Tag Archives: temblor

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wildflowers, Temblor Range

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Wildflowers, Temblor Range
Spring wildflowers on the slopes of the Temblor Range

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

Spring wildflowers on the slopes of the Temblor Range

I have seen photographs from this region recently in which the wildflowers completely carpet the flat and even some of the upper slopes. While I did see places with such carpets of flowers — mostly down on the flats of the actual plain — in most places there were spots of intense flower color separated by much larger areas of grassland. The areas we investigated on this evening had much that character — we mostly hiked and climbed through green plants, though in places we passed through sections where the flowers were very thick.

Here there was a bit of variety in the colors — from orange through yellow to purple — and even some beautiful desert candle flowers. (Look closely at the lower portion of the photograph to spot a few.) This spot was a level area at the top of a ridge running up into the hills, and from this spot we could look up at many successive layers of ridges above us. In the late afternoon light the upper edges of these ridges caught the back-light, accenting the layers.

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

Wildflowers, Central California Hills

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Wildflowers, Central California Hills
Spring wildflower bloom in San Luis Obispo County, California

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

Spring wildflower bloom in San Luis Obispo County, California

Our evening hike to photograph the flowers began with a drive. We left our campsite, picked up a gravel cross-valley road, followed another narrower gravel road, and finally turned up a one-lane track heading up into the hills. Before long it dead-ended at a gate with an opening that only allowed foot traffic beyond. We loaded up, decided to forego the main trail, dropped into a gully, climbed a slope on the other side, and then followed a ridge up into the hills.

As we climbed the flowers, of all sorts, became thicker and thicker, and before long we were “wading” through fields of them, sometimes up to our hips, as we headed toward some likely looking slopes even higher up. Finally arriving at what seemed like the likely place to start photographing, there was a flat plateau along the ridge, and flowers carpeted sections of it. To make this photograph I positioned myself so that the main field of flowers was directly in front of my, with the further layered ridges extending beyond and further up into the hills.

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, Evening

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Temblor Range Wildflowers, Evening
Wildflowers, evening light in the Temblor Range hills

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

Wildflowers, evening light in the Temblor Range hills

On the first day of my annual spring Death Valley visit, I took a detour down US 101 and then inland to the Carrizo Plain National Monument. I usually go straight to Death Valley in a single day, but the reports of a “super bloom” in areas of the Central Coast, plus the fact that friends were already there camping and photographing, made the side-trip sound interesting. Heading inland from 101 at Paso Robles, I soon entered the spring-green hills and began to see wildflowers… and wildflower fans! After five yours of historic California drought, Californians are absolutely thrilled by this lush spring of green hillsides and flowers. I continued heading east and eventually arrived at the Carrizo, where the only thing more plentiful than the wildflower hunters were the flowers themselves!

This national monument is not as developed as most, which makes sense given the remote location, the typical dry and inhospitable climate, and the generally small number of visitors to this faculty that is co-administered with the BLM. All of that is my way of saying that it took me a while to figure out where the heck I was and where my friends were camped! I found them, we sat and caught up on one another’s stories, and as evening came on we headed out for some photography. We ended up climbing up into the Temblor Range, where there were all kinds of flowers. I made this photograph of the hills and valleys above us just before the sun set.

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.

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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.
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.