Hike: Santa Teresa County Park

Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch
San Jose, April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday Hike

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Preface: On Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012, a friend took me to Santa Teresa County Park in South San Jose for my first hike this year.
We had come here on June 12, 2011, when most of the spring flowers were gone. Today's hike began with a steep uphill climb on the Joice Trail. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my walking stick, and found a long thin twig as substitute "placebo". There was a gigantic poppy, the largest I've seen (palm width) on the trip uphill. I brushed aside some tall grass to photograph this "King Poppy". Another highlight was a Bay Checkerspot Butterfly landing near my feet. San Jose Mercury News (4-9-2012) had an article on these beautiful orange & black butterflies being re-populated in the Bay Area. On the way downhill, nine hawks flew across the sky, hovering over the power lines on the trail. Soon "Bird clouds" appeared in the sky to dance with these soaring hawks. My friend referred me to Common Wildflowers board and Local Wildflowers Index to identify the flowers encountered on this Easter Sunday hike.

Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch Sign
Oak Tree on Hillside
View from Joice Trail

Three Power Lines on Trail
View from Joice Trail
Serpentine Rocks on Hill

Antler Branches by Joice Trail
Tree and Rocks on Hilltop
Flowers & Rocks on the Hill

King Poppy (Close-up)
Serpentine Rocks on Hill
Broadleaf Filaree (Erodium botrys)

Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa)
Serpentine Rocks on Hillside
Cream Cups, Poppies, Tidy Tips on Hillside

Flowers & Serpentine Rocks on Hillside
Field of Poppies (Eschscholzia californica)
Serpentine Rocks on Hillside

Flaming Clouds in Sky
Bernal Hill Trail Sign
Jumbo Power Lines
Towering Power Lines

Poppy Growing in Rock Crevice
Beyond the Power Lines— Serenity
Bay Checkerspot Butterfly (Close-up)

Serpentine Rocks & Hills View
Power Lines on Bernal Hill Trail
Fiddlenecks (Amsinckia eastwoodiae)

Gnarly White Oak (Quercus alba)
Joice & Bernal Hill Trail Sign
Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium)

Trees and Serpentine Rocks
Joice & Vista Loop Trail Sign
Vista Loop Trail View

Vista Loop Trail Sign
Johnny Jump Ups (Viola pedunculata)
California Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

Oak by Joice Trail (Distant view)
Oak by Joice Trail
Oak by Joice Trail (Close-up)

Three Hawks in Sky
Three Hawks in Sky
"Bird Cloud" in Sky

Poppies on the Rocks
Face in Serpentine Rock
Tree as Halo on "Face Rock"

"Face Rock" and Tree
Elegant Brodiaea (Brodiaea californica)
Hawk and "Bird Cloud"

Tree & "Face Rock"
Two Hawks in Sky
Three Hawks in Sky
Nine Hawks over Power Lines

Hawk in the Sky
Four Hawks and Bird Cloud
Four Hawks and Bird Cloud

Five Hawks and Clouds
Clouds and Power Lines
Four "Spear Clouds"

Hawks, Clouds, Power Lines
Seven Hawks, Trees, Hill (1, 2)
Eight Hawks over Power Lines

Clouds & Trees on Hillside
"Crocodile Cloud" over Valley
Two "Bird Clouds"

"Chinese One" Cloud
Two "Bird Clouds" (Close-up)
"Bird Cloud"

Nine Hawks & Power Lines (1)
Hemlock Walking Stick
Chicken Coop (Park Entrance)
Chicken Facts (White Chicken)

Clouds Soaring Upward in Sky
"Night of the Frogs" Board
"Common Wildflowers" Board


— Photographs by Peter Y. Chou, April 8, 2012


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