Oaks on Mt. Wanda in Martinez

October 1, 2023 Sunday at 10:00 am Mt. Wanda at John Muir Home Nat. Park
(in Martinez)

Description: Meet us at the park-and-ride lot, doubling as the park service trailhead for Mt. Wanda and Mt. Helen trails. After admiring the madias in bloom next to the parking lot, we’ll head uphill at a leisurely pace to take in 4, maybe 5 species of oak along the trail to the hilltop. There will be other shrubs and trees, some in fruit, as we wind around from the north to east slope at 11% grade in the first several hundred meters. With the exception of the tarweeds, most ground level grasses and herbaceous plants will be dormant. Be sure to bring your favorite water bottle and a hat, because it will be sunny on the east side as we climb above the oak-bay-buckeye woodland. Trailside poison oak is already turning a flashy scarlet so you should have no trouble avoiding the leaves still on the branches.