San Diego Natural History Museum Canyoneers

"Canyoneers call them wild hyacinths" Jim said as I took delight seeing blue dicks on the trail for the first time this year.  He also referred to horny toads as horned lizards. 

I was the only first timer in the hike and Richard Campbell asked if there was anything I was most interested in: plants, flowers, birds, butterflies, scat or anything. I said I would probably be most interested in scat. 

First thing I learned about the Canyoneers was that they take nature so seriously, being interested in scats is no joke. The manzanita is scientifically called xylucoccus bicolor. 

The chamise, not chemise as verified by Charie, is chamise chaparral  and the buck wheat may look alike but they are two different species. The chamise belongs to rose family and the buckwheat foliage has a pink pollen. Stacy, the plant specialist with an owl tattoo at the back of left limb, added that chamise chaparrals produce two kinds of seeds. One of which lay dormant on the ground until a fire comes. Dodder plants are promulgated by birds dropping its seeds. They are yellow because they cannot photo synthesize and they are parasites, sucking moisture and nutrients from other vulnerable plants.

A Canyoneer can tell whether the purple flower is a phacelia or a primrose. They apologize to the plant when they accidentally knock off even a leaf. 

The Canyoneers who also considered themselves naturalists hoped to see wooly blue curls and they did. It was like a giveaway treat. They also looked forward to seeing canchalaguas on the trai. 

The Lord's candle is actually edible. The Lord's candle looks to me like a giant asparagus. Stacy said it's kind of bitter. Kelly, Charie's daughter, said it's probably nothing to Filipinos who eat bitter melon. I took a piece of the flower from Stacy and Kelly is correct. The Lord's candle is nothing bitter compared to a bitter melon but it would have been perfect with a balsamic vinegar dressing.

"Oops..." 

I was discreetly marking my photos with the glorious holy Shih Tzu but I am glad somebody stepped in  to take his place. That's Kelly who came with Charie, her mom, in a Subaru Outback, my wish list car. Not a typical Pinoy who would have been driving a Mercedes Benz.  Kelly was supposed to climb El Cajon Peak  with the Take a Hike meetup group but thought better of it because of the high 90's weather. Jim was taking note of the red markings on the boulder which he said was a fire retardant. Other markings also indicated the movements of the boulders for the last hundred years 

There's half of the group who followed one of the leading Canyoneers to an overlook. That's Stacy standing on the bench. I really wanted to take a photo of the owl tattoo at the back of her left limb.

I took the photo in the shaded area where we took our break. There was a dried up creek and this willow that reminded me of pussy willows is starting to bloom for spring. Stacy said the willow is called the fluffy catskins willow and the last time she saw a pussy willow was in Montana. 

I was not able to take notes of what Jim was saying. I think he was telling me that the plant in the picture is a poison oak berry. 

It was Kelly who pointed it out to me. I thought it was a yello monkey flower. But it's not, it's the bird tongue flower. 

It's my second visit to the Mount Gower Open Reserve and the first for the glorious holy Shih Tzu.