I went fossil hunting in the Battle Creek Hills in the Cache Creek Ranges and spotted a few nice samples in the white shales.

While I was hiking across the dry hills, there were a few wildflowers in bloom, like this alumroot (heuchera sp.).

On the south-facing shale slopes were many silverleaf phacelia (p. hastata) in bloom, looking a bit ragged in the extra dry conditions.

My first fleabane (erigeron divergens) of the year was spotted in the sagebrush on a west-facing slope.

Salsify is now flowering abundantly on open slopes.

Many types of pussytoes (antennaria sp.) were in various stages of development, this one with a tight cluster of terminal flowers.

And, there were 4 free range horses grazing nearby.

There were no trails in these hills, but there is much to see and enjoy wherever my footsteps took me.