On Saturday my husband and I took part in an event; we hiked in Bommer Canyon (Irvine) during its open access day. Once a month they open the otherwise gated trails for the public, and we can hike in the area without a docent.

We had the most perfect day for a hike; cloudy and not too hot either. We experienced some extraordinary views from different points of our hike. I will post scenery images tomorrow; today I wanted to show you wildflower pictures. We saw many kinds; some I recognized, others I still need to learn about. Here is a selection from the beautiful flowers:

Monkey Flowers
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Tuesday night I attended a 3-mile hike at Orchard Hills, which is less than a 10 minute drive from my home. This hike is not open to the public unless you sign up for a volunteer docent led hike organized for certain times of the week. Orchard Hills is part of the over 50,000 acres Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks.

What makes this hike special is that you actually walk around a working avocado orchard.

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Today I volunteered at one of the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks’ Native Plant Nurseries. This place is really close to our house, but it’s on the other side of the hill with no drive through road in between us. A 20-minute drive takes me there.

At the nursery I helped fertilize and water native plants in small containers that eventually will be transferred into nature. It was just three of us there, and doing this work in nature was super fun. I don’t have a lot of pictures to show since I was working there, but I want to show the surroundings for sure.

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