The Angeles Crest Highway largely follows a watershed from one side of the San Gabriel Mountains to the other. Along the way it crosses a number of watercourses fed by springs located higher up on the slope and sometimes close to the highway. This gallery page looks at areas around three of these springs.
Buckhorn campground is deservedly popular with campers, a delightful shady location in a canyon with spring-fed creeks that result in tall trees and an understory of ferns. Just opposite the junction of the campground exit road and the highway is the remains of an abandoned forest road that leads up to and beyond Buckhorn Springs. The photographs below in Part A are all associated with a CNPS field trip along this road in July 2009. In a good year the springs have pools of running water, but 2009 was a dry year.
The second part of this gallery page deals with two springs that are adjacent to the highway, Winston Spring and Cortelyou Spring. Both have running water all year round, and have rock and concrete structures to concentrate the water. This results in an abundance of plants that love wet or damp ground.
Click on the thumbnails to see higher-resolution images.
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Conifer forest along Buckhorn Springs road
Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi)
Sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana)
Grinnell's beardtongue (Penstemon grinnellii var. grinnellii)
Grinnell's beardtongue (Penstemon grinnellii var. grinnellii)
Many-flowered monkeyflower (Erythranthe floribunda)
Many-flowered monkeyflower (Erythranthe floribunda)
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At Winston Spring
Lemon lily (Lilium parryi)
Lemon lily (Lilium parryi)
Streambank bird's foot trefoil (Hosackia oblongifolia var. oblongifolia)
Sticky cinquefoil (Drymocallis glandulosa var. glandulosa)
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Thanks to Jane Strong for assistance in identification of plants and flowers.
A chapter of the California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite I, Sacramento, California 95816-5113
CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter, 1750 North Altadena Drive, Pasadena, California 91107-1046
All text on this page is Copyright © 2010-2021 CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter unless otherwise indicated. All photos are Copyright by the authors.
