Natural History Wanderings

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve SNR Wildflower Bloom Status: 

As of April 10th, the hills are green with rivers of orange around the park. The bloom is much better than the last two years, and with the periodic rains we had had in March we should have a good bloom spread through all of April. Patches of other wildflowers such as white forget me nots, purple lupine and lacy phacelia, yellow goldfields and fiddleneck are creating a mosaic of color throughout the park.  The best poppy showing is currently at the west end of the North Poppy Loop trail- remember to stay on the trail; the poppies are right next to it so there’s no difficulty in seeing them.  Poppies are also abundant along our handicap-accessible trail this year.

via Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve SNR.

Latest Poppy Reserve Research Field Notes and Observations on 4/9/14 by  Mary Wilson

There are fields of poppies!  As you drive west on Lancaster Road to the Reserve, you will see poppies along the roadsides and out into the fields and hills.  There are 7 miles of hiking trails and the best to take right now are the Poppy Trail North Loop, Poppy Trail South Loop, Tehachapi Vista Point Trail, Lightning Bolt Trail and the Valley Vista Point Trail.  The east side has poppy plants but not many are blooming as yet.

Ripley Desert Woodland

There are no flowers here but you can enjoy peace and tranquility.  You will be stepping back in time to when the Antelope Valley had virgin forests of Joshua trees and Juniper trees.  This is how the Mojave Desert must have appeared to early explorers as they came through the area.  Some of the Juniper and Joshua trees are over 200 years old.  There are two trails: 1) the Ripley Nature trails that is 0.3 mile and the Rare Juniper Trail that is 1.0 mile.

Red Rock Canyon State Park

Drive through the Ricardo Campground and find Desert dandelion, brown-eyed primrose, chia, wild rhubarb, bladder bush, peppergrass, fiddleneck, comet blazing star, Fremont pincushions, coreopsis, Mojave sun cups, sand verbena, creosote bush, milkweed, Joshua, Cholla, filaree, Prince�s plume, Jimson weed and Desert alyssum   The rock formations are as beautiful as ever.

Wildflower Sightings

• Dawn Road (Off the 14 Freeway) � get off that exit and turn right. Road ends and there are three dirt roads.
• The one to the south had: filaree, fiddleneck, comet blazing star, forget-me-not, Mormon tea has catkins, wild cucumber, Joshua, Creosote and Cholla.
• The one to the north had: Mojave sun cups, Desert dandelion, tiny buckwheat, sand verbena, forget-me-nots, comet blazing star, and Desert calico.
• Backus Road (off the 14 Freeway).  There are flowers along the roadside but east of 40th St. West on the north side of the road there are:  Desert dandelion, goldfields, forget-me-nots, fiddleneck, filaree, brown-eyed primrose, Fremont pincushions, Fremont phacelia, creosote bushes starting to bloom, comet blazing star.
• 14 Freeway toward Bishop.  Past California City there are: Desert dandelion, Apricot mallow and Acton Encelia (Brittlebush).
• Highway 138 (Avenue D) and past 170th St. West you will start seeing poppies mostly on the south side of the road and the hills are yellow with goldfields.
• 140th St. West is a nice showing of poppies with goldfields and California primrose interspersed.
• 110th St. West there is a nice showing of fields of poppies on the west side of the road.  There are also fields of goldfields.  There are poppies and goldfields all the way to Avenue I.
• 90th St. West between Avenue D-8 and D-14 (Thanks for the tip Janet Winters).  The west side of the road has:  goldfields, Comet blazing star, pygmy-leaf lupine, brown- eyed primrose, Desert dandelion, tumble mustard, Lacy Phacelia, filaree, slender keel-fruit, forget-me-not, Mojave sun cups.
• 60th St. West between Avenue D and Avenue I – beautiful carpets of goldfields.

via Latest Poppy Reserve Research Field Notes and Observations.

Related articles

• Antelope Valley Wildflower Update 4/5/14 (naturalhistorywanderings.com)