Closer view of Filaree (Erodium botrys). Filaree's blossoms are about the size of a pencil eraser. They are common underfoot, Spring into Summer, in dry, weedy areas of Southern California.

From this morning's bouldering session at Stoney Point.

From this morning's bouldering session at Stoney Point.

Just over this tranquil hill is the urban expanse of the San Fernando Valley.

From a run on Lasky Mesa in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).

From Sunday's Long Canyon to Simi Peak trail run. California primrose (Camissonia californica) is also known as False Mustard because of its superficial similarity to common mustard and other mustard species.

Wood Ranch Open Space

The fire road was covered with crawling and darting bees -- so many I could feel the low, resonating buzz of the colony. Standing in the middle of the buzzing bees, I heard an "Oh crap!" from behind me. A mountain biker -- stopped about 20 yards away -- explains he's allergic to bee stings.

We were a little east of the China Flat "T" on the Albertson "motorway" -- a fire road in the Simi Hills. Taking advantage of cool, sunny weather in the Los Angeles area, I was doing a course I had not done for years, an out and back trail run from the Wood Ranch trailhead to Simi Peak, with a short circuit around China Flat.

I had taken a short detour to check a small vernal pool hidden in the oaks off the fire road. There are surprising number of these ephemeral water sources in the Simi Hills. They sometimes have water when it's unexpected, but this time the pool was dry.

The bees on the road were digger bees, ground nesting bees that look like fuzzy honeybees. Like honeybees, males have no stinger. Males swarm over the burrows of females, waiting for them to emerge. Females can sting, but in my experience, and from what I've read, are generally not aggressive. Here's a very short video (from later in the run) of a second colony on the Simi Peak Trail.

Not being able to risk being stung, the mountain biker waited on the side of the road for his buddy to realize he wasn't behind him anymore. I headed back to the China Flat Trail, and then continued to Simi Peak. Here's a Google Earth image and Google Earth browser view of a GPS trace of my approximately 10.75 mile route.

Note: A mountain biker on the Long Canyon trail told me he had seen a mountain lion in the area earlier in the morning. He was certain that it was a mountain lion, and not a bobcat or coyote.

A search on the phrases "stride rate" or "running cadence" will turn up numerous articles extolling the benefits of a running cadence (stride rate) in the neighborhood of 90. An often quoted source of this axiom is Daniels' Running Formula: Proven Programs: 800 M to the Marathon (Human Kinetics, 2004). The idea is that for a given speed, the faster your stride rate, the less time your body will spend airborne, the less you displace your center of mass, and the softer you hit the ground on landing. Less up and down should translate to more energy efficient running.

From a run at Ahmanson Ranch.

One of the more unusual watercraft at the 2009 Kern River Festival was Dan Gavere's ULI inflatable stand up paddleboard.

Dan finished second in the 2.5 mile Downriver race, and made all the gates in the Slalom event!

Study of a mushroom-like arrangement of newly sprouted Big Leaf Maple Leaves. From Sunday's Red Box - Bear Canyon trail run.

Study of color, form, and texture in decomposing wood. From Sunday's Red Box - Bear Canyon trail run.

Bear Canyon

Update August 9, 2009. A section of trail necessary to complete this loop has been closed by the Forest Service, and there is no workaround. According to the Angeles National Forest web site "The Mount Lowe Truck Trail (Forest Trail No. 2N50) has been closed from its intersection with Eaton Saddle, west ½ mile to its intersection with Markham Saddle." See Forest Order #01-09-02 (PDF).

The creek burbled a gentle song of Spring, and downstream a Canyon Wren replied. Standing near the bottom of the narrow gorge, my eyes followed the soaring trunks of a grove of alders to their canopy of new leaves -- backlit and bright green in the sun.

Bright green in the sun... In my run-altered state it was one of those aha! moments. The alders are just tall enough to reach from the shadows of the canyon into the sun - and - without the water in the stream that cut the canyon, the alders could not grow to the necessary height. The pieces fit -- or was it the endorphins talking?

Macro still life of Douglas' nightshade at Stoney Point, a bouldering and top-rope climbing area in Chatsworth, California, northwest of Los Angeles.