Claremont Hills Wilderness Park: Draw #2

So another Friday came around and presented another opportunity to get another up-close view of the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park. By that I don't mean that I took a tumble from my bike, I just mean it was time to explore another little draw, Draw #2.

Draw #2 is much shorter that the first draw was, much more shallow and, whereas Draw #1 was south-facing, Draw #2 is north facing, so I was expecting the flora might be a little different. The soil was the same loamy type, small rocks everywhere, speckled every-so-often with white quartz, and clusters of small boulders. While Draw #1 had rodent holes here and there, the surface of Draw #2 is completely pocked with them; there must be thousands of furry critters, and probably some snakes, making Draw #2 their home. Draw #2 would not be a good place to ride a horse. 

a lot of downhill types heading over to Webb

There was a clear division to the draw, with the upper half covered by masses of trees and the larger shrubs. In fact since I couldn't find an easy was down into this part from the road, I didn't really get a good look at it. Half way down, however, the shrubs abruptly end and grassland predominates. This border between shrub and grass looked to be a favorite spot with deer, as there were bunches of droppings around (I kept looking down at my legs for ticks, but think it is still a little early in the year for those buggers). There are clusters of that white flowering shrub and all were, again, extremely busy with bees. There was one spot of the low-growing mat of ground cover (I still have to find out what it is). Ribes californicum was growing in spots along the edges of the grassland; though its flowers were spent, the berries did not seem to be as far along as they were in Draw #1 - perhaps due to the north-facing slope, and less sun exposure.

A galvanized slope drain directs rain run-off from the road into the draw at one side, and the erosion has created a pretty deep ravine, maybe six foot at it deepest. The cutting water has exposed a rocky cut bank at one spot, and flows around a small oak tree at one point, but does not seem to be undercutting it yet. The ravine is choked along much of its length with monkey flower (Mimulus), who's leaves are quite evident, but have no flowers yet. 

A fairly good sized oak splintered and crashed down some time ago, its lower trunk blackened and hollowed by fire. In fact further down the draw, where it joins a larger one coming down from the west, there are other logs, similarly blackened, disintegrating back into the ground. There are two clusters of trees in this lower area too, a small group of pines, grown tall but with one tilted at a precarious angle, and another of eucalyptus, smaller in stature than the pines, yet much more dense. I don't think I could push my way through them if I wanted to. The lower end of the draw is also the only place where I found evidence of past human occupation, recent though it might be, as a twisted bit of iron pipe sticks up out of the ground.

Two wheels and two feet will get you there every time.

  those leaves were really shiny with oils - watch out