The Eta Aquarids meteor showers peak on the very evening of this edition. Fog permitting, we should have good viewing after midnight. These meteors are thought to be bits of cosmic debris left from Halley’s Comet. The showers last through May, but the peak date is the most active night.
How quickly central California transitions from spring green to summer golden brown. But the hints of brown along roadways and hillsides are balanced against a wonderful year for colorful wildflowers, something to hold in memory as we move toward the dry season. It seems like everywhere you look flowers are blooming. Lupines and poppies carpet the meadows behind the Bear Valley Visitor Center and along Limantour Road. The grasslands of Tomales Point pop with bright orange paintbrush and beds of purple Douglas iris.
Bear Valley Trail has opened this past weekend, as did trails southbound from the main walk; northbound trails remain closed. Bird song is in the air and the bubbling of the creek adds to the scenery. Quail scratch in the dust, lush greenery is everywhere, an osprey is building a nest atop a fire-blackened tree trunk, fresh fox scat hints at wildlife movement. The dogwood tree at the old cabin site across the creek is in full bloom right now, absolutely resplendent!