Outdoor Photography Class and Hike, Mummy Mountain Trail, Coyote Lake/Harvey Bear County Park, 5/3/14

On May 3, 2014, docent Ron Horii gave an outdoor photography class at the Mendoza Ranch Staging Area at Coyote Lake/Harvey Bear Ranch County Park in Gilroy. See the links on the left for more information on outdoor photography and pictures of previous classes. Ron has been giving outdoor photography classes for several years. Fall classes usually involve a Powerpoint slideshow in the Bernal Ranch Barn at Santa Teresa Park, followed by a short outdoor walk. Spring classes involve a shorter talk and a hike. This was Ron's fourth class on the Mummy Mountain Trail. It is one of the most scenic trails in the park, with a wide variety of terrain, panoramic views on both sides of the ridge, wildflowers, and interesting sights along the trail.

This is Ron waiting at the Mendoza Ranch staging area for the class to arrive (using a remote-controlled camera on a tripod). At last year's class on May 4, the grasses were dry, and there were few wildflowers left. This time, the hills are still green, and there are lots of wildflowers out. Here at the trailhead are purple spring vetch and yellow hawksbeard. The Mummy Mountain Trail runs up the ridge in the background.

These are the photo class attendees at the trailhead.

Along the way on the Mendoza Trail, we see green hills, yellow mustard, and the Roop Pond.

Under the shade of oak trees, Ron talks about lighting in photography. He points out that the sunny mid-day lighting they are experiencing now is the easiest for beginners to take acceptable pictures, but the worst for taking good pictures. The mix of sune and shade under the trees makes for challenging lighting to capture the full dynamic range of the scene. He talks about ways to get around that, including high dynamic range (HDR) techniques. (Picture courtesy of Paul Gardner.)

The group looks at the wildflowers along this shady part of the Mendoza Trail.

We reach the Mummy Mountain Trail and cross this trail bridge. Ron talks about how to use lines, like the rails of the bridge, to lead the eye into the picture.

These sandstone cliffs provide lots of interesting textures, colors, and plants.

These are bee plants. They have tiny red flowers that feed native bees. The orange-flowered plants to the left are sticky monkeyflowers.

The path wanders through this field of rough, colorful sandstone boulders, which provides interesting contrasts with the plants and trees.

Ahead, the trail crosses a meadow and switches back as it climbs up to the ridgetop.

There are miniature lupines along the hillsides, which are hard to see from a distance, but are colorful close up.

There are lots of purple spring vetch on the hillside.

The rest of the group ascends the hill.

These sunflowers on the hillside just below the ridgetop are balsamroots.

These balsamroots on the hillside below provide foreground interest in this shot, with the meadow in the mid-ground and Coyote Lake in the background.

The class reaches the ridgetop and gets panoramic views of Gilroy and San Martin.

The rest of the group reaches the ridgetop and takes in the view.

The trail runs along the center of the ridgeline.

On top of the ridge, next to the trail is this one bush with bright red, spikey fuchsia-flowered gooseberries.

There's a huge ancient bay laurel tree next to the trail.

There are lots of purple ithuriel's spears on the hill.

This part of the hill is covered with spring vetch and occasional hawksbeard.

There's a serpentine outcropping on the hilltop. The rocky soil is poor in nutrients that non-native grasses need to thrive, but native wildflowers are adapted to it. There are less grasses and more native wildflowers in the serpentine soil.

Here is a patch of bright red indian paintbrush.

The group takes pictures of the indian paintbrush.

These pink flowers are farewell-to-spring clarkia, which appear in late spring.

We approach the rest area near the summit of the trail.

We get a clear view of Coyote Lake from this point. The campground is below to the right of the lake.

We take a lunch break at the rest area by the summit.

This is near the high point of the trail, with views towards Morgan Hill.

The trail follows a narrow path along the ridgeline. There is a sticky monkeyflower bush on the right.

We come down the stone staircase, which is a bit over-grown.

The trail descends the steep hillside. Mummy Mountain got its name because it looks like a mummy lying on its back. We started the hike at the mummy's legs, walked along its chest, and are descending to its neck.

As the trail runs down along the hill, it reveals views of the rest of the park to the north.

As we descend this steep part of the trail, we can see where Coyote Creek forms a marsh as it flows into Coyote Lake. Coyote Creek is dry now.

These trees form a natural arch, framing the view of San Martin and Morgan Hill in the background.

This is the view from the mummy's "neck." Ahead on the right is its "chin." The view opens up to the north, all the way to Coyote Peak in Santa Teresa Park on the left.

This part of the hillside is covered with white Chinese houses, mixed in with spring vetch.

We cross along the side of the mummy's head. There are lots of buckeye blooming along the steep hillside, along with sticky monkeyflowers.

Here are mule's ear sunflowers and sticky monkeyflowers.

Against a background of Chinese houses are purple wild onions.

This is the north side of Mummy Mountain, the top of the mummy's head. It has the most wildflowers.

This deep blue flower is a larkspur.

Below, we can see the Coyote Ridge Trail on the right, with the Gaviota Trail leading off to the left.

There's one last switchback on the trail.

The Mummy Mountain Trail makes its last descent. The Mendoza Trail is below on the left.

This photographer is taking pictures of the flowers on the hill.

Here are mule's ear sunflowers on the hill.

The group heads back on the relatively flat and straight Coyote Ridge Trail, which is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

This spot on the Coyote Ridge Trail has benches and a memorial plaque, which marks the spot near the ridge where a plane crashed, killing all its occupants.

Most of the class reaches the trailhead and the end of the hike around 2:30.

That's the end of the hike. The pictures below are from a solo hike from the campground to the Gaviota Trail.

This is a view of the Coyote Lake campground.

There's a quail on this post by the campground amphitheater.

This campground site is in view of Coyote Lake.

This is another site near Coyote Lake.

This is the campground trail.

This is a closeup of a checkerbloom.

The grass is high along the Campground Trail.

There is a small stock pond, drying up and low, along the Campground Trail, with the north end of Mummy Mountain in the background.

This is a view from the upper end of the Campground Trail, looking back at the Valley Oak Trail, which is the leads off to the center left.

This is the junction of the Campground Trail and the Coyote Ridge Trail, with Mummy Mountain in the background.

This is a view from the Gaviota Trail, looking down at the valley between the Mendoza and Gaviota Trails.

This is a view from the Gaviota Trail, looking towards Gilroy.

The Gaviota Trail runs along the hillside and passes through a serpentine area, where the vegetation changes.

This is a view of the Gaviota Trail continuing along the hillside. This was the turn-around point.

This is a view looking down from the Gaviota Trail at the ranches in Gilroy bordering the park.

This is another view of the ranches bordering the park.

This a view looking back towards the north end of Mummy Mountain, with the Mendoza Trail running along its side. You can see the profile of the mummy, with the head on the left, the chest on the right, and the neck in the middle.