More Spring Blooms

The flower season in the southwestern deserts is becoming outstanding! It's running a little late due to the cool, wet weather, but it's worth the wait! Here are a couple beavertail cactus blooms, with loads of buds waiting to flash their stuff.

Desert chicory adds a splash of white to the scene.

A particularly prolific hedgehog in White Tank Mountain Regional Park, west of Phoenix. I've been to this park at least a dozen times in the last five years and have never seen it this beautiful.

I found this barrel cactus at Thunderbird Park, in far north Glendale, 10-15 miles north of Phoenix. Hadn't been there before...lots of fine hiking trails.

Not a flower, but a neat cholla skeleton.

A couple days ago I made a trip to Bartlett Lake, about 50 miles north of Phoenix: I had visited there two years ago. Then, as now, the wildflowers were in peak bloom, and they were fabulous! Here's a patch of Baja Fairy Dusters.

Bartlett is one of the few places where there are white poppies, growing along with the usual yellow ones. The Lizards enjoyed the mixed poppy ambience.

There's a nice diversity of flowers at Bartlett. Poppies and lupines are predominant, but there are many other types. I don't know the name of the white ones at the bottom of this pic; they're quite common.

The lake provides a nice backdrop for the flowers and the saguaros. No cacti blooming yet; they'll start next month for the most part.

The lake is virtually full...only about 5 feet below its maximum depth due to the good rains this winter and spring. Though it's an artificial lake, it's still a nice oasis in the desert.

Spring Flowers

A trip through the deserts of southern California and southwestern Arizona during March features lots of fine scenery. The Joshua Trees in the Antelope Valley are about to bloom, while the San Gabriel Mountains have heavy snowcover. On the other side of the mountains lies the LA megalopolis, seemingly far away from this vantage point.

Near Sun City in the Phoenix area, lupines bloom profusely by the roadside.

I travel Interstate 10 west of Phoenix fairly often, several times a year. Usually it's a boring trip but this spring the brittlebush are blooming to da max!

At the eastern edge of California's Imperial Valley, the Algodones Dunes tower above the landscape. The day I passed thru the dunes was harsh, with a 30 mph wind kicking up blowing sand in many areas.

Crystalline skies reveal a stark and beautiful landscape in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, in San Diego county, California.

Algodones Dunes Sandstorm

I drove through the Algodones Dunes the other day, east of Brawley in SE Cali. The wind was howling at about 30 mph and sand was blowing everywhere! Had to put the top up, close the windows, and turn on the AC. Despite the conditions, there were many people cruising the dunes in open vehicles. They're tougher than me.

St Paddys Day Blooms in Central Cali

Ay, begorrah! I cruised thru Central California today, mainly on and near highway 58, and found that the abundant rains have triggered a fine wildflower season. Right now the best blooms are found under 2000 feet elevation, since it's been cool. This pic is on 58 west of the Carrizo Plain.

There are tons of fine fiddlenecks in this area. Frequently these flowers are a little drab...kind of a dull yellow...but they seem brighter and a stronger shade of yellow than usual.

On the Carrizo Plain, Soda Lake is pretty much full this spring. Empty country hereabouts.

The Carrizo lies at about 2000 feet, and the flowers are still patchy in some areas. In others, not so.

Perhaps the gaudiest flower display I found all day was right near the end of the journey, in the Tehachapi foothills just east of Arvin. This spot is only about a thousand feet above sea level, and lupines, poppies, fiddlenecks, and other flowers were thriving. Quite a contrast to summer in this area, when it's hot, brown, and rather godforsaken. That's one of the beauties of wildflowers in dry areas...for a few short weeks they turn barren country into paradise.

Thriving poppies near Arvin.

Spring in the Great Valley

I cruised up to Sacramento yesterday to visit friends. As I drove north on I-5, I was on a collision course with an approaching cold front. The clouds thickened and a brisk south breeze provided a nice tailwind. It's been a respectable rainy season and the hills are emerald green.

Some orchard trees are still blooming but they're past their prime. But,

natural irrigation is underway to the east of this spot as we approach the front.

Steady rain drummed down in Sacramento yesterday afternoon. But toward dusk, I noticed the sun was shining though it was still raining. I went outside and found this fine double rainbow.

This morning the front was long gone, replaced by clear skies and frost in Sacramento. I headed back south on the interstate, again with a tailwind...this time blowing from the northwest. At the Westley rest area, normally a bleak place, blooming trees and verdant hills made it quite pleasant. Blow up the pic and you can see the triangular sign next to the cherry tree is warning of rattlesnakes in the rest area. Didn't see any today, as temperatures were only in the upper 50s.

Oregon Covered Bridges

Many people don't know that Oregon is one of the nation's leading repositories of covered bridges! They were built all over the western part of the state in the late 1800s and early 1900s; the rainy climate dictated building roofs over wooden roadbeds to decrease maintenance costs and extend the life of the bridge. Once, there were about 400 covered bridges in Oregon. Now, about 50 are left. Many of those have been restored over the past few decades. One I visited, near the town of Crabtree, east of Albany, was closed as it is in the process of being repaired. This is the Stewart Bridge near Cottage Grove, built in 1930; it's no longer in use for traffic.

The Mosby Creek bridge, just a couple miles from the Stewart, still carries quite a bit of traffic. It was built in 1920. Blow up the pics for better detail, especially on the signs over the bridges.

Another pedestrian only span, Currin Bridge, dates from 1925.

The Hannah Bridge, built in 1936, is near Scio, north of Lebanon.

The Shimanek Bridge was built in 1927 and restored in 1966. It's on a fairly busy country road just east of Scio. I saw all these bridges for the first time today by taking detours off Interstate 5. It's nice to get a break from the truck slalom and see some peaceful, historic country.