Weather | Sonoma Overlook Trail • Montini Open Space Preserve

…with flowers.

I was rather astonished, after a very long and dry summer, to see a flower blooming alongside the Sonoma Overlook Trail. Really, I thought? After seeing the meadow grass blasted completely past brown into a stark grey in the long summer drought, I couldn’t imagine what would possess a flower to bloom. But there it was.

With bright orange-red blooms, it stood out in stark contrast to its brown and grey surroundings. What were the conditions that could enable this to happen at this point in the year, I wondered? How could it survive, let alone make such a flagrant display? I’m not sure that I will ever know, but I was thankful, and I gladly climbed the short way up the hill from the trail to document its courageous and unexpected existence.

Later that day, rain began to fall. Actual, serious, rain. Welcome rain. But the flower existed before the moisture. It had made its play for existence and attention when there was nothing left upon which to draw. When the soil had been sucked dry. When all of the other flowers had long since gone down to dust and desiccation. When clearly, all hope should have been lost.

But it wasn’t. And seeing this, and understanding its message, I took heart once again.

A small pool captured by a trailside rock.

Recently we had some rain on the trails, albeit somewhat light. But it was enough to completely settle the dust and create small pools where the water could not sink into the ground (see picture).

It is welcome, indeed, as the fire danger has been off the charts as we enter the end of summer and the beginning of fall. According to Cal Fire, 2015 is the worst fire season they have ever seen. So…yeah. Rain is what we like to see right now.

Unfortunately, there is no more rain visible in our forseeable future, so we will need to hang in there for a while longer before we are completely out of the woods regarding fire. These conditions makes it even more important to not smoke on the trails, as all it would take is a spark or tossed cigarette to start a Valley-wide firestorm.

A flock of turkeys in the driving rain.

Rain on the Overlook and Montini properties provides a number of benefits for both plant and animal life. Many of the benefits to plants and animals seem obvious, but others are not so obvious. One benefit to animal life is that during particularly hard downpours the human traffic on the trails lessens substantially. Although I never let rain keep me away from my almost daily trail perambulations, it does keep others away. I find that I see a lot more wildlife on rainy days than on clear ones.

If you want to see wildlife in the rain, just buy some waterproof walking shoes, some rain pants, and a waterproof jacket with a hood. I add a cap to keep the rain off my glasses and I’m good to go. Sure, I often still come back wet — probably more from sweat than rain, but hiking in the rain is more fun than you might imagine if you haven’t done it. I highly recommend it.