Mt. Tam was part of Gary Snyder’s life due to his residence in a cabin on the slopes.  I have lived in the San Francisco Bay area for a period of 10 years and I am a native to California.  The flora and fauna is not new to my eyes.  However, the most astonishing tactile experience was the bark of the Redwood tree.  It was spongy and softer than an oak tree bark.  I had been accustomed to the redwood chips of dry bark used for landscaping around gardens.  It really changed my way of understanding the redwood giant.  The Muir Woods is magical, and touching the trunks of these elegant masters of the coastal flora was a new piece of information for my perception to add to my tactile memories.  Rattlesnakes are also not a new fauna for me.  Snakes in general are part of the life in California, but this encounter was a large group at a water spring and so I painted it from a visual perception.  There were no tactile contact cues for this fauna.  The Banana Slug was more easily approachable and provided me with a wonderful inspirational palette amongst the leaves.  The delicate touch of the ferns and red blazing trunks of the Madrone in the deep mist was a gift on the first visit for both poetical and palette sensations.  The lasting impression of the tactile walk was the robust pink found in a blossoming flower on the side of a meadow that I may have missed if I hadn’t been attracted to get up close to touch it. However, during the visual walk the foggy misty meadows of deep yellows impressed me due to their overall visual effect.