In this blog I will be posting a list of flora and fauna that I have identified along the trail. If you have an interest, search the web for pictures so that you can see what I see. Be sure to check back often, as I will try to update my list regularly. A few notes before we begin...
Layout: I have chosen to categorize in the same format as my guidebook for my own ease of use.
Comprehensiveness: The current guidebook is for the Sierras only and therefore I cannot positively ID things I have seen in the SoCal section. I have included some species that I know by heart (e.g. Joshua Tree).
Accuracy: I am only including plants and animals that have been positively identified with my guide. I have seen, for example, a number of insect species but, having not examined them closely, they may not be included. Other species that have distinctive characteristics I feel comfortable identifying from memory. Sometimes there exist many subspecies and I am unable to differentiate. In these cases I have just used the general name (e.g. Rainbow Trout).
FUNGI AND LICHENS
Giant Sawtooth Fungus
Desert Firedot Lichen
Wolf Lichen
Brown Tile Lichen
TREES, SHRUBS, VINES & FERNS
Giant Sequoia
Western Juniper
Singleleaf Pinyon Pine
Lodgepole Pine
Ponderosa Pine
Jeffrey Pine
Foxtail Pine
Western White Pine
Western Sycamore
Quaking Aspen
Canyon Live Oak
Scrub Oak
Poison Oak
Greenleaf Manzanita
Pinemat Manzanita
Chamise
California Wild Grape
Joshua Tree
Whitebark Pine
Poodle Dog Brush
WILDFLOWERS & OTHER PLANTS
Wild Mint
Jimson Weed
Pinedrops
California Thistle
Snowplant
California Poppy
Wind Poppy
Common Dandelion
Baby Blue-Eyes
Beavertail Cactus
Subalpine Paintbrush
Corn Lily
Applegate's Paintbrush
Phlox (Spreading and Clumping)
Lobb's Buckwheat
Wooly Mule's Ears
Western Wallflower
SPIDERS, INSECTS & OTHER SMALL ANIMALS
Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Tangellid Spider
Rocky Mountain Wood Tick
Pacific Tent Moth
Giant Crane Fly
Black Snow Mosquito
Cool Weather Mosquito
Modoc Carpenter Ant
Sierra Dome Spider
FISH
Rainbow Trout
AMPHIBIANS & REPTILES
Mountain King Snake
Rattlesnake
California Striped Racer
Gilbert's Skink
Yosemite Toad
BIRDS
Mallard
Red Tailed Hawk
Steller's Jay
White Tailed Ptarmigan
California Quail
Sooty Grouse
Bald Eagle
Hairy Woodpecker
Common Raven
Mountain Quail
MAMMALS
Black Bear
Coyote
Audubon's Cottontail
White Tailed Jackrabbit
Black Tailed Jackrabbit
Yellow-Bellied Marmot
California Mule Deer
Western Gray Squirrel
Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
California Kangaroo Rat
Deer Mouse
Columbian Black Tailed Deer
Belding's Ground Squirrel
