Before my eyes the mesa transforms into a dappled sea of color straight out of an Impressionist painting. We follow a gully collecting water in rocky pools. It leads us across the mesa to a sheer bluff face where a waterfall shoots into space and plunges toward a deep pool at its base. Many hundreds of California newts congregate at these pools each spring, along with Pacific tree frogs and common garter snakes. When it warms, western rattlesnakes will sun themselves along rocky ledges, and a coast horned lizard may make a rare appearance.
Bills pauses next to some California kangaroo rat burrows, ubiquitous on the mesa.
A typical burrow slopes down at a shallow angle with a small apron of dirt cast about the entrance. Worn pathways radiate out from the burrow, reflecting this rodent's nocturnal ramblings. I'm elated that these are the only trails we see all day. Our meandering walk across the flat, expansive mesa, open to the sky and the horizon, fills the afternoon. I suspect that when I return in the spring most of my day will be spent sitting in one spot keying out flowers with a Jepson Manual in my lap.