I went on an amazing hike today c.o. the Cupertino Seniors Hiking Group. The hike began with a short drive from the valley out to the Purisma Creek Redwood Open Space Preserve (map). Upon arriving i found a Skink warming itself on a rock by the park entrance.  The trail was not very challenging, but experiencing the redwood’s up close with a camera was all the challenge i needed.  With Larissa’s great uncle Roy leading the way, and pointing out all kinds of interesting facts about the surroundings I drank in a wealth of Californian knowledge.  Apparently the redwoods we were seeing were 2nd generation trees.  The trees grew in a a tight circle, which i learned was a ring around where the old growth trees that were forrested many years ago stood.  Judging by the circles they grew in, the 1st generation trees must have been quite a lot larger.  It’s a pity they were taken, but after the fires in San Francisco they needed wood from somewhere to rebuild.

The trail wrapped around a stream that carved it’s way through this dense forrest, that in some places was very dark, and moist due to the thick canopy.  In one such spot i captured an image of a moss covered tree that looked like it was from a fantasy world.  Another interesting find on this hike was the presence of Banana Slugs.  These gigantic bright yellow slugs were spotted quite frequently along the trail making their arduous trek.  I’ve never seen such a large slimy creature in the woods.  One of the hikers insisted that they were quite tastee when fried up, but i think they may over-estimate my naivety.

One more thing of note on the hike was a massive Lady-Bug migration / mating swarm.  The bugs were in large groups blanketing several large areas of ferns, and Forrest under-brush.  The railing of a bridge we crossed was teaming with thousands of them.  We spotted several clusters on our way out of the preserve.

Another California adventure!  I can’t thank great uncle Roy enough for sharing these amazing experiences, that i’m sure most of the SFBay population never enjoys.

Make sure to check out all the photo’s i took in my photo-gallery