This is a good year to go see poppies. I had never gone to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve – so it was time. With all the rain – there will be poppies. It has been cold, so it’s taken longer for them to bloom – but they are doing their duty!
Thankfully the gps took us the back route up through San Francisquito Canyon. I was trying to stop and see the remains of the famous dam. Here is the old road, and if you look carefully, plenty of water.
A closer view, a lot of water running there. We drove a little further, parked and started walking.
Didn’t get very far, the road became a river, at some point that water went off the road and under as we saw in the first picture. The canyon itself is beautiful, so green.
Out of the canyon, at Lake Elizabeth. Two years ago we came out here and the lake was just a dry bed. No more, all the rain filled it and every other old reservoir with water.
We have a need for order. We would like it to rain every year on time. But God and nature don’t work that way. As I’ve mentioned before, nature will balance itself – but it can take years to do so. This was the year to drench CA and in doing so, replenish the aquifers. even my friend in AZ sent me pictures of green hills there.
Just a hillside. Its’ not one of those calendar pictures, and this is where seeing is better than photography, there were plenty of poppies, but my camera just couldn’t capture it. Or maybe it did, you will see my ‘calendar pictures’ and you will see that being is so much better than just a mere second photo.
It was a Friday morning, plenty of people coming out, but the parking lot isn’t that large. also, they only really get a lot of visitors for maybe 6 weeks. One of my first pictures in the reserve. Plenty of other flowers, not just poppies, old growth from last year (the silver plumes) as well as a lot of grey and green in between.
This is more like it! If you go, be prepared to walk, we walked 3.5 miles with a fair amount of up and down hill. This is how I was able to capture some of the best pictures. And yet, the whole experience was so worth it, of course I’m glad I took pictures, but the experience of being there was so much more than that.
I have to be snarky! I’m sure this couple is from West LA, outdoors, not I close proximity relatively young and they are masked. I know, they will never take it off. Sad. What is even sadder to me. There was a group from a special needs program – glad they brought them to see the poppies – but they too were masked. When I walk around Lake Balboa there is usually a group of special needs people – all masked – that is a travesty. Sure – it’s easier to control them, but to my mind – it’s a sin and I hope God will punish these stupid decision makers one one these days. More than anything people with special needs need to breath fresh air as well as see one another faces. But – easier to control when they are masked.
We need a close up of the poppy. The Latin name is: Eschscholzia Californica. Named by a visiting Russian on a scientific expedition. They are the ones to give the Latin names, he named it in honor of the ship surgeon – Dr. Johann Eschscholtz. Of course it has many other names that your average person gave it.
Copa de Oro – cup of gold. Dormidera – for sleepy one, since the flowers close at night or when windy. So grateful that we had a still sunny day.
Plenty of other flowers around, like the Pygmy leaved Lupine. After visiting New Zealand I have a special love for lupines. I guess I need to go to Texas this time of year as well.
Lets’ take the long view, out towards the mountains, that still have snow. Plenty of yellow flowers as well. I’ll stop here and continue in the next post.
Leah