Date: February 8th, 2018
Location: Baltimore Canyon Open Space Preserve, 37.9369° N, 122.5609° W
Site description: At Baltimore Canyon, the higher regions were more exposed to the sun, therefore drier and hotter. From here, you could see a lot of open space, seeing only a few houses with the canyon below. There were also areas that were deeper in the canyon that held on to more moisture, and much cooler.
Species description: The Western wakerobin, part of the melanthiaceae family, is notable for its parts of 3: 3 petals and 3 leaves. The green leaves are whorled with acuminate tips. The flowers are white with bright yellow anthers coming out.
Narrative: The weather was very warm and sunny, good enough for the many dogs that we saw on the hike. Our class left school around 1:00PM to drive to Baltimore Canyon Open Space Preserve north of the Golden Gate Bridge, which took about 30-40 minutes to drive. While it remained warm in the sunny areas of the canyon, the shady areas were quite cool in comparison. There was also a lot more moisture deeper in the canyon, where we saw a small waterfall. My classmates enjoyed stopping to look at the waterfall, while I enjoyed stopping to catch my breath after such a tiring hike.