ECOLOGICAL STAIRCASE, JUGHANDLE STATE RESERVE

ALL Photos by Bob Rutemoeller

Carpool at 8:35 at pullout for Gualala business directory north of the bridge and at 8:45 in Anchor Bay. Anyone joining us from  north of the carpool spot should let the leaders know where we can pick you up or you may want to organize your own carpools. We are hoping to be at the reserve for a 10 o'clock starting time but that's just a guess. "The watershed of Jug Handle Creek holds a rare natural phenomenon, an ecological staircase composed of five terraces, each about 100,000 years older and about 100 feet higher than the one below it." The trail we will follow is 5 miles long with elevation changes. Some of the plant communities we will pass through are North Coast bluff scrub, coastal prairie, closed cone pine forest, riparian, non native invaders, grand fir/sitka spruce forest, redwood forest, and finally the pygmy forest, a bog with low nutrient highly acidic soil, underlain by an iron hardpan where trees that normally grow tall are dwarf. We will then turn around and descend and have lunch on the beach at the end. Dogs are not allowed on the trail.

Leaders:  Mary Sue & Bob