck and her family (from
Greenville) spent Easter Sunday at Table Mountain walking in the
fields of flowers and finding their favorite spot near the waterfall
to have lunch. She said it was like a painting but did notice
less purple flowers and no sign of the white flowers by the creek.
Maybe they'll still appear. Usually her kids can go wading in
the creek but this year it was freezing. Her daughter may send
some photos.
3/21/2008
Feather
River Canyon: Redbud
Pete Dryer, from Northwest Park
Management, promised us some photos on his trips through the
Feather River Canyon so here we go. The first sign of
spring is the Western Redbud near the beginning of the canyon
about one mile after the Grandview Restaurant (closed for business).
The pinkish -red flowers are set off by the green of the evergreens.
Even though we're not located in the valley this spring photo,
taken near Marysville, was
too nice to pass up.
Pussy
willows are popping out all over the county. Richard
McCutcheon, from Taylorsville, sent this photo from around
Taylorsville.
3/14/2008
Last Monday Karen Kleven from Quincy
traveled home via Table Mountain and the Feather River Canyon
checking out wildflower and waterfalls. Try the
self-guided tour page
for more details about Table Mountain and the Feather River
Canyon.
"Table Mountain isn't at its peak (which is usually the first
and second week of April) but it's still pretty nice. Lots of
frying pan poppies, buttercups and lupine and some cute red flowers
by the creek bed. I walked up the creek from the big oak tree
and found the waterfall after an easy hike of about twenty minutes.
I really like this place."
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Frying pans and lupine |
Waterfall at Table Mountain |
Creek leading to waterfall |
"After leaving Table Mountain I headed up the
Feather River Canyon carefully watching for wildflowers and
waterfalls. These are the best falls (below) I found
but I know there are more. Each one was so different and
spectacular in its own way. The Redbud was just starting to
bloom between Pulga and Grandview but the latest report
(today ) from Richard McCutcheon was that it was looking very
good. Hopefully we'll have some photos for next week."
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Shady Rest Falls |
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Rock Creek
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Jackass Falls |
2/19/2008
Photos from Joe Willis taken last weekend at Table Mountain
off of Highway 70 near Oroville. How to get there: From
Oroville going north take Table Mountain Blvd. or if
you're going south take Cherokee Road. Check
out the Oroville Chamber of Commerce for more detailed
information under What's New
Table Mountain
Wildflower Information.
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Buttercups, lupine |
Walk to the waterfall |
Frying Pan |
Dwarf Monkey Flower |
Plumas County has pussy willows - not real showy but the
first sign of spring.
