Nature at Kelson Reviews Stuff

Birding Is My Favorite Video Game ★★★★★ Rosemary Mosco
A fun collection of cartoons about nature (not just birds!) collected from Bird and Moon. Mostly funny, a few serious.

Entradero Park Loop

Small lake or large pond. At the near end is large pillar-type drain. A baseball field is visible at the far shore, next to some thicket of plants, unidentifiable from this distance. Beyond that, brown-green hills with houses on top and dirt trails winding along the hillside.

★★★★☆ Relaxing walk through scrub habitat around a basin with restored wetlands. Not much shade, good for spotting birds.

George F Canyon

Sunlight shines on a dirt path running between scrub on one side and low trees on the other, leaves still green except a few that are starting to turn red.

★★★★★ A quiet hike along a seasonal streambed. Shady for the first part, then opens up. Beware of poison oak. City view at the summit. Birds, rabbits, butterflies.

Hopkins Wilderness Park

Narrow dirt trail curving out of sight among green-leaved trees and smaller plants. A small metal sign can just be seen saying Native Habitat Restoration Area.

★★★★☆ A good place to bring your kids or just take a shady walk in something that feels like nature. Lightly wooded, some hills, trails, a stream and a duck pond, plus picnic areas and camping.

iNaturalist (App) ★★★★★ Streamlines the basic use case of posting an observation from your phone and narrowing down the plant or animal you’re looking at.

Linden H. Chandler Preserve

A dirt trail curves around brush on the left and grass on the right, with hills and houses visible in the background.

★★★☆☆ Hilly, with not much shade except in the lightly wooded areas along the intermittent streambeds. Higher areas have clear views of the LA Basin and the golf course next door.

Madrona Marsh Preserve ★★★★★ One of my favorite places to walk in the South Bay: the last remnant of seasonal marshes that once covered the western part of the LA basin.

Malaga Canyon Reserve

Looking along a narrow valley between rolling green hills fitted with trees and a few houses

Gorgeous views from the trailhead that I found (which was closed). I need to see if the other trailheads are open.

A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching ★★★★★ Rosemary Mosco
A fast, funny, informative read about pigeons, their long history with humans, appearance and behavior, and even modern extreme pigeon breeds.

Prickly Pear Trail

Narrow dirt trail going steeply down, paddle-like cactus immediately on each site. A tree or bush grows just past the cacti on the left. In the distance, past a brown field, trees, and a road, you can see the wide green grass of a golf course, a line of trees, a line of roofs, and beyond them the ocean and a blue sky.

★★★★☆ Short loop with some steep sections. Lots of cactus. (Keep your balance!) Nice views of the ocean and Point Vicente Lighthouse.

South Coast Botanic Garden ★★★★★ Big enough to feel like you could get lost (but not big enough to get lost), packed with trails that feel like walking through nature, surrounded by more structured gardens. Great for events, families or just getting out for a walk.

Toulon Drive Loop

A dirt trail curves past low scrub brush toward a hillside on a sunny day. In the distance a handful of trees and the tops of two large water tanks are visible.

★★★☆☆ The easy part runs along a stream bed. Then it gets steeper and a lot less shaded as it wraps around a chaparral-covered hill.

Valmonte Trail and Frog Creek Loop

A narrow trail winds down a grassy hillside toward a valley clustered with trees.

★★★★★ A nice, easy loop trail. Hilly, with plenty of shade in the wooded areas along the stream beds.

Reviews Tagged “Nature”