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Sunset, Carrizo Plain

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Sunset, Carrizo Plain
A sunset view down toward the edge of the Temblor Hills toward Carrizo Plain, lakes, and distant mountains

Sunset, Carrizo Plain. Carrizo Plain National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sunset view down toward the edge of the Temblor Hills toward Carrizo Plain, lakes, and distant mountains

This has been — and likely will continue to be — and exceptional spring for California wildflower color. After an extended and historic drought that lasted roughly five years, the rainy season now coming to an end has been record-setting in the opposite direction. We’ve had floods, washing out highways, remarkable snowfall, and as of this week the state produced an all-time record for seasonal precipitation in portions of the norther Sierra Nevada. The natural world seems to have come back to life again, and in places that have been arid for the past few years we are now seeing lush green spring growth and lots of wildflowers.

Many of us decided to visit some of the interior locations where the seasonal grasslands can produce impressive wildflower blooms. On my way to Death Valley during the first week of April I detoured to join friends who were already in the Carrizo Plains region, and I managed to do one evening and one morning of photography there. On the first evening we found a somewhat remote area in the hills alongside the plain where we could see some large fields of flowers above, and we headed up into the hills to photograph them. From this elevation the views of the Plain opened up, and I made this photograph during the final minutes before sunset.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Flower-Covered Hills

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Flower-Covered Hills
Spring wildflowers in the Temblor Range, California

Flower-Covered Hills. Carrizo Plain National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring wildflowers in the Temblor Range, California

I made several photographs of this little valley, with its large number of small receding ridges, covered with flowers and separated by small gullies. We had gone out searching for wildflower prospects in the evening. We drove up into the hills on a one-lane gravel road and eventually found ourselves at a dead-end where the road was closed. We got out, loaded up packs with camera equipment, and continued on up into the Temblor Hills foothills. We left the trail, crossed gully, found a route along and ascending ridge, and before long we were high enough to gain a panoramic view of the Carrizo Plains, and we began to encounter more and more flowers.

After we arrived at the highest point on our hike, which was still far below the summit of these mountains, we set about making photographs. We started on the broad summit of a nearby hill, and from there we could look across a small valley toward these hills, where a series of small ridges ascended toward the evening light. Although there were probably a bit early for the true peak of wildflower color in this spot, there were still thick beds of yellow flowers almost everywhere.

Note: This scene is very similar to that in a photograph I shared just a few days ago. As sometimes happens — especially with my idiosyncratic workflow! — I sometimes end up thinking that my second choice pleases me more than my first.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Temblor Range Wildflowers

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Temblor Range Wildflowers
Temblor Range slopes covered with spring wildflowers

Temblor Range Wildflowers. Carrizo Plain National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Temblor Range slopes covered with spring wildflowers

In the right locations, for a few weeks in spring following a wet winter, California’s grasslands can produce absolutely stunning wildflower displays. They typically occur near the very end of what I call the “impossibly green season,” when the typically dry and brown grasslands are brilliantly green from winter rains but just about to turn golden-brown once again. There are many places to find these flowers, but the Carrizo Plains can, in good years, produce exceptional colors. This spring, following a winter of record-breaking precipitation, has been one of those years.

I drove though this area on my way to Death Valley, and when I arrived I found hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of Sunday visitors to the flowers. By late afternoon many of these people were leaving, and our small group set out to look for colors along the lower slopes for the Temblor Range. (So named because they formed along the path of the great San Andreas fault.) We picked a one-lane gravel road and followed it up the lower slopes to where it dead-ended, then got out and continued up the into the hills on foot. I made this photograph near the top of our climb, shortly before sunset as the light from the evening sun passed over the flower-covered ridges of this gully at a low angle.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Photographers

Chasing Spring Color In The Temblor Range

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Chasing Spring Color In The Temblor Range
Photographers Robert Eckhardt and Michael Frye photographing spring wildflowers in California’s Temblor Range

Chasing Spring Color In The Temblor Range. Carrizo Plains National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographers Robert Eckhardt and Michael Frye photographing spring wildflowers in California’s Temblor Range

It has been my tradition for a number of years to spend the better part of a week photographing in Death Valley National Park around the beginning of April. It turned out that this year’s spring bloom in the Carrizo Plain area was reported to be stupendous, and when I heard that friends of mine would be there photographing I altered my plans to pass through there on my way to DEVA, giving myself an evening and a morning to photograph the wildflowers and landscape.

The group of us decided to head out to some hillsides at the base of the Temblor Range, which runs along the edge of the plain. We drove as far as we could up a dead-end gravel road, then got out, loaded up camera gear, and headed up into the hills, where lots of flowers were covering sections of the hillsides. Here photographers Robert Eckhardt and Michael Frye photograph in a field of yellow and purple high above the base of the hills and the Carrizo Plain.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.