briones regional park: on a newt hunt!

February 19, 2012
Contra Costa County
Hikers: Cathy, Laura
Distance: 6.29 miles

It looks like spring has sprung though winter seems not to have begun. (my sad attempt at poetry!)

We were uncertain if we would find any newts since we have had little rain this year and the temperature was a bit chilly this morning.  But to our surprise not only did we find these cute little critters, they were still mating! We even found several of their egg sacks. This made our day. Laura was so enthralled with the newts, she left her cellphone behind at the pond; of course we noticed this after climbing up a long steep hill and stopping for a bite to eat. But if we did not go back for her phone we would not have seen the egg sacks. The newt gods were with us today.





We are always amazed by these branches
that grow out of the ground.



Such a jumble of branches and roots.



A trickle of a waterfall.


Never seen red algae.






Not our dog!

Two, two... two newts in one!



Newts doing the nasty!

Egg sack.










More egg sacks!





What is this in the middle of Briones?

One of our beloved single tracks ran out.
Had to make our own way down.



The blue dots above are the Sindicich Lagoons.
We found the newts at the Maricich Lagoons.

1 comment:

  1. I'm very envious of you having people to hike with...and such beautiful surroundings to hike in!

    ReplyDelete