If leaving the trail, please follow the rules and regulations of these jurisdictions. Your cooperation will help make more such access agreements possible. Along such trails as the Meadow Trail, Sleepy-S Trail, and the Painter Pause Trail enjoy the mountain meadow. This ecosystem is characterized by open rolling land, and grasses. A variety of wildflowers such as aster, wild rose, and mountain ball cactus may be in full bloom.
Mountain meadows are important habitats and feeding areas for pocket gophers, deer and mice.
Hawks use the meadows as hunting grounds. Watch closely, a Richardson's ground squirrel might be scrambling to its burrow. Traveling higher in the park along Too Long Trail or Bergen Peak Trail, take a moment to smell the sweet coniferous trees that dominate the Ponderosa Pine ecosystem. The dense ponderosa stands thrive in the relatively dry, shallow soil. Steller's jays, pygmy nuthatches and ravens can be heard overhead.