Let's just say the outcome wasn't great, but I did gain an overall understanding of the types of ants that were present on the trail I was walking on and an overall understanding of the difference between a major worker and a queen anatomically. I left around 1:30 PM and got there around 2:40 PM. I had a lot of trouble finding founding chambers that was in the dirt going 3 miles down Chimney Flats Trail. Most of the ants were coming from trees, and lots of them. I decided to flip over some logs and barks to see if there were any queens hiding within or underneath it, but no luck either. If I did find any holes in the dirt that had some dirt around it, it either came out empty or had worker ants a little more smaller than the ones from the trees, but no queen. I also went to the observatory by accident, and decided to look for ants around the observatory, but no luck. I also went to the campsite of Palomar Mountain, and there were many wooden tables and barbecue grill. There were a lot of the same ants I saw from the tree. I found many founding chamber at the campsite, but the ants all were extremely small. It was 7 p.m at the time I decided to go back to this parking spot halfway up the mountain that I passed earlier that I stumbled upon some huge ants, which turned out to be majors of most likely camponotus, but the 2 holes that they were coming out from were extremely hard like concrete since it was in front of a parking lot so I couldn't dig in. Quite a spot they picked because it sure was in their favor. I also setup a UV light against a sheet and had a lot of moths coming in, but no queens. I went home afterwards.
Overall, although Cleveland National Forest is connected to Palomar Mountain, I had a better outcome in Cleveland National Forest, not to mention, they all turned out to be honeypot queens and the founding chambers were all in the same spot and it was within soft dirt I could dig into. I am amazed at how even with the two places connected, the type of species changes drastically. So, from my experience, I believe there are more honeypot queens and more ants residing in dirt than in trees in Cleveland National Forest than in Palomar Mountain. I don't think I will be heading back to Palomar Mountain unless someone else can convince me otherwise. My next target will be Anza Borrego Desert State park. I hope this helps.
Edited by Tagassi, March 15 2017 - 11:13 PM.
