Looking for the shapes of hearts while out in nature has been a very healing and grounding experience. This is the second blog I’ve created of photos of hearts in nature, and won’t be the last. The first blog was much more heartfelt and fun, a break from my deep dives into nature or recapping a trip, just something fun. This collection of photos helped me ground myself after experiencing and currently battling enviable life and personal hardship.

I didn’t until recently prescribe a meaning to a symbol, but I have recently done so with hearts in nature. I’m not interested in sharing what that is explicitly, but I’ll share that they represent a category of person in my life, a good, warm and supportive category of person. Upon seeing the heart shape I express gratitude and feel a wave of support.

Enough, enough, let’s look at some hearts in nature.

I’m starting off with a collection of burnt orange/clay-colored rocks. The middle photo I especially love because the heart shape is an indentation in a larger rock. While bushwhacking through the South Fork Eel River Wilderness on one of the many “Red Mountains” we explored this year I found this one, as well as the left most photo. This day, May 12th we went specifically for the McDonald’s Rockcress (Arabis mcdonaldiana), a rare, endangered, serpentine-dwelling plant, and we caught a few early bloomers! Yahoo, the bushwack and loooong back road was worth it. Phewf.

Sharp-edged, and standing out by itself, the right-most rock was also from another “red mountain” in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness.

Cacti are a pretty easy place to find hearts if you go looking for them. This cacti was from the Mojave Desert during a early October trip to the area for a botanical blitz. After rattling our bones and poor car over one of the bumpiest roads ever, a power line service road, we camped, and set out very early in the morning, while it was still dark. Our aim was a certain wash, then a valley on the North end of Clark Mountain. I don’t remember exactly when during this expedition I photographed this cacti, but that expedition was definitely memorable. I definitely won’t be returning to the area in our Tesla, I don’t think I’d even advise a truck, side-by-sides only. . . .

From the dry Mojave desert to the damp redwoods we go! Our last nomadic stint for 2024 is in Humboldt County, living underneath towering and drippy redwoods. These photos depict some of the common ground covers of the coastal redwood habitat, the plant redwood sorrel (left), and a mossy bed with lichen-covered bark, bonnet mushrooms and sitka spruce cones.

Redwood sorrel leaves are already heart-shaped, or what’s known as chordate in the botany world. One of my earliest memories of eating a “wild” plant was the redwood sorrel in the Ho Rain Forest of the Olympic Peninsula on a 6th grade field trip. It has quite the flavor! A burst of sharp sour flavor bursts in your mouth upon the first few chomps. It’s the result of oxalic acid, which is mildly toxic, so one should only eat a few leaves, MAX! I do recall seeing a few of my classmates grabbing a few extra leaves as our walk commenced throughout the forest, naughty naughty. . . .

Rock Sculptures

Top Left: The shores of Grizzly Lake in the Trinity Alps Mountains in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Northern California is where I stumbled upon this heart sculpture. It was a nice break to stop and enjoy the scenery of Grizzly lake, after having ascended the “Grizzly Scramble,” a tough section of trail required to reach the lake.

Top Right: During a recent road trip from Humboldt County to the Bay Area we stopped to find a rare beetle along the South Fork of the Eel River. Upon combing the bank of the river for the right sandy habitat this large heart commanded attention. It was roughly 5ft across, I’d like to think either kids or lovers created this sculpture.

Bottom: Titus Canyon in Death Valley National Park, is also jokingly called “tight a$$” canyon, which is pretty accurate. During a botany trip to Death Valley NP earlier this year after hiking. . . I mean . . . walking while leaning forward against the intense wind that day I came up on this lovely nature art. I love the gradient of the colors used, which must be quite vibrant if a splash of water was splooshed across the formation.

Lucas Creek off the Kern River outside of Bakersfield, CA is where I found this mushroom cap in the shape of a wobbly heart. Besides rocks, mushroom caps are an easy place to find hearts, why I don’t have more photos of such in this blog I can only blame on the fact that we haven’t been in good mushroom territory until recently. This mushroom cap even has a small lil white heart on the lower left side. Precious!

After a road closure forced us to pivot our plans, we did a 180 on a back road in British Columbia, outside of Clinton and set our GPS to Junction Sheep Range Provincial Park. Along this new route was Doc English Bluff Ecological Reserve, a spot we’ve explored before for rare plants. This time we visited the small reserve to stretch our legs and show the park’s cliffs and views of the Fraser River to our travel buddies. While exploring, I found this crusty heart.

Classic rocks

Rocks, rocks, rocks! A plethora of heart rocks! Top row, left to right these are from: the trail to First Lake in Big Pine, the center rock was near our alpine campsite opposite of Chipmunk Mountain in British Columbia, lastly this rock was from the backcountry of Fort Hunter Ligett. Bottom row, left to right: this timid rock is from off Highway 199 near Furnace Creek Inn, the middle guy if from along Bear Creek in the Snow Mountain Wilderness, and lastly this bumpy heart is from the meadows between Red Butte and Kangaroo Mountain in Siskiyou County, CA.

The last heart of this blog, was a bit of a surprise! The tadpole was definitely the target, but upon reviewing the pic, hello I see youuuuu! This lil rock is not just in any random Creek, but from West Fork Chalone Creek, which runs through parts of Pinnacles National Park. It dries out in different areas, but is a total magnet for wildlife and plant life in the northern and eastern part of the park. This creek is a great example of a classic California picturesque chaparral-scrub creek.

Pinnacles is such a cool park to visit in the spring and fall, the main rock formation is the result of “a series of volcanic eruptions shaped the landscape. The remnants of these ancient eruptions have formed a striking terrain of rocky spires and deep canyons.” Pinnacles NP has “diverse environments, from chaparral and oak woodlands to the cool, shaded depths of canyon floors” (Pinnacles NP website).

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
– William Shakespeare

Well, that concludes my second blog of hearts I found in nature, if you enjoyed it please give it a like or a comment below. Much love, Chloe