Yesterday, I went hiking with a group of friends around Switzer Falls, in the Angeles National Forest. We saw snow! At the tops of the mountains, but still exciting to a chica living in Southern CA. We took the trail through Bear Canyon, which follows a stream and has lovely riparian scenery. A botanist friend was along, and showed us we could eat "miner's lettuce" (Claytonia perfoliata), a little fleshy plant growing along the shady damp river banks. Apparently this is a staple in the urban foraging lifestyle, and grows over a large distribution of North America. Some other cool items we saw were the edible if not tasty "witch's butter" (Tremelia aurantia), a fungal parasite that feeds off of another fungal parasite, the definitely inedible "hairy turkey tail" fungus (Stereum hirsutum), which lives and eats decaying logs. What a fun fungal feeding microcosm we found!
One of the common plants we saw flowering was the California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), whose leaves are strongly aromatic, and are used in cooking (although the chemical in the leaves also causes headaches in some people). Coincidentally, some urban foragers also like to eat the bay nuts of this tree. It seems there are all sorts of little treats in this forest for the adventurous forager.
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Yesterday we drove way up Highway 2, the Angeles Crest Trail, and took a hike in Cooper Canyon. It was beautiful! Lots of lupine and yucca blooming, and the conifers up there (about 6500 feet) are amazing!! Doesn't seem like LA at all... the trail, which you can reach from the Buckhorm campground parking lot, follows a river until you scramble down a hill with the help of a rope, and hit a 25 foot waterfall. There were lots of kids playing in the cold water. We saw a few really cool things, a snakefly (weird insect in the order Neuroptera, with a long thorax), and a snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), a red parasitic plant that takes nutrients from fungi living underground. |
AuthorI like nature! And hiking, and taking pictures, especially of nature. Archives
September 2014
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