The photos below are mostly from today, July 19, with a few from the past two weeks; they show what to look for along the trail. Thirty species of birds were singing this morning, with song sparrows, indigo buntings, common yellowthroats, and catbirds being quite common. A spotted sandpiper, belted kingfisher, and juvenile wood duck were active on the pond. A week ago, a baby killdeer and protective parent greeted walkers to the trail.
Flowers open now include soapwort, Queen Anne’s lace, woolly mullein, bindweed, beebalm, pokeweed, tick trefoil, and yellow and white sweet-clovers. Spotted knapweed has started to flower – very pretty but a noxious invasive. The summer is passing quickly as it always does, and honeysuckle, chokecherry, and red baneberry have all started producing brightly colored fruit. Tussock moth caterpillars are hanging on silk threads from overhead branches.
An information kiosk is a new addition to the trailhead! It has an excellent map and trail rules, and in the future we may add a list current nature sightings to keep trail walkers informed of what to look for. You may see orange topped stakes along the trail edge; these stakes mark distances from Dugway Rd, with the number on each telling you how many hundred yards you have come (e.g., stake 10 is at the pond, which is 1000 yards from Dugway).
