Picture of the week

April 17, 2011

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Cattle range fence at one of the boundaries separating a ranch from the Carrizo Plain national monument. Photographed in the morning on recent trip to this area.

Things did not go as well as I hoped as I tore out the sidewall on one of my tires will trying to cut through the back country of the Tremblor range on a fairly rugged 4WD road in search of wildflowers. The flowers this year in the Tremblor range were a bust for the most part (especially compared to some of the epic photographs I have seen posted last year). Given my spare was a space-saver I had to limp back to Buttonwillow and make a deal at a podunk tire shop to get a used tire that was not quite the same size with limited tread mounted on the rim instead. It was only $25, so I got off cheap. This ended taking an extra 3 hours of crtical time closer to sunset, and thus scouting and photography for the best locations was dampered. I ended up improvising my campsite for the night without the luxury of much sunset photography.

Anyway, the wildflowers this year were rated as "average" by the local BLM rangers. Currently they are considered at or just past their peak. They got about 3" of snow last week (which you may find hard to believe), with some of the locals saying that was probably better overall compared to this week. The heavier than normal rains tended to accelerate the growth of the grasses, and overcompeting with the wildflowers for ground space this year. But nevertheless there were some nice fields with Tidy Tips, Goldfields, and Coreopsis in bloom, but just more isolated compared the vast size of this monument area. Most tended to be on the Soda Lake road closer to the Selby ranch road and Goodwin Educational center.

Overall the trip was worth it to better familiarize myself with the area and improve my planning for next time. I also ended up meeting Chuck Graham and his wife. Chuck recently just published an article on the Carrizo Plain in the May, 2011 issue of Outdoor Photographer. They were a nice couple and gave me a few tips, as they get out here regularly.

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