Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Onopordum acanthium


Onopordum acanthium - The botanical name is derived from the Greek words onos (donkey), perdo (to consume), and acanthos (thorn), meaning 'thorny plant eaten by donkeys'. The common name Cotton thistle derives from the cotton-like hairs on the leaves; the name Scotch thistle comes from a legend that the plant's thorny thickets helped protect Scotland from the Vikings. Oral folklore holds that as Vikings attempted to sneak up at night to attack and raid Scottish villages, they were stuck by the thistles' thorns and cried out in pain, alerting the townsfolk to the attack and allowing them to fight back and drive back the invaders.

I've found that I am no tougher than the ordinary Viking, and have cried out when striking this very plant with my hand as I passed by on my bike. Notice the proximity to the trail... I'm not allowed to kill this plant due to feelings of some of our more sensitive riders.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

C-Hill to 55B

Today was the 1st day this year that we've done the South Side of C-Hill Run. The bottom half is pretty well defined, but we got lost on the upper half. Nature has reclaimed a lot of the trail, and we lost sight of it quite often. We found a new route out of the canyon that drops us back on Curry Street behind the Forest Service station, bypassing the most dangerous section of Curry street. Patrick and I decided to rename the canyon trail to 55B. See if you can find out why next time you ride it...

Yuk!


Scott wanted to make sure we had a clear representation of the damage done to his finger. Hey thanks bud!