August 13, 2010

Summer Stronghold

We went up the Stronghold trail today. In spite of the high temperature (right now 96 degrees) and the, for us, high humidity, we felt we had better see if we still could do it after a 9-week layoff. No measurable rain has fallen in the last 2 weeks, but the creek was still running, much to Emma's delight.
There was a lot of evidence of flash flooding: what had been little creeks before were now rocky stream beds, and the trail had been washed out or diverted in several places. Half Moon Tank was still full and overflowing, and the water had obviously roared right over the dam.
All that moisture made all the plants happy. There was a lot of big, thin-leafed, vegetation, and a number of plants were blooming again.
We made more stops than usual, to take pictures and to wipe our faces, but it is always a worthwhile hike.

2 comments:

webb said...

Got any idea what the two flowers are? this Virginia girl never saw the likes of those!

Anneke said...

I am glad you asked, because I had to look them up again :-). The red flowers are Smooth Bouvardia (Bouvardia glaberrima), and are loved by hummingbirds. The other one is the Wait-a-minute bush (Mimosa biuncifera). It tends to snag you, hence the common name. (Did you ever see the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy?)