Mosses of Santa Cruz County near Boulder Creek-- Sobefree 2014

Sobefree 2014

Sobefree 2014 Group

Coastal Redwood Forest at Fall Creek	Ken Kellman and Brent Mishler outdid themselves this year! We had a great Sobefree 2014 at Camp Campbell in Boulder Creek, California. On Saturday, we visited the coastal redwood forest at Big Basin State Park and collected a great diversity of mosses and liverworts. It poured on us, but the area is suffering from drought and it added to the gaiety.		Examining Dendroalsia abietina and other mosses
Pleurocarpous moss with sporophytes	On Sunday, Ken guided us on a bryophyte tour of the Fall Creek area near Felton. This was a spectacular trip, again with a great diversity of bryophytes seen and collected. In the evenings, we took to the microscopes to identify our new found treasures and enjoyed getting reacquainted and chatting with friends. On Sunday, Dale Vitt gave a super presentation on dessication avoidance strategies of mosses.	Mossing at Fall Creek
Kirsten at the microscope in the lab	The facility was wonderful. In particular, the staff deserves kudos for being very friendly and helpful. Meals were served in a separate large cabin cafeteria style. The lab area was large enough to accommodate all 50 or so of us and our scopes.	A liverwort in the genus Porella
A large Fissidens-- F. grandifrons	Most of us stayed in the dormitories at Camp Campbell, while some of us preferred accommodations at the Merry Brook Inn a mile or two away. Most of the evenings, we stayed up until 9 or 10PM examining bryophytes in the lab and obtaining help from the experts. Thanks to Brent Mishler, John Spence, John Brinda, Ken Kellman, Jim Shevock, David Wagner, Eleanor Edye, and many others for helping us beginners identify our catches!	At the limestone kilns
Ken Kellman was our distinguished guide!	Many of us collected Tacriophyllum, Metaneckera, Porophyllum, & Bryolawtonia just to name a few great finds on Sunday. I'm already looking forward to our next Sobefree!	Colin at the limestone kilns