Briones Reservoir, as viewed from the trail maybe a mile east of the staging area. The hills are definitely brown now.

Part of the route goes under some old (planted) Monterey pines. The day was modestly warm and the air was fragrant with the pine. Deerweed in bloom below.

Monardella villosa (coyote mint). Another fragrant one.

Maianthemum racemosum (false Solomon's seal) in fruit, plus a view of how much greenery there is on the forest floor in the shade on a north-facing slope. It doesn't feel dry like those brown grassy hills in the first picture. Off hand, I see wood ferns, poison oak, snowberry, and bedstraw.

Fritillaria affinis (mission bells). More seed pods. They almost look like teeth.

Chlorogalum pomeridianum (soap plant). It's late afternoon (4 PM) and the flowers are just beginning to open. They only open late afternoons into the night, closing by morning, to match their pollinators, primarily native carpenter bees.