Sleepy Hollow

Posted on November 6, 2003 in Biomes Hiking Neighborhood

I took a walk today through the underlight of Sleepy Hollow, a dusky green vale that begins a seasonal run of water to the sea in Whiting Wilderness. The live oaks held out against the expectations of Easterners who believe that they should be bleeding through their leaves now. I saw a few flowers — yellow bristles of rabbitbrush and some pink daisy thing — along the trail. Plenty of pale saddle-brown leaves lay on their backs, preparing to catch the next rain hard enough to penetrate the oak’s canopy.

The only fruit I saw were the prickly, tomatillo-sized melons of the Sacred Datura (or Jimsonweed). A few weeks ago, their white trumpets sounded the apocalypse for anyone foolish enough to suck their nectar. The gourdlets and the leaves poison just as surely.

I shall bring a camera on my next walk so you can see what autumn in southern California looks like.