Wildflower hills in Central California

JohnDC

All of these were taken around 20 March 2008 in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California.

1.



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3.

Glenn NK

Good grief, I can hardly believe there were that many flowers in bloom at once. Stunning.

Those are striking; I like the composition of the second one. And it looks so inviting - begging one to take a leisurely drive and stop often to absorb the beauty.

djspinner2k

Really cool pictures. If I took a picture of michigan right now it would be dead with snow still on the ground.

#3 reminds me of a background from windows XP.

Vrungel

yes, this year is great for spring flowers.
Great photos!

shniks

JohnDC wrote:

All of these were taken around 20 March 2008 in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California.

Beautiful shots.... where exactly did you shoot these? What freeway etc? I have to go there to check this out... Amazing... Thanks for sharing...

N

Tee Why

I like the layered composition of no. 2 the best, adds depth.
I was there this weekend and the conditions were tough with sparse poppies and cold windy condition.

Good shots.

JonMikal

nature's beauty abounds in these images!

JohnDC

shniks wrote:

Beautiful shots.... where exactly did you shoot these? What freeway etc? I have to go there to check this out... Amazing... Thanks for sharing...

N

Thanks. These were taken on side roads between Hwy 46 and Hwy 58. The roads were Bitterwater Rd and Bitterwater Valley Rd. But be careful: these open grazing cattle areas--not fenced in--with cows in the road around every corner. Don't try freeway driving there.

NorthernFocus

Wow Every time I've driven through California those hills are just brown... golden brown, but brown none the less Great images. Thanks for sharing.

JohnDC

Tee Why wrote:

I like the layered composition of no. 2 the best, adds depth.
I was there this weekend and the conditions were tough with sparse poppies and cold windy condition.

Good shots.

Thanks, Tee Why. More rain is predicted for the area, which may produce another set of blooms. Somewhere around '96 - '98 it rained and snowed until the end of May, and the mixture of flowers in the hills was incredible on Memorial Day. So, you may have more chances over the next few months.

JohnDC

Glenn NK wrote:

Good grief, I can hardly believe there were that many flowers in bloom at once. Stunning.

Those are striking; I like the composition of the second one. And it looks so inviting - begging one to take a leisurely drive and stop often to absorb the beauty.

Thanks, Glenn. That's exactly what I did. I took a few days off during the week and had the place to myself. So, I leisurely drove and stopped to take photos whenever I felt like it.
John

JohnDC

articblooms wrote:

Wow Every time I've driven through California those hills are just brown... golden brown, but brown none the less Great images. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome, Arctic. Some of the best flower displays I've seen were up your way, in the Aleutians in June. Including orchids in the wild. But I was working and didn't get much time to take photos.

The drought in California broke this year. Everything near the coast is green--so green that I decided not to photograph one neon green valley because everyone would think I faked the color in PhotoShop....

saurora

Wow! I feel a road trip coming on!!!

schmoo

Beautiful! Looks like magical velvet.