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Matalija poppies resemble fried eggs.

chapter 2

Upper Newport Bay

The marshes surrounding Upper Newport Bay represent tiny remnants of a much more extensive wetland that once stretched inland to the present city of Tustin. The Portolà expedition of 1769 (led by Gaspar de Portolà) and subsequent travelers passing up or down the coast avoided this soggy region and stuck to the base of the foothills, where the firm ground more than made up for the inconvenience of traversing ridges and ravines.

During the past 100,000 years or more, the Santa Ana River has wandered across the surface of the Los Angeles Basin, changing course many times in response to flooding and silt deposition. Around 30,000 years ago, the river (which at that time carried more runoff because of a wetter climate) carved out the basic form of the troughlike structure now occupied by Upper Newport Bay. Sediment carried by the river and dropped at the mouth of the trough formed a barrier island, today’s Balboa Peninsula, enclosing (lower) Newport Bay.