Natural History Wanderings

Hungry Valley has a new wildflower report for April 3, 2016

The warm weather has brought out the flowers this week! But, beware; the warm weather has also brought out the rattlesnakes, too! Please watch where you are walking when viewing the flowers.

If you have a vehicle that can travel on dirt roads, take Stipa Trail through the Native Grasslands to see fields of yellow fiddleneck, several varieties of lupine, baby blue eyes and patches of poppies.

Take a leisurely drive through the park to enjoy more spring color. Entering the park at the north will take you past hills that are scattered with yellow wild parsley. Continue down Gold Hill Road to see a large purple patch of phacelia on the right at Spaghetti Pass.

Stay on the paved road through the park and look for the purple sage, Indian paintbrush and rock cress for shades of purple and splashes of red at the “S” curves between Lower Scrub Oaks campground and Smith Forks campground.

Head toward the south entrance and you will see an abundance of yellow; look for the goldfields near the training tracks and the bladderpod, desert dandelions and blazing stars just past Aliklik campgound. Yucca stalks are beginning to emerge and should be blooming in a few weeks. There are also fields of poppies showing across from Lane Ranch campground.

Though the purple and yellow on Tejon Pass are starting to fade, the poppies are still out in abundance. However, the flowers are getting better every day in the park now, so come out and play!.