Wild Flower Mondays: Russian Ridge

All hikes are limited to 15 participants. You will be provided with information that include directions to meeting places, facilities and other relevant information.

These natural history hikes will take place along beautiful Skyline Boulevard. We've scheduled them during the time period when wildflowers have most often bloomed during past seasons. However, the window for best wildflower viewing (when and how long) is fickle, as is the weather (some flowers blossom only in full sunshine), but these hikes are spectacular, blossoms or not. They all begin at noon, include a rest stop for snacks and end at 3:00 - 3:30 p.m. The pace will be very easy with many stops to talk about plants, animal signs, geolog and area history.

Individual hike descriptions and dates:

Russian Ridge: March 16

This beautiful circle route is 3.6 miles in length with two separate climbs totaling 500 feet. It includes vast grasslands, deep evergreen forests and an array of splendid ridge-top views. One of the trails is often rich in animal tracks if there have been recent rains.

Monte Bello: March 30

This three-mile meanders downhill for two miles through grasslands, along the San Andreas Fault and through a fragrant bay and black oak grove before dropping beneath the canopy of the Stevens Creek riparian corridor. We'll follow the creek upstream, where at one point we'll make a ford atop rocks and stop for rest and snacks before ascending up the canyon (a steady 300-foot climb) back to our starting point.

Grizzly Flat: April 13

Peters Creek is wonderfully verdant in spring with huge moss-covered boulders, lush ferns and newt-filled pools. We'll follow it upstream to its source at a tranquil Zen pond and there climb through the forest to emerge onto the grasslands along the spine of Long Ridge. We'll stop there for a rest snacks with spectacular views of coastal ridges and the Pacific Ocean. This diverse 4.5 mile circle route includes two moderate climbs totaling 400 fee of elevation change.

Keith Johnsgard

After leaving the university classrooms behind, Johnsgard moved to the mountains to re-embrace his boyhood passions and gradually reinvent himself as a naturalist. For nearly a decade he has been leading moving outdoor classrooms as a mountain hike docent. His primary interests include ehtnobotany (how the native Americans utilized native plants), Ohlone culture and history, geomorphology (how California and the San Andreas Fault emerged from the sea), mammal tracking and mountain lion behavior.