Natural History Wanderings

Micheal Frye has an update on the wildflowers, especially the poppy bloom for the Merced River Canyon on his blog:

…the bloom has expanded further up the hillsides to some of the highest ridge tops, and east towards El Portal. The stretch on the north side of the river, about three miles east of Briceburg (and opposite the Slate Creek Bridge), looks particularly good, as does Grandy’s Hill a couple of miles further east.

The poppies near the beginning of the Hite’s Cove Trail have faded, which is not surprising, since they’ve been blooming for a couple of weeks now. That means the most easily-accessible spot for poppies isn’t as spectacular anymore, but there are still poppies there, and further along the trail you’ll find a variety of other wildflowers – not large swaths, but good subjects for closeups. And there are plenty of other good places for poppies if you look around; just drive up the canyon on a sunny afternoon and you can’t miss them.

Although early-blooming spots like Hite’s Cove are starting to fade, other places are just getting started, so I’d guess that there will be good displays for at least another week, maybe longer. This all looks very similar to 2012, which is the second-best poppy bloom I’ve seen in this area.

See his full report which includes an excellent hillside poppy photo at: Poppies Are Still Going Strong « In the Moment: Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog In the Moment: Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog