It's hot and dry these days, I didn't expect to find anything interesting when I turned over random pieces of bark along the trail. I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few Millipedes beneath a large piece of Douglas-fir bark. They'll probably bury themselves deeper into the decaying vegetation before long - if they know what's good for them!
There's still a fair amount of False Solomon's Seal along the trail, and the green berries will probably turn red much earlier this year.
The Thimble Berry is one of several trailside plants that are blooming while much shorter than is usually the case. In a good rain year, these plants are often 3 to 5 feet tall before blooming. The one above is only about one foot tall.
The parasitic vine, Dodder, usually thrives on other plants' misfortune. But at this particular spot where I see huge masses of Dodder in an ordinary year, there were only a few, rather small specimens. Here's one climbing on a blade of wild grass.
Another early bloomer, this Crimson Columbine, compared to its usual growth pattern, seems almost like a Bonsai version. Very cute, and the only one in this general area.
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