Wilder Ranch State Park

The first weekend in June we spent in Santa Cruz, my primary objective being to venture on a 12 mile hike near the coast that I had in mind for several months. The route was part of Wilder Ranch State Park's trail system. Our chosen path went through open fields in the hills (everyone had to keep pulling off or checking for ticks and there was actually a sign warning us of them at the trailhead, that's how bad they were); a small oak woodland area; we meant to go through a redwood grove but accidentally missed the loop for it; through an old farmhouse plot where we explored an old stable containing carriages and a blacksmith workshop where we saw a demo of some hydrological-powered machinery; and the largest draw for me was the walk along the seaside cliffs, which is the focus of the pictures below.

These poppies weren't as thick or orange as the ones at Hite Cove, but they were the brightest yellow ones I'd seen, and just popped in the sunlight provided by the perfect weather.

Our luncheon stop. Awesome view of the crashing waves, wildflowers at our backs, and a breeze that made me feel at peace. 

The peninsula in the last photo is where I am now standing to take this photo. The connecting bend is where we ate lunch, just out of the frame, a little ways to the left of where you see the people pictured above.

A little cove that will eventually be a tunnel one day, I imagine.

A bit too steep to get down to that beach.

These look like the flower I posted in the last entry, but simply yellow, not combined with pink. Covered in them, this bush made quite a lovely impact along the trail.

Poseidon's throne behind Patrick?

Artichoke farm! They looked so odd to me, never having thought about what they'd look like growing, so I actually found this a rather exciting feature along the trail.

Pretty view of all the points we walked along tiered in the waves.

Ice plant- we had seen it along the coast during our last visit to Santa Cruz, but I don't recall any of the blooms appearing as perfect or as perky as this one! It looks like a land-loving anemone.

The spikey bumps on this plant were cactus-like but it's leaves were supple and flexible and it's shape structure reminded me more of a weed.

 

An absolutely beautiful view near the finish of our hike. 

After turning round the next bend in the trail, we saw the back end of a bobcat high-tailing it into the shrubs! (One of my bucket list items for CA was to see a bobcat, so I found that very satisfying, although I'd still prefer to see the front end of one as well). :)

We had shuttled our car near the end since our friends wanted to leave at an earlier point in the route, but unfortunately we headed in the wrong direction along the highway where the trail spit us out. So after retracing our steps and correcting our course, we reunited with Doris in the surfers' turnout, determining that we made up that mile (and then some, perhaps) we cut out when we missed the Redwoods. But it was just the right amount of tired, having felt sufficiently rewarded for our labors with the splendid beach scenery.