We started this month off strong with a sourdough bread making day! My team is very passionate about sourdough bread, and we take our starters seriously.

We then went to go look for Draba asterophora var. macrocarpa at Cup Lake in Desolation Wilderness. This was my first ever backpacking trip, and it was incredible! Shout out to dean for carrying all of my food! We had a gnarly hike up to Ralston Peak, and then we walked the ridgeline to Cup Lake. This experience was absolutely amazing! We found so much Draba, but they had already dispersed their seeds :(. Backpacking is absolutely incredible, and something that I look forward to doing a lot more in my future!

I went and visited my partner up in Chester, California. We were hoping Lassen National Volcanic Park would open back up (from the Park Fire), and we got so lucky that it did!! I got to see so much of the park when it had a fresh dusting of snow, and there were minimal other people there so it felt like we had the park to ourselves. I also visited Subway Cave, which was a very surreal and neat experience!

We’ve seen so many Sierra Tree Frogs recently too! Frog appreciation section.

I also foraged for elderberries on the forest and made some yummy jelly! I was inspired by my times that my aunt Jen and I would make grape jelly when I was young!

We finished off this month with ton of seed collecting of our native species here in the Eldorado.

I look forward to what September holds!