Plenty of teasel on view, from the shade of an oak grove

With this post, I’m concluding my series of posts covering my hikes at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in early May of this year. After I had crossed the flats and circled around to the back of the ridge, I happened across a trail sign pointing the way toward McVicar.

Although I wasn’t quite sure what/where McVicar was — and not wanting to stay out too much longer as the day warmed up — I decided to follow the McVicar trail for awhile. I was hoping it would lead me closer to Cache Creek, where I might catch sight of a few red- or yellow-winged blackbirds; I could already hear them singing but was much too far from the marsh to spot them.

I didn’t actually shoot any pictures on the McVicar trail because I was hurrying along a very sunny grassland track which eventually reentered the trees and became extremely muddy as it approached the creek. At this point I decided to turn around and head back; I later learned that the McVicar trail is 3.5 miles long (one way) and leads to the former McVicar Wildlife Sanctuary which is now included in the Anderson Marsh SHP. You can learn more about the comeback of the Anderson Marsh nature preserve in this article from 2013 I found on the BayNature.org website.

I returned back the way I had come and discovered the trail leading along the ridge top. I noticed a few white flowers I initially thought were wild onion or wild garlic; but after hunting around on Google and checking my wildflower books, it doesn’t really seem to match up, so I’m not sure what these plants are.

I got a chance to see the opposite side of the large rocks on top of the ridge — some of them forming small but impressive pinnacles. I was pleased that I’d finally managed to reach the top of the ridge, and it was easy to see why this scenic ridge trail seems to get plenty of use by runners and dog walkers.

One last look back toward the ridge

Descending to the Anderson Flats trail and back to my car