Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area - David Weintraub - Страница 2

From the book…

Marin Headlands

The hills surrounding Gerbode Valley, part of the Marin Headlands, are vibrant in the spring with wildflowers, and alive with birdsong and avian acrobatics most of the year, but especially during the fall raptor migration.

Ring Mountain Open Space Preserve

Its slopes are home to a wonderful array of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers, some quite rare, and one, the Tiburon Mariposa lily, is found nowhere else in the world. As a vantage point with great views, Ring Mountain’s summit rivals better-known Bay Area peaks.

Annadel State Park

This park is one of the best places in the North Bay to see wild turkeys — look in damp ravines or along the edges of clearings for large flocks of these dark, iridescent birds, which are slightly smaller than their domestic cousins.

Sonoma Coast State Beach: Bodega Head Loop

Daubs of color are added to the scene by the yellow-and-red flowers of seaside paintbrush, and the magenta blooms of iceplant, a succulent that carpets California’s coastal dunes and sandy roadside embankments. Just offshore, lines of brown pelicans or cormorants may be cruising low over the waves.

Napa River Ecological Reserve

Be sure to stop and admire a large, ropy vine of California wild grape, perhaps more than 100 years old. Also here are two kinds of blackberry — California, a native, and Himalayan, and import from Europe.

Mission Peak Regional Preserve

The final climb is on dirt and rock, past a clever observation device that allows you to identify more than two dozen Bay Area landmarks in a 360-degress circle around Mission Peak.

Sunol Wilderness: Little Yosemite

Little Yosemite features in miniature some of the wonders of its Sierra Nevada namesake, including water rushing through a boulder-strewn gorge, sheer cliffs, forested hillsides, and towering rock formations. Stands of western sycamore add color in the fall.