quicksilver

Tags: #nature #dispatchesAli and I went for a hike yesterday, the first time for her in years. We went along with friends on their usual weekend route. I had never been into Almaden Quicksilver park from the east before, the New Almaden town side. It used to be a mine, which is what “Almaden” means and is named for, a famous mine in Spain since antiquity. The hike is up a road grade, wide and even and well maintained. Mountain bikers (several passed us) and horses (didn’t see any) can use it too. These mountain bikers were quite polite, honestly the first ones since moving to California that I’ve met that followed the etiquette of announcing “on your left” with enough warning and “two more” as they pass. We saw a few other hikers too. There are sometimes views into the Santa Clara Valley.There were lots of plants, native ones like monkey flower and non-native ones like spanish broom, and toxic ones that we argued over the colors useful for identifying them like poison oak that is…