This loop covers ten or eleven miles and travels on these trails: Laguna, Sky, Woodward Valley, Coast, Fire Lane, and back to Laguna. The sun shone inland but at the coast it was windy and foggy. The trails were overgrown with grasses that hung down dripping with moisture, which my pants wicked up. After about ten minutes I was sopping wet even inside my waterproof shoes. Just when I started to dry out, I came upon another section of wet trail. Poison hemlock was all over the place, bird's-foot trefoil lined many of the paths. I heard the plaintiff wooden flute song of Swainson's thrush almost the whole way. Sky Trail from the road to Woodward Valley Trail was especially lovely: the elderberries were loaded with red berries and the whole forest was lush and green and hushed. Near the bottom of Woodward Valley I found a colony of tidy tips and on Coast Trail a gathering of yellow Wight's paintbrush. The purple self-heal flowers were big and fat, ox-eye daisies were gorgeous. Sticky monkey flower appeared everywhere and was especially abundant on Monkey Flower Hill. I was a muddy mess when I got home, but several cycles of the washing machine put everything right.

Monkey Flower Hill

I spent this weekend with my son, Eric, and daughter-in-law, Suan, and their three dogs: Ski, a rat terrier; Zoe, a min-pin; and Cassie, a min-pin foster with a broken leg. On Friday all six of us hiked four miles on the Independence Trail, off Highway 49 near Nevada City. This route is flat since it follows the Excelsior Canal and Flume System built back in gold mining days (1856) to carry water 25 miles downstream from the South Fork of the Yuba River. The dogs led the way at a fast clip, especially Cassie, in her flaming pink cast. I don't believe she realizes she has a broken leg. Bright yellow woolly sunflowers lighted our way and the big red blossoms of spice bush stood out in the dappled woods. We saw the white flowers of mountain misery all along the trail and a variety of foothills wildflowers—my favorites: clarkias, wild honeysuckle, and yarrow. The route was mostly in forest, with occasional sunny openings. We met only one other hiker, when we were practically back at the car. The next day Eric, Ski, and I decided to try the Lock Leven Lakes Trail, off I-80. This trail, starting at about 5,000 feet, is steep and rocky. After we crossed the railroad tracks, we encountered a lot of snow and decided to turn back—it was just too slippery. On this short hike I found a treasure: plain-leaf fawn lily was in bloom in the woods—I had never seen it before. Another prize was Phlox diffusa. I usually hike in the Sierra in late July, so I miss the early flowering of this sweet little plant. But today it was in full bloom, from white to lavender. It was lovely. Pinemat manzanita was climbing up over the rocks, inviting many photo ops. We took a short walk down to the Yuba River and found pussypaws on the granite and a tiny saxifrage in the wet places. It was still early in the day, so we hopped over to the Eagle Lakes Trail, promising to go only as far as we had energy and before we knew it we were at the top. The way was covered with a lot of water that forced detours. I found more of that tiny saxifrage as well as Prunus emarginata, mule ears, two kinds of yellow violet, Penstemon newberryi, and two species of Eriogonum, ovalifolium and umbellatum. By the sixth mile, Ski was running out of juice, so Eric gave her a ride back to the car. We put in a total of eight miles for the day.

Milllions. Yes, millions of them. Millions of butter-yellow coast tarweed (Hemizonia corymbosa) clothed the sunny hillsides along Rift Zone Trail today. The theme for the whole day was yellow: dandelion, bird's-foot trefoil, and hill lotus lined the trail. Other colors had to take a back seat, but they had their parts to play, if only in minor roles. In one field, pure white bindweed gathered in clusters among the grasses and I found several clumps of a sweet pink and white variation. Here and there, purple-y blue-eyed grass, light blue forget-me-not, deep rosy California bee plant, pale pink hedge nettle. The white flowers of buckeye and poison hemlock are in profusion this year. The many species of grass were in seed, sparkling in the sun and always moving. In the woods I spied a doe in the shadows, and a saucy Sonoma chipmunk scampered across the trail. I was startled by a frantic scrambling in the bushes and saw an equally startled raccoon peering out at me. He immediately leaped for the rugged trunk of an old bay tree and scurried up into the leaves. Bird song and chatter filled the woods: winter wren, Swainson's thrush, junco, chickadee, rufous-sided towhee. I passed a noisy family of young chickadees pestering mama for lunch. Stellar's jays flitted through the dim forest and a raven cruised overhead. I had lunch at the pond at Five Brooks in the company of a great blue heron and a bull frog. Thousands of pretty pink Centaurium umbellatum congregated by the path from the parking lot. I met no hikers on the 9.4-mile in-and-out hike, but I did pass four women on horseback.

Most of this hike passes over land owned by the Vedanta Religious Retreat, whose signs I see along the trail. They ask that hikers help preserve the silence of the land and it is truly a peaceful hike. Every year on the Monday of Memorial Day weekend Vedanta offers a free open house. This year the principal speaker was a monk from Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village in France. Stationed now in San Diego, Brother Phap Ho is Swedish, speaks perfect English, and exudes a humongous aura of serenity. He spoke on the wisdom and practice of Zen Buddhism, and Swami Ishtananda of the Vedanta Center of St. Petersburg, Florida, spoke to the Vedanta aspect of the same subjects. Lunch and dinner were served—home cooked and delicious, and the bookstore, featuring literature from all religions, hummed with activity. To learn more about Vedanta and the annual open house in Olema, check their web site.

For more about Rift Zone Trail, see the "Nothing Special" Hike under Hiking Descriptions.