Thursday, May 7. I drove up to the Needle Rock Visitors Center. It is an old ranch house built in the 1920's. Today two volunteer docents live there.

The front room of the visitors' center. A display room is to the side. The volunteers live behind in what may be a somewhat later two story addition. (But it's still in character).

On the trail, looking north (back) toward the flat where the visitor's center sits. I suspect that small pointy rock in the center is Needle Rock itself.

A little farther on, looking south (ahead). North Rock. Below is today's trail. It's a closed road but was open until a few years ago when a slide took out one section.

Ranunculus repens (creeping buttercup). Surely a buttercup, but I'm less sure about the species. If it is repens, it's non-native and on the invasive plant list.

Ranunculus repens (creeping buttercup). Surely a buttercup, but I'm less sure about the species. If it is repens, it's non-native and on the invasive plant list.

Claytonia sibirica (Siberian springbeauty or, more prosaically, candy flower). These were all over in some lowland spots.

End of the road. It's more normal trail from here, but the campsite is just a quarter mile ahead.

Bear Harbor Camp #1. When the road was open this was an "Environmental Camp" -- essentially a long walk-in car campsite. Now, three miles in, it's a trail camp, but a fancy one. Those big trees behind the tent are red alders (Alnus rubra).

Bear Harbor itself. Let's start with those little protrusions from the hill.

They are supports for a wharf used in the 19th century to load ships. The bark of the Tanbark Oak (used for tanning!) was a valuable export. The wharf was destroyed in a storm in 1899.

The view south.

Just a little north from the beach are these rocks, here viewed from up on that hill.

Dudleya farinosa (sea lettuce). Lots of these on the bluffs around all the beaches.

The view inland from up on the hill. My camp is a ways back, about by the first notch on the hillside at right.

Habitation often means exotic garden plants. Escaped callas, water iris (I. pseudacorus), and wild radish were all over the area. (Exotic thistles too, unfortunately).

Friday, May 9. One last visit to the beach. Access is via this little bridge. The tide is lower this morning. The spot of red is a not-wild rose.

The Lost Coast Trail south out of Bear Harbor follows a small stream. The lush understory here included sword ferns, horsetails, coast man-root (wild cucumber), and blackberries.

As the trail goes farther back, it enters redwoods. Sword ferns (Polystichum sp.) were a common understory today too.

Prosartes smithii (large-flowered fairy bells).

Oxalis oregana (redwood sorrel).

Adiantum aleuticum (five finger fern).

Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana) and crimson columbine (Aquilegia formosa). The former were all over. The latter were locally common.

Marah oregana (coast man-root). Some of these cucumbers were in fruit.