Ryan at the edge of Divide Meadow - a grassy expanse of several acres where
people had picnics, napped, or as Ryan's doing here - posed for pictures!

(left) Mayweed "Stinking Dogfennel" (Anthemis Cotula: Aster Family)*
14". Daisy-like, 3/4" flowers, with many white rays around yellow disk, atop branched stem.  Leaves lacy, bi- or tripinnately compound, unpleasantly aromatic when curshed.  Blooms Apr - Aug.  Habitat Disturbed areas.  Range: All California except deserts.
(right) Redmaids

Panoramic of Divide Meadow, scroll right to view entire picture (covers about 180 degrees of rotation)

Redmaids

The hikers resting a bit at Divide Meadow

(left) Arthur napping!  (right) itzy-bity yellow spider on Jenny's boot.

This is perhaps a "Yellow Crab Spider" (Misumena vatia, Goldenrod Spider)**
Look closely at the webbing line that it's producing and which is flying up with the wind towards the upper-left.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata, Beetle Order)*
1/4". Thorax narrow, dark; head, legs, antennae black.  Forewings oval, pale green with large black spots.  Adult eats leaf epidermis, esp. gourd family; larva eats host plant roots.  Habitat: Meadows, weedy fields, farms. Season: Spring - fall.

Forget-Me-Not
Very tiny flower - about 1/4" across.

Artist's Fungus "Artist's Conk" (Ganoderma applanatum, Bracket Family)*
W 16". Cap flat to convex, semicircular; shiny dark brown or gray, lighter and brighter at edge; wrinkled, hard, attached directly to wood.  Underside white, bruises brown; has pores.  Season: year-round.  Habitat: low on trunks of dead or dying trees.
 

Fuchsia-Flowered Gooseberry (Ribes speciosum, Currant Family)*
6'. Spiny shrub with long, spreading branches.  Leaves 1 1/2", roundish, shiny above, evergreen.  Bark red-brown.  Flowers 1", red, tubular, clustered along branches; bloom Jan. - May.  Berries 1/2", red, spiny.  Habitat: Chaparral, coastal sage scrub, shaded sanyons.  Range: Coast from SF to San Diego.

The last stretch of Bear Valley Trail runs along a small creek (left). The visitor center is not just 0.2 miles away! (right)

The hikers are almost back to the visitor center/parking lot.  Wow, so many cars!!!

A nice stroll in the park for two couples: (left) Yen-Chi & Duc, (right) Tracie & Arthur.
 

* Information on wildlife taken from National Audubon Society Field Guide To California, 1998.

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