Ruffin it with Rufus: Tecolote Canyon Wildflowers

Spring is almost here! The flowers seem to prefer a long soaking rainy season and although SoCal has had too much rain all at once the flowers are responding. The heavy rains have caused some flooding in Tecolote, including the 2 footbridges we use for our weekend loop and mudslide took out a section of sewer pipe. The trails are once again open!

These pictures are of the neighborhood flowers as we wander down Burgner Street to our canyon entrance off September Street. I am using an online field guide to attempt to identify them.

It’s been several years since we ahve seen Tecolote Canyon this green. The sign at the bottom of the stairs informs the trail is now open to the Gardena Loop trailhead. We’ll see if the footbridge is still there when we get down.

A mudslide took out this section of the drainage pipe. It would be nice if a ‘maintenance’ walkway is built along the length of the new section - open to the public of course! That would take about a mile off our 4-mile loop Smile

We’ll see if the footbridge is still there when we get down. Our first footbridge has been repaired, but not terribly well. There is also a large shift in the gunnite retaining wall on the far side. Notice I let Fran go first? It was just to get the picture – of course.

Sections of the trail are still quite flooded. Sea shells encased in sandstone, was either uncovered by the water activity or placed here.

The flowers have been grouped by color to help me caption the ones I can find in an online wildflower guide. The labels may be incorrect, but you'll have to admit there is quite a variety out there to enjoy. These are all from the west section of Tecolote Canyon.