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Quercus lobata, VALLEY OAK, ROBLE
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Deer browsing on hillside above parking area.
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*Ligustrum lucidum CHINESE PRIVET
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Start of our route along the Westridge Creek drainage to the southern boundary of the preserve
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Rebecca, dressed in tyvek, ready to bushwhack through poison oak.
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Herbarium group descending hillside above Westridge Creek.
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We followed a game trail that paralleled Westridge Creek.
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The route across the first tributary creek
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Deer skull, buried headfirst in mucky soil.
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Moss spreading across deer skull
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# Dirca occidentalis, WESTERN LEATHERWOOD
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# Dirca occidentalis, WESTERN LEATHERWOOD
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Rosa californica CALIFORNIA ROSE. Fruits (rose hips) showing retained sepals at tips
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Our route passed beneath a grove of large buckeye trees.
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Overview of the vegetation along our route
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This red variety of chert is called jasper
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Group at base of rock near southern boundary
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Pellaea mucronata var. mucronata, BIRD'S-FOOT FERN.
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Pellaea andromedifolia, COFFEE FERN.
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Salvia columbariae CHIA, seedlings
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Group heading back on route paralleling Westridge Creek.
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we followed a tributary creek uphill
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View down the second (easternmost) tributary of Westridge Creek
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Group working their way uphill along the steep south side of the second tributary creek.
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Here we made our way along a game trail through a stand of poison oak and Dirca.
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# Dirca occidentalis, WESTERN LEATHERWOOD.
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After following the tributary uphill, we finally arrived at a level saddle
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Group traversing to top of next drainage
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Heteromeles arbutifolia, CHRISTMAS BERRY, TOYON
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Artemisia californica, CALIFORNIA SAGEBRUSH
