Tortoises can be seen all over Koreshan State Park, along side the road, in campsites, crossing a road, and often in the path where Gus is walking.
There is a section of Koreshan State Park where these vines are abundant, painting a colorful splash of orange up in the trees. They are officially called Pyrostegia venusta, orange trumpet vine but from a distance look like someone created a cluster of Cheetos in the trees. It is a beautiful sight!
We have frogs, toads, and salamanders abundant in the campsite and throughout the park.
I would love the know the story behind this tree with all its knots at the base. It looks like the root system of an old tree that was knocked over and a new tree grew up through the root system.
In the late 1800s, bamboo was planted on the land that is now part of the state park, and it is now hard to control, having taken over areas along the river bank and elsewhere in the park.
Rabbits are definitely multiplying in Koreshan State Park. Gus loves to chase them, which has taken its toll on my arm a little too often. A few years ago, it was raccoons that were abundant there, but now the rabbits seem to be the most abundant, and we never saw any raccoons there.
