Friday, we took the hour drive up to Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve just inside Riverside County. The reserve exceeded our expectations in several ways. It is 9,000 acres of land that is home to many threatened and endangered plants and animals. Bikes, dogs, and horses are not allowed on the trails except in a smaller area of the reserve. The trails are very well maintained and clean, and on this particular day, we saw only a few other hikers and they were closer to the visitor center. We hiked about 10 miles, but I believe there are 70 miles of trails altogether.
There were raucous Acorn Woodpeckers.
A few fence lizards.
Scolding ravens.
There were vast areas of open grasslands, and steeper areas of dense chaparral.
The only irritation was this helicopter doing training overhead for the first couple hours.
A Western Side-blotched Lizard hiding in the leaves.
The old ranch adobes are the two oldest standing buildings in Riverside County. The nearby windmill still spins.
The Moreno Adobe, out of sight to the left, was constructed in 1845.
One of two American Kestrels (the smallest U.S. falcon) we watched hunting.
Moments earlier we saw this Brown-crested Flycatcher being fed by its mother.
We certainly intend to return to the reserve again. By the way, we saw a photo of a mountain lion on the reserve taken last month. Well, the reserve must be spectacular when the hills are green, water running, and flowers popping - please El Nino, deliver!
1 comment:
You are just crazy about those mountain lions!! I think seeing a mountain lion is your White Whale -- now that you can check the wild Condor off your list.
This preserve looks beautiful. Sorry about the chopper overhead. Darn military's gotta ruin everything!!
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