Photos for Bay Nature

Once a segment of Highway 1, the multi-use Devil’s Slide Trail offers a glimps of the area’s geology—sedimentary stratum of sandstone and shale, folded and thrusted from the Pacific Ocean floor over the course of millions of years.

California Sagebrush and Coastal Scrub dominate the northern section chaparral hills Sweeny Ridge. The peak of East Bay’s Mt. Diablo seen in the distance.

Originally a natural pond, the San Andreas Reservoir is one of three lakes of the Crystal Springs and is lays directly on the San Andreas Fault. From Sweeny Ridge on a clear day, the reservoir, the Bay and habitants of the peninsula are visible.

Ridges upon ridges of the Peninsula watershed, hidden to most pass-byers as they speed down Highway 280, are only visible by way of guided hikes on the Cahill-Fifield Ridge Trail.

Birds rest and display atop a guano-covered rocky outcrop from the Pacific Ocean at Martin’s Beach in unincorporated San Mateo County.

It’s “Golden Season”, a season of its own right on the San Francisco Peninsula as hillside grasses change from green to shakes of gold. As seen from Mori Point, Pacifica.

The bracts and flower of the Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja species) do indeed create a pallet of color. Known for their bright scarlet hue, the flowers can range from orange to yellow to even white and purple. Mori Point, Pacifica.