Discoveries at the Old Johnson Place

January 31, 2020

Discoveries at the Old Johnson Place

Discovery number one: This little exploratory endeavor in the various hillside draws of the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park could prove more interesting than even I thought.

I was nearing the end of what I had come to refer to as "Draw #1," and pushing this bike was becoming ever more strenuous. In direct correlation, this end, the upper end, of the draw was becoming ever more vertical and I could see that my course was going to need to change sooner rather than later. Only at one point had I dropped into the absolute bottom, the stream bed, of the draw. Choked with plant growth, fallen branches and whole trees had convinced me that following it would have been an impossible effort in futility. Discovery number two: These hills may look soft and rounded, but the bottoms of their draws are surprisingly sharp and angular. Ever since that revelation, my traverse had been a little further up the grassy side of the draw; absolute bottom was there, off to my left, but mostly hidden by large growths of shrubs.

The plant life in the draw was about what I had expected it to be - awaking from the short winter, and (already) preparing for the arrival of spring. Not only the profusion of green grass. Leaves were beginning to push from the bare branches of the sycamores, while the Mexican elderberry were a little, a very little, further along, with a few fresh leaves already showing. Just above the dry streambed, flowering shrubs were profusely blooming with red / pink flower clusters, and abuzz with busy bees. I am not sure what they are, but discovery number three was growing right next door, the same plant (I am pretty sure, since the leaves were the same), but with yellow and white flowers rather than pink / red and white ones. A little further along came the first bunch of Ribes californicum, the same as I saw blooming at Dun Eire last Friday, but I can't say I have ever seen them in this "puffball" stage. That would be discovery number four. Other plants I noticed: the big Rhus, prickly pear growing in small patches, a lone palm somehow flown up here from who knows where, a single sage, and a red leaved ground cover spread over an open area of a little plateau (It is interesting and I need to find out what it is).

The vertical upper end of the draw was clearly going to be an obstacle even if I hadn't been pushing this bike, so I think I am going to need to get up to the ridge on my right. Discovery number four: Game trails are not uncommon across these hills and easy to spot, but the way the grass is pushed down looks more like a two-legged creature had passed this way recently.

Surmounting the "ridge" revealed what was actually a little plateau. I could have easily skirted along the rim directly to the road, but something convinced me to walk around a bit. I walked to a little outcrop of rocks and then noticed a depression in the surface on the edge of the plateau - discovery number five. As I walked over to the depression a hawk flew out of it, not ten feet away, and that piqued my interest even more. The depression turned out to be cone-shaped, nearly a perfect circle around the rim with a two foot channel cut into one side. I don't know for sure, but I immediately thought it must have been some kind of water feature from the days of the old Johnson Ranch. Fascinating. I walked around the rim, stepped down into the channel, discovering that what I though was maybe a foot deep was more like two feet deep, just overgrown with grass. Something caught my eye - an old rusty door with handle still attached. Huh, that's interesting. I thought it looked like the door from some old pot-bellied stove, but didn't notice any markings on it. I suppose if it had been repurposed it could have served as a quite adequate diversion gate in the channel, which is where it lay - for how long?

Well, time to move on. A short, mostly flat walk to get back on the road for a quick spin back into town. I don't know if I will explore another draw every weekend, but I am already looking forward to "Draw #2."

If discovery and adventure is not already one of the reasons you ride, maybe it should be? Have a good weekend, and remember to bring out your bikes.