bloom Archives ~ Rambling ranger

April 16, 2020

Going Back – Chasing the Bloom

I usually spend April chasing the bloom, following the wildflowers north as I travel on my way home to Alaska. When John of Journeys With Johnbo proposed Going Back – The Second Time Around as the theme for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, I thought I would revisit my usual April travels, canceled this year by Coronavirus. I miss the flowers!

My wildflower journey starts in the California desert. There are three don’t-miss locations, each with its own unique flora, that I revisit every spring if I can.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

The first is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This is California’s largest state park, and it’s a beauty. Anza-Borrego often has one of the best spring wildflower displays in the country.

The first time I visited Anza-Borrego it was during a rare cold spell in January. I wasn’t even thinking about flowers. Temperatures got into the teens overnight, unheard of in this region. I wasn’t expecting that! Pipes froze. I froze. I went to Agua Caliente Hot Springs to warm up, and my bathing suit froze into a solid block of ice as soon as I took it off.

Chasing the Bloom in Joshua Tree National Park — Fishhook Cactus Flower

For my second time around, I made sure not to go in January! Now I go for the flowers, a little later in the year, anytime between mid-February to mid-April. I often visit twice, or even three times during a wildflower season, so that I can photograph different flowers as the bloom progresses.

The next time I go to Anza Borrego, chasing the bloom, I hope to hike Hellhole Canyon since I’ve never been there. Not only does it have great flowers, it’s a favorite hangout for Desert Bighorn Sheep. The Peninsular Bighorn is the subspecies that lives here. It’s usually found in Baja California, and Anza-Borrego is the only place in the US where you can find this animal.

Joshua Tree National Park

Going north, I’ll stop at Joshua Tree National Park. I don’t spend much time in the northern part of the park, with the iconic rocks and namesake Joshua Trees. I spend most of my time near the southern border, because that is where the wildflowers are.

The next time I go to Joshua Tree, I might spend more time up in the rocks. Maybe I’ll even get a campsite there. It looks like an incredible place to explore if I wasn’t quite so fixated on the flowers. I would like to catch a good sunrise, and sunset, from one of those northern campgrounds. I would also like to hike Porcupine Wash and find the petroglyphs I’ve heard are out there somewhere.

Death Valley National Park

Then there’s Death Valley. It is a place close to my heart, as I was a ranger there for 8 winters. During some years the wildflowers are sensational, but in other years there is just not enough rain in the driest place in North America for a good spring bloom.

Death Valley is always worth a visit in the springtime, even if there aren’t a lot of flowers. You’ll probably find a few, and you might even find a flower that lives nowhere else in the world! There are literally thousands of untracked, remote, nameless canyons to explore. There are sand dunes and salt flats. And oh, the colors! You don’t need to have a bloom going on to find every color in the rainbow in Death Valley. I look forward to using my new Nikon camera there the next time I visit.

Carrizo Plains National Monument

Chasing the bloom, last year I visited Carrizo Plains National Monument for the first time. It won’t be the last. In a good year, Carrizo Plains has THE best wildflower display in the country! I’ve never seen anything like it. It boggles my mind to think that the whole Central Valley looked like this once, in the days before agriculture and oil wells. The flower fields go on forever, mile after mile of solid color. It looks like a monoculture in places, entire hillsides or valleys dyed purple or gold. But when you get out of your car and walk around, the variety is astounding. And the perfume in the air! The delicate scent of the flowers is the best thing about Carrizo Plains in my opinion, pure nirvana.

The next time I visit Carrizo Plains, I would like to visit the area near the campground. I never made it to that part of the Monument because of mechanical issues with my little truck. It was tired of all the dirt road back roads I was taking it on and went on strike! When I got back to pavement and went to the coast to get it fixed, the check engine light magically disappeared!

Sometimes I travel up the coast on my way home. There are some flowers, but no big displays, at least not of native flowers. Plenty of beautiful invasives, though!

Sierra Foothills

Usually, I head for the western Sierra foothills. When I get there in the middle of April, it is the peak of the spring bloom. It’s a different ecosystem with different flowers. There are lots of butterflies, too. My favorite bloom, though, is the Redbud tree.

Wow! I had never seen this tree before my first spring journey to the Sierra foothills. Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink! They’re gorgeous. I’m sorry I’m missing them this year.

Of course, I usually do a drive-thru of Yosemite to check out the waterfalls along the way. I camp for a couple of nights on BLM land along the Merced River. The flowers are great there, it’s close enough to the park for a visit, and it’s not crowded. Maybe the next time I visit the Sierra foothills and Yosemite I’ll actually camp in the park and spend a little more time there. I tend to make my visit short because the park is so loved to death, but if there has been a good snow year and the waterfalls are raging, I can’t resist.

Yosemite National park — A Yosemite Waterfall

Continuing north through the redwood forest, the flowers grow scarce. Nothing but Redwood Sorrel and Trillium in April there. But the trees make up for any lack of flowers.

Southern Oregon

I’ll continue chasing the bloom into southern Oregon, catching the last spring wildflower season I’ll see on my April journey North. Once again, different ecosystem, different flowers. Lilies abound, with a plethora of different varieties. There are shooting stars, too, one of my favorite flowers.

The next time I make it to southern Oregon in April, maybe I’ll spend a few more days there. I’m usually running out of time by then, with a deadline imposed by my return to work in Alaska.

I really miss the flowers this year. But maybe when I can travel, I’ll see a host of new varieties since my timing will be different. It’s something to look forward to.

chasing the bloom in Oregon — What new flowers will I discover this summer?

February 10, 2020

The Future Is Happening Now!

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Ann-Christine asks us to envision the future. It could be near future or far, personal future or universal.

“The future’s uncertain, but the end is always near. ” Jim Morrison

I read Tina’s post, with its warnings about the consequences of climate change. Climate change was already on my mind. I had just spent the morning at an open house held by the Navarro-By-The-Sea Center. They are trying to save the remaining historical buildings still standing at the site of the former town of Navarro-By-The-Sea, but the open house was held more to bring awareness of king tides and the rise of sea level due to climate change.

A king tide was in progress, so to get to the Center those of us without 4-wheel drive had to take a shuttle with high enough clearance to ford the water. The beach parking lot was completely underwater. Sea level is 6 inches higher than it was in 1950. This may not seem like much, but the rate is increasing dramatically, over 66% in the last 5 years. Now it’s rising at the rate of an inch every 5 years, and that rate is still going up. A lot of places are going under, and the king tides are a preview of what will become an everyday occurrence in the near future.

As I witness ecosystem crashes and see the current administration win one battle after another in its War Against Nature, I despair. When I contemplate the future, I fear we’re already past the tipping point.

I couldn’t go there. I thought of other signs of the consequences of climate change I could write about, but it all made me so sad. I couldn’t write a whole post with no hope, and I was feeling hopeless.

Navarro River Beach — Sea level is rising.

I needed some positivity, so I started playing Michael Franti as I read the post from Soybend, “Someday in the Future”. It was uplifting, positive and poetic, just what I needed. I then learned about new research connecting melting ice in the Arctic to the increasing prevalence of El Nino cycles.

I saw a teeny, tiny silver lining to the dark storm clouds of the future. More El Ninos = more desert wildflowers. Ironic that as so many other places dry up and desiccate, the California desert will get wetter.

Apricot Globemallow — More desert wildflowers?

I started thinking about desert wildflowers, and that led me to my personal near future, which is actually pretty exciting.

“The future’s so bright, I’ve gotta wear shades.”

Patrick Lee Mac Donald

I’m currently housesitting on the beautiful Mendocino Coast in northern California. Think redwoods and wild, secluded beaches with an abundance of arches and sea stacks.

Navarro Redwoods State Park — Love those Redwoods!

I’ll leave here in early March and go down to see the desert flowers. I’ll head east and travel through the Sierra foothills so I can avoid the urban insanity of San Francisco traffic. Along the way, maybe I’ll stop at Yosemite.

I have four flower destinations in mind. Death Valley received nearly an inch of rain over the winter, which is a decent amount for that place. When I passed through in mid-January, there were a lot of little seedlings coming up. I even saw a Turtleback blooming already. If the winds and heat aren’t too brutal, it might be a nice bloom this year. Since the last 3 years were abysmal there, I’m looking forward to and hoping for a good season this time around.

Joshua Tree has gotten a lot of moisture this winter, both snow and rain. There’s a current winter storm warning there, so the precip is still happening. I think Joshua Tree might be THE place to check out this year, although I doubt if it will be quite as outrageous as it was last spring.

Anza Borrego has gotten a fair amount of precipitation, too, over an inch in one winter storm. Smaller storms since then have kept the ground moist. Word is flowers are already blooming in Coyote Canyon.

Last year I discovered Carrizo Plains. The rough dirt roads are hard on my little truck, but I’ll just have to try to go slow and pray the washboard isn’t TOO bad. I thought it had some of the best wildflowers I’d ever seen, and Carrizo got hit by all the same storms that have inundated Joshua Tree.

Carrizo Plains National Monument — Camping at Carrizo Plains

As I head back north to Alaska, those Sierra foothills and southern Oregon should be blooming. I’m not sure if I’ll travel back by the coast or interior yet, but by May I’ll be back home enjoying the incredible view from my front porch.

Mt. Regal — part of the view from my front porch

Happy flower hunting!

December 14, 2018January 24, 2023

2019 California Desert Wildflower Predictions

It’s been raining in the desert. There are possibilities.

El Nino weather patterns generally bring moisture to the Southwest, and this is an El Nino year. Although it’s way too early to know for sure, things seem to be shaping up for a decent bloom this spring.

Anza Borrego State park, CA — Springtime in the desert.

Most places have gotten a good soaker sometime in the last two months. Here are my predictions:

Death Valley

Well, it IS the driest place in North America, after all. Although some parts of this huge park received rain, there has not been a big enough storm to trigger germination. However, there has been more rain than last year. It’s still early. A wet winter could make a difference. But don’t count on one. I don’t expect a big year, but I think there will be patches of great wildflowers. You just might have to hunt for your floral treasures here this year.

Mojave National Preserve

Parts of Mojave have received over an inch of rain in December, most of it in one storm! If we get a few more good rains, evenly spaced into January and February Mojave should have a decent display of wildflowers.

Joshua Tree National Park

Put your vacation dollars here! Well over 2 inches of rain has fallen in J Tree over the last couple of months. One big storm in mid-October yielded over an inch and a half of precipitation. The totals so far are nearly as much, or possibly more, rain than Joshua Tree had at this time two years ago. (Some of the data for this year is missing.) 2017 was a great flower year in the southern part of the park. If the rains continue, the flowers may be just as exceptional this year.

Coachella Valley

Over an inch of rain has fallen on Palm Springs so far this season. At this time last year, none had fallen. It’s not a lot, I’m not predicting great things, but there will be wildflowers.

Anza Borrego State Park

Borrego Springs has received 1.76 inches of rain so far this fall. It’s looking good. It will take a lot more to make a superbloom, but I am predicting a fair-to-good wildflower season for Anza Borrego next spring.

There are still a lot of variables. At this point it’s a guessing game. No matter where you go in the California desert, prospects are looking much more hopeful than last year, though. This year, there will be flowers, Time will tell just how many and where to find the best blooms.

January 24, 2017

2017 Desert Wildflower Forecast

Desert Gold (Geraea canescens) & Telescope Peak

You were lucky indeed if you got to see the 2016 Death Valley superbloom last spring. Alas, superblooms are rare. You need just the right conditions – a flash flood in the fall to wear away protective coverings on the seeds, followed by enough gentle winter rains to keep the sprouts alive. Unfortunately, this year is not a superbloom year.

But just because it’s not a superbloom does not mean there won’t be a bloom! It’s been raining in the desert and I’m here to tell you where the best spots to look for flowers will be this spring!

Death Valley National Park

This year things are looking pretty dry in Death Valley. Furnace Creek has received less than half it’s annual average for this time of year. That’s less than 15% of the precip that fell last year. To top it off, Artist’s Drive is closed for repairs until the middle of March.

Desert Five Spot (Eremalche rotundifolia)

It’s not all grim, though. Death Valley is a really big place, the largest national park outside of Alaska. With all the different mountain ranges and valleys, there are generally some places with good flowers in the park! It has been raining hard in the southern end of the park over the weekend, so that may be a good area to start looking.

Don’t expect carpets here this year, though. Learn to appreciate the perfection of each individual flower, instead.

Mojave National Preserve

The good news is, the farther south you go this year, the better the rainfall! Mojave had a really big storm (1.4″ of rain) on Christmas, and enough rain since then to keep things going. You should find some lovely flowers here in about a month.

Western Mojave near Barstow

This area is doing a little bit better than usual for precipitation. There should be a few nice displays.

Joshua Tree National Park

Golden Evening Primrose (Camissonia brevipes), Notchleaf Phacelia (Phacelia crenulata), and Rock Daisies (Perityle emoryi)

Several roads have been closed in recent weeks in Joshua Tree due to storms. It’s been raining for most of the past week. The park is well above average in rainfall this year.

Some flowers are already blooming, although not many. Bladderpod (not sure which species) and Filaree (Erodium cicutarium) have been seen.

Anza Borrego County Park

I predict great things for Anza Borrego this year. They have had more than double their average annual precipitation. I think this very well may be the best place in southern California to look for desert wildflowers this year.

Desert Gold Poppies (Eschscholzia glyptosperma)

So that’s what it looks like so far. Keep hoping for rain, the more moisture the better the bloom!

Have you been out in the Arizona or California desert lately? What have you seen? Let us know! Leave a comment! Follow this blog for future updates on the 2017 desert bloom.