nature photography Archives ~ Page 8 of 8 ~ Rambling ranger

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019

There Will Be Flowers

Another wildflower update – I’m just so excited about the rain! I’m in Monterey on the California coast and it’s raining now, destroying any chances for me to see the eclipse. It rained and blew so hard earlier on this week that the power was out for 24 hours. I had to laugh – I wanted to spend a little time on the Pacific Coast in winter so that I could experience the big storms and watch the wild winter waves. Be careful what you ask for…

What’s got me really excited, though, is that some of these storms have made it over or around the mountains and are reaching the desert.

Rainfall totals in Death Valley are still grim. But it IS a big park, and the only place they report totals from is Furnace Creek. The southern part of the park has been receiving rain. I camped at the southern end of the Greenwater Valley in mid-December and there were sprouts coming up, and green fuzz between Jubilee and Salsbury Passes.

Mud Cracks and Flowers — Broad Flowered Gilia

Mojave is getting green patches, but not much going on there yet. They DID get over an inch of rain in early December, so there are possibilities for later in the spring.

Joshua Tree should be GREAT this year, There are already good flowers happening there, and it will get better and better.

Box Canyon Road near Mecca, my favorite way to get from Joshua Tree to Anza Borrego is full of blooms, now, too. But there’s one problem – the road is gone, washed away in flash floods. Don’t know if it will be repaired by spring or not.

Anza-Borrego is forecasting an awesome year, too. They also got over an inch in the early December storm, half an inch New Year’s Eve, and a shower a week since then. They are already reporting some flowers, probably triggered by an October storm. Expect the bigger bloom to start in about a month.

Caltha Leafed Phacelia and Fremont Pincushion — Desert Bouquet

I want you to be excited, too, so here’s a few desert wildflower pix to get you going. If you’d like some of these images as wall art or printed on merchandise, check out my site at Fine Art America.

Broomrape

Turtleback

Gravel Ghost

Very tall belly flower! Bigelow Mimulus

The bug is more beautful than the flower!

Cracked Ground

Paintbrush

Bee on Indigo Bush

Emigrant Canyon, Death Valley National Park

Goldenbush

Beavertail Cactus

Fiddleneck

Happy flower hunting!

January 1, 2019

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #26 A Photographic Review of 2018

Sunset at Pt. Arena lighthouse, California

This week’s photo challenge, brought to us by Ann-Christine, is to do a photographic review of 2018. As I looked over the files from all of my travels this year, I found it really hard to just pick a few favorites. I’ve done a lot of traveling this year! How do I narrow it down?

So many sunsets, like the feature photo of the lighthouse at Pt. Arena on the Mendocino Coast. I had a lot of red rock adventures, revisiting old favorites like Arches and Zion National Parks, and discovering new amazing places, Like Gold Butte and Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments.

Arches National Park, Utah — Alpenglow on Skyline Arch

Then there’s water. Incredible waterfalls and beautiful seascapes were hallmarks of my travels. The falls in Yosemite were peaking after a week of flooding rains when I passed through in the spring. Autumn found me deep in the rain forests of Olympic National Park. Great waterfalls there, too. Nothing like a waterfall to bring you serenity and inner peace.

Yosemite National Park, California — Waterfall in Yosemite

As I looked through my photos, though, I was struck by just how many of my favorite images were foliage. Trees were big for me this past year, both literally and figuratively. I got to know the redwoods a little better when I spent the month of February in Mendocino County, California.

Redwoods are TALL! — Redwood tree on the Avenue of the Giants

Springtime flower hunting introduced me to a new favorite, the Redbud trees of the Sierra foothills. I couldn’t get enough of these beautiful flowering trees and I was amazed that I’d never seen them before. The area where this image was taken burned in the fires over the summer. I’m thankful I got to see them before they were destroyed.

Merced River Canyon forest, California — Brilliant pink Redbud blossoms along the Merced River.

I spent my summer back home in beautiful wonderful Alaska. My summer image is not a tree, but a flower. I found these unusual albino fireweed blossoms in the middle of downtown Valdez, Alaska.

Fall found me back in the big trees, the old-growth forests of Olympic National Park. Although I loved, and was awed by, these giants it wasn’t the size of the trees that captured my camera and my soul this time as much as it was the fertility of the rain forest- the thick moss covering and hanging from every inch of bark, especially on the Bigleaf Maple trees

Bigleaf Maple in Olympic National Forest, Washington — Late afternoon sun backlights a maple tree in Olympic National Forest

For me, 2018 was a wonderful year. I’m hoping 2019 will prove to be yet another year full of wonder, with plenty of opportunities to be immersed in the natural beauty of our Mother the Earth. I’ll leave you with one more favorite. Happy New Year!

San Simeon Beach — California Coastal National Monument

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.

December 2, 2018

San Simeon Beaches

The first time I slept on the beach was at San Simeon.

I was 17 and had hitchhiked from Colorado to California with a friend. Traveling up the California coast one evening, we asked the young guy who gave us a ride if he knew of a good place where we could camp.

Moonstone Beach, Cambria — Even the rocks look like seals here!

He stopped the truck in the middle of nowhere. He said, “Walk through these trees to the beach. Camp there.”

The towering waves were quite impressive to a couple of mountain girls who had never walked a beach. The ocean was so LOUD! I turned to Judy and said “We’ll never get to sleep with all this noise.”

It was one of the best nights of sleep I ever had.I never forgot that night, but it was a very long time before I returned.

Bull elephant seal — What a weird looking animal!

The first time I ever saw elephant seals was on TV. It was a National Geographic show about South Georgia Island near Antarctica. They were fascinating. Elephant seals can dive down as deep as a mile underwater and stay down for up to two hours. I thought they were some of the strangest, most exotic animals I had ever seen.

Immature elephant seals jousting at Piedras Blancas — Practice at asserting dominance starts at a very young age

Imagine my surprise when I found out that I didn’t have to go all the way to the southern hemisphere to see these strange animals. That I could see them in California, just a few scant miles from where I’d first experienced the ocean!

I’ve been back to the Cambria/San Simeon area a few times in the last few years. It’s my favorite place on the central California Coast. Elephant seals are just the beginning.

Moonstone Beach in Cambria, CA — Moonstone Beach

You can find treasures on the beach. Moonstone Beach is famous for its moonstones, but what I really like are the wave-polished, colorful agates. I could sift through the pebbles here for hours.

Cambria is a lovely little town. My favorite place to stay here is the Bridge Street Inn, a sweet hostel/B&B just a block and a half off Main St. The rooms are lovely, there is a good kitchen available for guests, and the hosts are kind. I highly recommend it.

If the weather’s nice, though, I’ll be camping. San Simeon Campground is just an underpass away from the most incredible birdwatching beach. There’s a (barely) offshore island there that is part of the Piedras Blancas section of the California Coastal National Monument.

Pelicans on the Central California Coast — Pelicans on the wing

Pelicans, cormorants, whimbrels, sandpipers, egrets, herons, and vultures are only a few of the birds you can see here with just a short walk.

My main draw, though, remains the elephant seals. You can see them pretty much any time of year, but the best time of year to see them is in the winter, November through February. That’s when all the action – fighting, breeding and birthing – takes place. Viewing platforms are only a few feet from the seals – and the best part is – it’s free!

Tag: nature photography

There Will Be Flowers

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #26 A Photographic Review of 2018

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2019 California Desert Wildflower Predictions

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San Simeon Beaches

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