On Friday February 15 our group enjoyed a beautiful naturalist-guided hike at the Santa Margarita River Reserve near Fallbrook. This well-protected area, on property owned and managed by SDSU, includes the only fully free-flowing river in Southern California.
A gorgeous day and an enthusiastic guide, Dave, greeted us at the gate.
We began our hike along the Stone Creek trail with a lesson on identifying poison oak [and an explanation that even if you can identify the plant by its leaves, there are many ways the plant can elude detection]. We also marvelled at the variety of wild things including wild cucumber and various sages and we identified signs of wildlife [listened to bird calls and woodpecking, examined coyote scat, compared dog footprints to wildlife footprints, and learned about the differences between moss and lichen]. We climbed up out of the creek bed into an area of chapparal and then ended the hike with a brisk run through an old orange grove.
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