Abbotts Lagoon
Saturday, August 19, 2023 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.
Leaders: Susan Schlosser and Carolyn Longstreth
Please sign up for this field trip by emailing Susan Schlosser Susan will send you a link to the waiver.
The gentle and flat two-mile long trail that leads out to Abbott’s Lagoon is a year-round CNPS favorite. It first passes through extensive coastal scrub, dotted by two marshes, and ends in the dunes beside a receding brackish lagoon. By August, we can hope to find some early flowering shrubs such as Baccharis pilularis and Ericameria ericoides along the trail. In the marshes, we’ll encounter a few remaining Campanula californica and Stachys chamissonis, and perhaps Sidalcea, Ludwigia, Oenanthe, Mentha, Hydrocotyle, Sparganium, Lilaeopsis, and Mimulus, all still flowering. At the edge of the brackish lagoon, the receding water level should expose the swirling patterns made by the pinkleaved goosefoot, Chenopodium macrospermum var. halophilum.
Directions: To get to Abbott’s Lagoon from Central Marin (or from further afield), take Sir Francis Drake Blvd. west through Marin County. Go past Fairfax, the San Geronimo Valley, Olema, and several miles past Inverness (on the west side of Tomales Bay). At the fork in the road, take the road that’s marked Pierce Point Rd., and follow that another few miles to the clearly marked parking lot at Abbotts Lagoon