The picture above is from the Pacific Crest Trail looking down into Whitewater Canyon from the ridge between the Whitewater Canyon drainage and the Mission Creek drainage to the east, with the huge snowbound bulk of Mt. San Jacinto in the distance. With the Whitewater Bioblitz coming up in April, I wanted to extend my exploration of the canyon beyond where I had gone before. It is 8 miles from the Ranger Station to the front gate of Mission Creek Preserve, and today I went about 4-1/2 to the junction of the West Fork Trail. Next time I'll start in Mission Creek and work back in the direction of Whitewater. I can only hope that we get some warm weather very soon because if we don't the flora will be sparse. There is far less blooming now than there was last year in February, which is ironic considering how much rain we've had, but nevertheless I had a great hike, and used my new water shoes to get across the swiftly flowing Whitewater River. An asterisk indicates a non-native species.

Rock crossosoma
Crossosoma bigelovii
Crossosomataceae
[Named for John Milton Bigelow, 1804-1878]

Telegraph weed
Heterotheca grandiflora
Asteraceae

California sagebrush
Artemisia californica
Asteraceae

Rock dudleya, Desert dudleya
Dudleya saxosa ssp. aloides
Crassulaceae
[Named for William Russel Dudley, 1849-1911]