Summer Hike In Placerita Canyon - July 22, 2010

I usually do not go hiking in the summer. First, it is normally way too hot here in SoCal for summer hiking. Then there is the chance of running into rattlesnakes along the trails in the canyons. But this morning we had a very heavy marine layer. It burned off around 7:00 am but it kept the temperatures in the low 70's so I decided to head over to Placerita Canyon Nature Area and go for a short hike. Actually ended up doing about 2.25 miles.
I can add another reason to my list as to why I don't usually hike in the summertime....everything is so dry and brown. The last time I hiked the Placerita Canyon Trail it was still spring. Everything was green, the creek was flowing and the wildflowers were blooming. Today everything was brown, the creek is almost completely dry and there are no flowers.

I did see a lot of lizards, birds and several squirrels. The birds were singing as I walked along the trail. I could also hear the drone of either bee swarms or fly swarms as I walked through the canyon. The flies were eating me alive. There's another reason to not hike in the summer!

I will say that some of the trees were still green, but the grass under them was brown.

I like to take photos of fresh cut tree logs. They always have such pretty colors and markings on them. Sometimes you can almost see "shapes" in them. Is it just me, or do you see the turkey in this one?

After my hike, I went over to the Nature Center to use the bathroom and stopped by to see their Red tailed Hawk (Kia) and their Great Horned Owl (Orion).

Turned out to be a really nice morning.