Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Wildflowers

Five Fingers in a green mitten!

Lots of greenery in the Hills with a few early splotches of Castilleja on Saturday. The Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve is predicting a "very good to excellent bloom" this year also...

Great shots Richard.

I miss having a macro lens. You're getting me motivated to get one. I'm currently using a 16-85 on my Nikon D7100. I love that range. I wish it had a macro feature on it like my old 28-85 Nikon lens had.

Hate to admit it, but I cheated on SEKI/Inyo last year - ventured to the Teton Crest Trail... if you like flowers, you would be in heaven hiking in the fields of color.

Thanks Kurt. I have 60 and 180 macros for my 7D, but can't seem to find the motivation to carry it out there. Looking thru the lens of an SLR does make it easier to get things in focus, vs. the display on my Sony 5N. I'd say ~50% are junk with it.

Here are some more...


New sign...



...wonder how long it'll be before it starts looking like this...a lot of people out here don't appreciate what they consider to be "land grabs." Maybe Doug should have helped negotiate "multi-use down here...









Saw some really bizarre flowers out there today... this is one of them. Don't have any idea what it is, and haven't seen it before.



What the stem looks like.



Something created a new home...






Another of the long stem flowers. Couldn't seem to get anything better because of wind.

The album.

Pod people! Don't fall asleep!

Great pix Richard! That yellow stemmed one with the deep purple flowers looks 'other worldly'..
With my luck, I'd transplant it in our yard and it would turn out to be some type of invasive weed...

Stacy

Hi Came down south to load up for the Show this week . The area just past the 178 turn off to Ridgecrest and to about 10 miles South is starting to cover the floor yellow, the Hills are vibrant green and a few blue flowers are opening , with this rain and a few days of heat this area should be amazing.

The Yellow long stem flower, I would see these at various locations and elevation around the desert,seems like they like sandy soil ,some heat and not every year. Betsy and I found a plant that in the same type soil above Lone Pine Campground one hike, This plant was 12-16 inches high single stem and almost black flower.

I checked out the Alabamas all last week , very few flowers, the bright red (fire red) plant opened last week. along Movie road as always this time of the year but not many.

My thoughts on a Flower hike is we try for 2 weeks from now and may head down towards Ridgecrest for the day and potluck somewhere???? If flowers open in the Alabamas we will do that option.

Sand Canyon (if it's blooming...) and dinner at the Brewery?

Flower hike, yes!

Hi Driving back yesterday from Long Beach the flowers are still opening around Ridgecrest , checked the Alabama Hills today , still not much opening.

So lets plan a trip for Saturday 21 March say start time 8 AM and it will be around Ridgecrest or the Alabama Hills TBD AS WE NEAR THE DATE .Say March 18, for location selection if that works for everyone,
The Brewery Richard suggested is owned By Rick Lovett and his wife, great place to eat and has an amazing view of the Indian Wells Valley nightscape.

Doug the master planner is up by Reno now but lets see if he can rally the crew, Theme is warm up hike for Baldy and Richard is set to join us for the Baldy Hike!

Throwing out a few more ideas...

The El Paso area where I go out regularly will probably be way past prime... grass is already turning brown.

- Walker Pass gives the option for a few peaks off the PCT... really easy walking on the trail.
- Indian Wells Canyon gives the option for a few peaks, including Five Fingers...
- Sand Canyon...

Of course, best would be if AH started blooming.