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

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Turn left and descend gently for about 150 feet to a junction with the Benstein Trail. Here you turn right and climb steeply on a single track. Soon you are climbing almost entirely on serpentine (which can be slippery when wet), interspersed with dirt and gravel sections. The trees here, which appear stunted and spindly, are Sargent cypress, lovers of serpentine soil. Sargent cypress, found in the Coast Ranges of California, was named for Charles Sprague Sargent, who founded the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard and also wrote 14 volumes on the trees of North America.

The Oakland Star Tulip

The manzanita barren is a good place to look for the Oakland star tulip, which has upright bowls of white, three-petaled flowers with lavender points between the petals. This wildflower, a serpentine lover, is on a watch list for plants of limited distribution.

At a fork in the route, you turn sharply right, head for open ground, and then climb through forest to a ridgetop. The moderate grade changes to steep as you near the top of a ridge, but once across it, the trail descends gently to a junction with Rock Spring – Lagunitas Road. Bear right on the road and follow it downhill about 100 yards to a junction beside the upper reaches of Ziesche Creek.