I was heading to a party in Topanga last weekend, to celebrate my friend Hilton finishing his PhD (go, Hilton!!!), and the thought of not stopping somewhere first for a quick hike was killing me. So we headed to Red Rocks Canyon Park, which has a few awesome in-and-out hikes with glorious views, off of Old Topanga Canyon Rd. There are tons of beautiful rock formations, but the reddest ones are actually right at the entrance to the park, which feels like its in someone's front yard-- you have to follow a very narrow dirt road to get to the park, which meanders directly next to mansions and old shack-like houses. You definitely feel like you are trespassing, but it does make the park even more interesting once you find it. Not much was flowering, but Sam spotted a lone, lovely prickly phlox flower in the rocks, and there were quite a lot of wild cucumber vines in bloom and in fruit. They look invasive but are actually native (yay), but also apparently poisonous (boo). We also spotted some golden yarrow, hoary leaved Ceanothus blooms, and a Hollyleaf Cherry tree with some flowers. There were also a delightful smattering of ferns, and I was able to look up their species' names with the always amazing Santa Monica Mountains wildflower/plant finder page. Luckily, the nature didn't stop once we got to the party, and we got to see some very aggressive hummingbirds duke it out at the feeders. I know some studies on nectar bats in Arizona have shown that these nectarivores are actually quite dependent on the sugar water people put out in hummingbird feeders; wonder how dependent these guys are on this "unnatural" food source.
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AuthorI like nature! And hiking, and taking pictures, especially of nature. Archives
September 2014
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