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Ground squirrel, April 11th Here begin the April 11th pictures. We saw this fellow just after leaving the...
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Daniel with Ceanothus ( Mtn. Lilac)
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Mountain Lilac!
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Close-up
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Wind Poppy
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Clara and the purples Blue dicks and larkspur.
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A peek of a peak
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Three peaks From left: Mount Olympia, 2946 ft; North Peak, 3557; Mt. Diablo Summit, 3849....
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Butterfly
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Mt. Diablo Fairy Lantern (Globe Lily) This plant is endemic to Contra Costa County, and is mostly confined to this...
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Fairy Lantern
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Red Larkspur One of Clara's favorites. She also likes the shooting star; stay...
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Thrusting and folding These are the rocks above us on the Falls Loop Trail.
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Dudleya
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Shooting Star Another Clara favorite.
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Daniel and the Checker Lily
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Checker Lily (Mission Bells) This magnificent flower is actually drab when viewed from the outside, as you...
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One more bell ringing
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Waterfalls They were grander in real life.
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Falls, poppies on left Again, you just had to have been there.
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The three peaks again After we had conquered the highest.
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"Chinese House," 4-16-09 Chinese house is the name of the flower. Clara and I hunted for Globe Lilies...
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Chinese Houses
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Mt. Diablo Fairy Lantern
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Globe Lilies
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Fairy Lanterns
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Globe Lilies
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Daniel and the Fairy Lanterns
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Globe Lilies
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Fairy Lanterns Note the color of the one at right.
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Globe lilies
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Butterfly
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Spider eating bug on blue dick
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Cricket!
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Larkspur and Indian Paintbrush
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Western Bluebird
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Western Bluebird
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Buttercups and bugs 3-7-09 Near the North Gate of Mount Diablo State Park, about 600 feet...
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Pretty in pink
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Mount Diablo State Park Along the Little Pine Creek.
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Vegetation and looming climb
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A great Oak and clouds There were many well-established oaks in the lower plains of the park.
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Grasses and hills beyond
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Part of the steep ascent I'm not sure whether the viewer can tell, but this was an...
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Early views
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Western Wallflower (Mustard)
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On the ascent
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Golden Poppy for Clara
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Ground Mammal!
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Two squirrels
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Horses and a respite This part of the trail was a more gradual ascent, with some ravines and...
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Mountains, Clayton and Bay-Delta
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A great Juniper This is at least two-thirds of the way up, just before a drive-in campground.
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A view from the summit 3,849 feet complete with glider.
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Another view from the summit It was not a particularly clear day, as the camera well captures.
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Baby blue-eyes On the descent.
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View on descent
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Shiny, undulating slopes
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More green slopes
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Moon and my shadow I was trying to get the moon and part of the mountain I had just descended in...
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A pause on the descent
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Steep descent! Can you tell? This descent was so steep--although it may not be clear from the...
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Redwing blackbird as the sun goes down
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Darkness enters This is back close to the North Gate, about half an hour before sunset.
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Buttercups dot the lowlands This is the last picture from my solo summit.
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The second time: buttercups dot lowlands This and the pictures that follow were taken on my trip with Clara, her first...
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More flowers and a look at the climb We climbed all that and much more. This field is full of wild radishes.
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Wild radishes and butterfly Butterflies flitted with the breeze through flowered meadows like...
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Red-winged blackbird!
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Red-winged blackbird!
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Part of our ascent This part of the path does not look nearly as steep as it was! We...
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Clara and her poppies She was in low spirits after losing the red poppy blooms in our yard the...
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Lupines These make me smile.
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Grasses, flowers, oaks
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Yellow and orange flowers
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Daniel with poppies on the path
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Clara with poppies on the path
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Path poppies
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More poppies for Clara!
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Mixed wildflowers
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More flowers on and off the path Shortly after this we saw a fluffy coyote! He trotted away, stopped to...
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Baby blue-eyes
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Indian Warrior This is close to the summit, above the Juniper campground.
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The private summit 3849 feet The actual summit is crowded, because one (well, scores) can drive a...
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Ground squirrel in flowers
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A different ground squirrel! We saw half a dozen around here.
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Poppies
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Clara resting with poppies on descent
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Daniel on a steep section This part of the trail really has to be experienced to be believed. These...
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Blue Dicks and Woodland Stars April 5th Sierra Club Wildflowers Walk.
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Checker Lily (Mission Bells)
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Black Point
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Purple Sanicle (Pincushons)
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Daniel and Black Point
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Royal Larkspur (Delphinium)
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California Golden Poppies
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Owl's Clover and Blue Dicks
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Larkspur
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Pink Onion
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Mixed wildflowers Lots of blue dicks.
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Clara, blue dicks and gray pine cone Gray Pines are producers of the world's second largest pine cones. The...
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Indian Paintbrush and gray pine cone
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Mixed flowers, Indian Paintbrush right
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Red Larkspur This hillside was gloriously covered in a profusion of wildflowers. The sun,...
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Daniel with the summits I ascended that summit twice in the last four weeks. This is close to...
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Figwort on the descent
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Clara on Mt. Diablo She wouldn't pose for pictures today. The people ahead of her were on our...
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Virgin's Bower and view
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Coulter Pine Cones, the world's largest!
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Johnny Jump-Up flowers (yellow)
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Coyote!
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Coyote! Last Sierra Club hike picture April 5, 2009.
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Mount Diablo Fairy Lanterns 5-9-09 This and the pictures that follow are from a Sierra Club four peak hike--Mt....
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Globe Lilies Donner Canyon.
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Wind Poppies
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The looming climb North Peak, Prospector's Gap, Mount Diablo Summit.
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Wind Poppies and Chinese Houses They filled the hillside!
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Caterpillar on Indian Paintbrush As we neared Mt. Olympia, our first peak of the day, I saw about a half dozen...
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Poppies from Mt. Olympia Summit
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Red Larkspur all the way down On the way to North Peak.
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Bitter Root on North Peak
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Poppies, Prospector's Gap
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Mountain Violet On the way down from the summit.
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Red Larkspur
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Our first two peaks From left: Mount Olympia, 2946', and North Peak, 3557'.
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Eagle Peak
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Our first three peaks from the fourth Olympia, North Peak, and Mount Diablo Summit, 3849', from Eagle Peak,...
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Black Point and quarry from Eagle Peak
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Mariposa Lilies
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Mariposa Lily with bug
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Mariposa Lily Near Mitchell Rock.
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Soap Plant
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Kestrel
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