From Friday's run to Fort Point and the East Battery.

Andy Goldsworthy's Presidio forest sculpture Wood Line.

From this morning's out & back run on the Secret Trail and Calabasas Peak fire road to the Stunt High Trail.

Turricula Along the Silver Moccasin Trail at Shortcut Saddle

I knew Turricula was a common fire follower, but had never run or hiked through a burn area where it was abundant. Wow, it was everywhere on the Red Box - Bear Canyon - Gabrieleno Loop last Saturday, and particularly dense on sections of the Gabrieleno Trail between Switzers and Red Box. It appears to be one of the most common fire-followers in the Station Fire burn area, and likely plays an important role in the recovery process.

Gland-tipped hairs on the plant secrete a sticky substance that  causes a rash "like poison oak" in sensitized persons. There must be some threshold of exposure, because I have brushed against the leaves of Turricula many times before without reacting to it. This time my exposure was repeated, frequent, and prolonged; and the leaves were heavily coated with exudate. At the end of the loop my legs and forearms were coated with a thick layer of resinous brown gunk that would not wash off with water.

By the time I had finished the run, talked to some people at Red Box, and driven home, 2-3 hours had passed. Tecnu helped remove the resinous goo, but as I would discover a couple days later, it did not prevent me from getting the rash.

My reaction to Turricula was quite a bit different than what I've experienced with poison oak. A blotchy red rash developed on my arms and legs Monday, about 48 hours after exposure. After another 24 hours I thought the rash was going away, but it was actually morphing into a more widespread and uniform inflammation that was similar to bad sunburn -- a very itchy sunburn. There was some swelling and edema, particularly on my ankles. In the areas that had the most contact with the Turricula, primarily my shins and around my knees, there was some blistering. The blisters were small, perhaps 1/16 inch in diameter or less.

Most of the blisters were gone by Thursday afternoon, and since then the inflammation has been slowly subsiding. Although very itchy and annoying at times, it has not been debilitating. An equivalent exposure to poison oak would have been much more severe. However, in my case an underlying irritation or sensitivity has lingered for some time after the visible reaction dissipated. It seems like it will probably take a few more days for the reaction to completely resolve. We'll see!

Update July 12, 2011. My reaction to Turricula cleared after about two weeks. A running friend who recently did some trail work removing Turricula on the Kenyon Devore Trail sent this photograph of a blotchy red rash that developed on his forearm. He first noticed a reaction four days after doing the trail work, and the photograph was taken 10 days after exposure. As in my case, several hours later he commented that the blotchy rash had merged into a more general inflammation with swelling.

Research has found the dermatitic agents in the Turricula exudate are "phacelioids," hydroquinone based compounds structurally related to poison oak/ivy urushiols, but not as active. In one study the amount of the phacelioids in Turricula required to produce a qualified reaction was 100 times that required for a component of urushiol from poison ivy -- 170 µg vs 1.6 µg.

It is also noted that in place oxidation of hydroquinone based phacelioids is likely necessary to interact with the proteins of the skin and produce a reaction. This (and common sense) suggests that leaving the Turricula exudate on your skin for several hours (like I did) is probably a bad idea.

For more information see:

Prenylated Phenolics that Cause Contact Dermatitis from Glandular Trichomes of Turricula parryi. G. W. Reynolds, P. Proksch, E. Rodriguez, Planta Medica, 1985; 51(6): 494-498

Unusual contact allergens from plants in the family Hydrophyllaceae. G. W. Reynolds, W. L. Epstein, E. Rodriguez, Contact Dermatitis, 1986; 14:39-44

The book Poisonous plants of California by Thomas C. Fuller, Elizabeth May McClintock (1986) describes a 1941 incident in which hairs from old flowering stalks "easily broken from the stems" caused a rash, but flowering plants the previous year did not.

Perhaps the aged exudate is more potent, or mechanical irritation or emplacement help facilitate a response.

Related post: Turricula Along Angeles Crest Highway

Most chaparral plants thrive in years in which we have above average rainfall, including poison oak. This poison oak is on the Phantom Trail in Malibu Creek State Park.

From Sunday's trail run.

A feather -- probably from a barn owl -- on the Modelo Trail between Cheeseboro and Palo Comado Canyons.

A little further along the trail I was surprised to see the diminutive "Felix the Cat" like face of a long-tailed weasel briefly pop up from a burrow.

From today's run of the Modelo - Palo Comado Canyon - Cheeseboro Canyon loop. This Park Service PDF includes a map of the area, and this interactive Google Earth browser view shows a GPS trace of the run.

What the... Until I saw the water bottle and that the person was talking on a cell phone, I wasn't sure what I was seeing.

Then there was the rattlesnake -- well actually, the two rattlesnakes! Here's an HD video snapshot of one of them. This is an average size Southern Pacific rattlesnake. Because of our cool Spring weather they've been slow to appear, but are now out and about.

Some related posts: Big Southern Pacific Rattlesnake at Ahmanson Ranch, It was So Muddy That..., Overcoming Obstacles on the Trail

Big snow equals big water, and this year the Kern River snowpack was measured at nearly twice normal, jump-starting the paddling season and producing summer-level flows in mid April for the 2011 Kern River Festival.

Saturday, racers had great water for paddling the spectacular waterfalls, steep drops, and slides on Brush Creek; and Saturday afternoon at Riverside Park there was good coverage and splashy rapids for the second edition of the Hooligan Boat competition. Once again, the Hooligan boats were a spectator favorite.

Saturday night the Kern River flow increased from about 2250 cfs to 2800 cfs, and Sunday morning racers competing in the Tom Johnson Whitewater Slalom had the most water for the slalom in over 20 years. This resulted in some challenging moves on the fast moving river, and many paddlers had to go to "plan B" after getting pushed off line, coming in low on a gate, or blowing a ferry.

Speaking of hard moves, here's an HD video snapshot of innovative kayak, surfboard and SUP designer Corran Addison (sans Mohawk) doing the difficult cross river move from gate #11 to gate #12, and then down through gates #13 and #14 on a SUP.

The 2012 Kern River Festival will be April 20-22 in Kernville, California.

Orographic Lift, Waves, and Turbulence over the San Jacinto Mountain Range

After last Sunday's record-setting storm in Southern California, and the cool, unsettled weather during the week, we expected snow conditions on Mt. San Jacinto to be even better than on previous trips this March. But snow conditions -- especially backcountry snow conditions -- aren't always what you expect. The new snow, maybe a foot of it, was as thick as wet concrete. If we'd had a little kiwi fruit flavoring, it would have been perfect for shave ice.

Even if the snow wasn't what we had hoped for, the day was extraordinary. Another weak front was moving into Southern California and the strong onshore flow ahead of the front was creating several kinds of interesting mountain weather phenomena -- some common and some not so common.

Riding up the tram, we could see plumes of dust blowing across the desert floor east of Banning Pass, and a stack of lenticular clouds hovered over the mountains east of San Gorgonio Mountain. It was breezy at the upper tram station, and from the walkway descending to Long Valley, we could see rimed trees on the southeast side of San Jacinto Peak.

We skied up a beautiful untracked drainage south of the Round Valley trail, and eventually worked our way over to Long Valley Creek and then to Tamarack Valley. We were almost to the top of the steep step above Tamarack Valley, and had paused for a moment to look around. There was a distinctive wave cloud to the southeast, and the lower cloud deck was beginning to engulf Toro Peak (8716'). I turned to continue up the slope, and as I looked up, the first of a series of tumbling and twining filaments of gossamer cloud swept past in the turbulent west-northwest flow (video).

Six months ago, also before the passage of a cold front, I'd seen similar clouds on Boney Mountain, in the Santa Monica Mountains. In that case and here on San Jacinto, a moist layer in a stably stratified westerly flow was being lifted over a mountain range. Depending on whether the flow remained laminar, or became transitional or turbulent; a wave cloud, transient wave cloud, or these turbulent thin sheets of cloud might form. In each case the atmosphere was becoming more moist and the clouds were precursors to the formation of a more widespread and persistent cloud layer.

These vaporous, turbulence-induced clouds bear a striking resemblance to interstellar molecular clouds. Both appear to occur in a high-Reynolds-number regime, and each appears to consist of a cohesive, thin sheet of condensate that can be stretched, sheared, undulated and torn. As in the case of its interstellar counterpart, when viewed edgewise, the clouds look like they are comprised of thin, web-like filaments.

The title photo was taken a little below the summit, after ascending the peak. It's a view to the south, past Jean Peak (10,670') and Marion Mountain (10,362'), and shows the terrain induced uplift, waves, and turbulence over the San Jacinto mountain range. The flow is from the right to left.

From Sunday's run in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains.

Hooks on burrs, such as this cocklebur, were reportedly the inspiration for the invention of hook and loop fasteners.

They have also been known to drive the owners of certain (long-haired) breeds of dogs insane.

From a run at Ahmanson in early October.