Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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Now you climb gently across an open hillside, heading for an obvious watercourse and marker 7. Growing here are moisture-loving plants such as giant chain fern, rushes, and wax myrtle.

The source of Ring Mountain’s creeks and wet areas is rainwater that cannot penetrate deeply into the rocky soil on the mountain’s upper reaches, and instead emerges as seeps and springs.

Turning left, you cross a wet area via two plank bridges, and then climb a set of wooden steps that take you out of the watercourse. At an unsigned T-junction you turn right, soon reaching a fork, where you bear left and continue climbing. About 100 feet past the fork is marker 8, for an oak grove on the right.

Oaks — How Mighty?

Oaks may seem invincible, but practices such as land clearing, firewood cutting, and over-grazing are threatening California’s oak woodlands. Restoration projects, combined with public awareness, may help reverse this trend.

Continuing straight on the main trail, you pass a four-way junction and then reach a junction marked by a blank trail post. Here a trail continues straight, but you turn right, into a grotto of bay trees strewn with rock boulders, where marker 9 awaits. This grotto is called a tree island, and like a real island it stands in marked contrast to its surroundings — a shady shelter for birds, small mammals, and insects in the midst of wind-swept, sun-baked fields. Within the grotto, the trail becomes indistinct, but keeping marker 9 on your left, you go about 30 feet past it, turn left, and continue uphill.