2019 desert wildflower bloom

[SSSdave]

From your pictures Maia, I recognized after driving back north on Elkhorn from Hurricane you took the dirt road to canyon G that last year I used to access nearby canyon H climbing high up the ridge. Canyon H is the one with an old gated decaying 4wd bulldozed road that goes all the way up along its wash at canyon bottom all the way to the top of the ridge line and suspect it was the one the social media God Spilled the Paint (ridiculously over-saturated haha) was made. There are better canyons and will see what this spring serves up. Also see you went up canyon F that is the one with the steep 2 track dirt road you hiked. That has a particularly nice slope a ways up I am likely to visit on an afternoon. Am curious if the the zoo up canyon J that thousands hiked up into in 2017 has now been blocked as it is on private inholding lands.

Set for some days down in Carrizo meeting up with an old view camera friend. Looks like timing is about as good as I might expect. Don't expect it to match my 2017 work however there is so much incredible material up in the Temblor badlands labyrinths that being productive ought not be an issue at all, especially with more intimate landscapes. I did see an image showing that huge grape koolaide lake had again made an appearance down south on Soda Lake Road. We'll be disperse camping on obscure dirt roads.

To this point have completed processing 36 images from my two earlier trips to Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego, and Antelope Valley and have several wonderfully colorful images that look awesome on my Dell 24 inch 4k Ultrasharp Dell monitor. Best thus far were screaming orange and yellow poppy/goldfield images from AV.

[wildhiker]

We were just at the Carrizo Plain this weekend (April 6/7). Great fields of diasies and goldfields on the valley floor and in the Temblor Range. We didn't get south of Panorama Road, so don't know what's in the southern valley. Maia, where did you find the poppies! We didn't see any.

[maiathebee]

Maia, where did you find the poppies! We didn't see any.

The poppies were in Antelope Valley... this thread title is about all the desert blooms! Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[SSSdave]

Just returned this afternoon from 6 days in Carrizo Plain where I linked up with an old view camera friend. Found excellent material about a familiar location in the Traver Ranch zone where I'd camped in the past so we just dispersed camped there 3 days. Dense areas of fresh peaking purple owls clover, goldfields, hillside daisies, plus several other species. Then last 2 mornings worked areas north of Soda Lake lush with goldfields and purple owls clover including reflections at some obscure small ponds surrounded by dense flowers. We ignored the Temblor Range as it probably peaked 2 to 3 weeks ago and was obviously not even close to the recent 2017 bloom. Generally most areas inside the actual reserve except at the north end despite lots of Feb to mid March rains, were dry stunting growth as it hasn't had a soaking rain in several weeks and plants showed it. With Carrizo now over, the 2019 desert wildflower bloom is now history. Too bad we didn't get a big storm up from the south about late March as it could have been much better. Will be several weeks before I put much a dent in my huge list of image post processing.