Sundays are for Exploring and Ultimate Frisbee

Sundays are for exploring. A number of Sundays ago a friend took me to a sink hole just past Mendocino. After repelling down a rope and into the gaping hole in the ground, we were rewarded with a sunset through the crashing waves of a sea tunnel that washes into the sink hole. Thanks, Cody, for sharing!

The other fun thing that happens on Sundays is ultimate frisbee on the Mendocino Headlands. What a beautiful, mind-clearing way to spend the weekend!

Finally, I can't resist posting this insanely cute picture of Todd, an instructor at CR, and his baby, Sadie. 

In Search of Matsutakes

Sunday afternoon I spent hiking with friends in Jackson Forest in search of mushrooms. We scrambled up and down muddy embankments and dug through the duff to uncover an endless variety of mushrooms, many of them edible. We found pig's ears, shrimp russula, chanterelle and the hard to find black trumpet. At first the mushrooms are hard to spot, but once you know what you're looking for, you can't look down without seeing the colorful and varied caps. We didn't find any matsutakes, but we did find a Kawasaki, as you'll see in the last photo. 

Sunday Hike

I went hiking with three friends in the Angelo Coast Range Reserve. The Reserve has changed shape from a hunting and gathering ground for the pre-historic Cahto people, to a homestead for European settlers in the 1880s, to a wilderness resort for wealthy San Franciscans, to a nature respite for a manufacturing family (the Angelos), to a protected reserve owned by The Nature Conservancy and administered by UC Berkeley. Now there are a few research stations and miles upon miles of beautiful trails and incredible trees. We saw madrone (the wood I'm working for my project), bay laurel (incredibly fragrant!), douglas fir, tan oak and black oak. We also saw lizards, giant doves and lots of berry-filled bear poop. 

Madrone

More madrone

Black oak