It was really too early for wildflowers. In over 2 miles of hiking, we saw only maybe half a dozen flowers. Not TYPES of flowers--flowers. This is a California Buttercup (Ranunculus californicus).

Ellen & Steph go hiking in Henry Coe State Park.
You can also see Steph's narrative and photos.
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elf1 > Starting out on our hike, we passed the usual "No Dogs" "No Amphibious Assault Craft" sort of signs, but we were greatly puzzled by this "No Diving" sign at the beginning of a path that works its way up this creek bed. The creek was about 2 inches deep. In the middle of the photo, you can just see the railings for a small bridge across the creek, which sits about 2 feet above ground level. We weren't sure where atop this mountain park we'd WANT to go diving. Note to self--ask ranger next time.

elf1 > The views of ridges, and of trails extending beyond the next ridge, and of ridges beyond the ridges, were lovely. Didn't make us immediately think of diving, however.

elf1 > Near in to the headquarters, there were plenty of options for shorter, midlength, and longer loop trails. I wondered about the Flat Frog trail--maybe that Amphibious Assault Craft rolled over the wrong spot at the wrong time. There is a Fish Trail; maybe there's attractive diving there? But not according to the topo map--

elf1 > There were a few ravines, like this one, that were steep enough and deep enough--maybe 30 feet deep here--that one COULD dive, but I don't know why diving your head onto damp rocks would be attractive. For most people.

elf1 > Stark naked white winter tree branches always look beautiful to me. I always try taking photos. They always turn out looking like a bunch of boring wood. Something I'm not figuring out, photography-wise. These are, I believe, buckeye branches.

elf1 > More buckeye. The sky was really lovely; I didn't use a polarizing lens. But these branches still mostly just look like branches in a photo to me instead of the smooth beautiful whiteness of reality.

elf1 > This oak tree was interesting for having so much visible mistletoe and the tree being in a location where it could be photographed in its entirety in this lovely hillside meadow.

elf1 > But then I go to thinking that the photo was pretty boringly symmetrical with the tree smack dab in the middle, so I experimented with a little cropping. I dunno.

elf1 > It was really too early for wildflowers. In over 2 miles of hiking, we saw only maybe half a dozen flowers. Not TYPES of flowers--flowers. This is a California Buttercup (Ranunculus californicus).

It was really too early for wildflowers. In over 2 miles of hiking, we saw only maybe half a dozen flowers. Not TYPES of flowers--flowers. This is a California Buttercup (Ranunculus californicus).