Peace in the Grotto
El Nino promised rains and wonderful flowers but the promises have not been kept. So far this has been an average Spring. Here is a picture of two of the favorite Spring flowers – the Mexican Gold Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica ssp. Mexicana) and Wild Heliotrope (Phacelia distans). We saw a few patches of these in Catalina State Park. Other years we would have seen fields of them.
Yesterday Dave and I went to visit one of our favorite spots in the Catalina Mountains. To reach it we followed an unmarked trail up a canyon to a place where the stream drops about fifteen feet into a little pool. On the way we stopped to enjoy the view and have a little rest. We were struck by the quiet in this remote canyon. It was not completely silent. After sitting a while we could hear a background of insect and bird noises, together with the gentle flow of air through the flowers, shrubs, and trees.
There were wildflowers here and there, like this beautiful patch of Parry’s Penstemon (Penstemon parryi) just by the trail.
When we reached the grotto those noises were eclipsed by the water dropping down from the cliff, and splashing on rocks and mosses before landing in the very small pool at the base. Some of the drops refreshed us with a very gentle rain.
We have been there when the pool was the size of one of those above-ground pools that are popular in Tucson back yards. Today it was scarcely three by two feet. With the binoculars we caught a glimpse into its life. There were water scorpions, water striders and other aquatic bugs with their zig-zag courses skimming on the water and bouncing into each other like bumper cars at the fair. Occasionally one would dive the six inches or so to the bottom. Over time we saw lots of different species and couldn’t help wondering what they would do when the pool dried up completely in a few weeks. We had a quarter of an inch of rain on February 1st. The only rain since then was a tenth of an inch two weeks ago. Even so the snow melt from higher in the mountains continues to provide life-giving water to the lower canyons and every day we can expect to find new flower species coming into bloom.
The Grotto with a trickle of water. Below a close-up with yellow monkey flower
