As I was growing up, I spent an inordinate amount of time outdoors. If I wasn't fishing with my dad, or hunting with my brother, I was digging fossils, taking photographs, or just wandering the woods and fields checking out the flowers and trees. Birthday gifts and Christmas gifts centered on outdoor themes and especially helpful to me were the small field guidebooks on birds, mammals, trees, rocks, fossils, & wildflowers. I often carried one of the handy field guides in my fishing vest, or backpack. I think when I kick the bucket; I'll will my fishing library to a University. 

For the next month or two, California's wildflowers will be putting on a magnificent show for all of us to enjoy. The price of admission is a tank ful1 of gas and some wear and tear on your boots. While the high Sierra gets all the attention of trout fishers, skiers, and hunters, the most prolific wildflowers are actually a little lower down the mountain. I especially enjoy the profusion & variety of the wildflowers in the foothills at about the 1500-foot to 2500-foot elevation level.

Living in the Central Valley, we are blessed with great wildflower viewing both in the coastal hills to our West and in the Sierra Foothills to the East. We have so many varieties of wildflowers in California that there's something for every taste.

As a child, I remember driving over the Altamont Pass and marveling at the profusion of California Golden Poppies. You probably know that they are our official state flower and John Muir, and almost every other early California explorer who kept a journal, mentioned them.

Did you know that the beautiful blue Brodea has an edible bulb below the ground and were a staple food of most California Indian tribes?

The flaming Red Indian Paintbrush isn’t really red because the Indians painted with them, but it made a great story to get children interested in nature. 

When I picked Lupines to take home to my Mom, I learned that Wildflowers don't last long when you pick them. Pretty soon, I learned that Wildflowers are best enjoyed when you just view them in place, where God put them.

The exception to the rule that you can't take wildflowers home with you is, of course, photography. Even an amateur photographer can often take some stunning wildflower pictures. Sure, you can take some pretty shots with your cell phone camera, but to really capture the amazing colors and variety of wildflowers, you need a real honest to goodness camera. Whether you've got a fancy new digital camera, a somewhat outdated Nikon, that uses film, or even an antique Argus Brick from the 1930s, you ought to be able to get some great wildflower shots in the next month or two. If you get a set of close-up lenses to take pictures from 3 inches away, so much the better.

Where to go to see great wildflowers? Try one of these two suggestions: The Coastal Range, west of the Valley and the Sierra Foothills, east of the Valley. Both areas make a great day trip. You can pack a picnic lunch, leave home after breakfast, and be back home by dinner. It's a great way to spend a Saturday with your spouse and kids.

 My recommendation for the Coastal hills trip is to drive west of Tracy on Eleventh Street and take Corral Hollow Road and head south. Follow Corral Hollow up and over I-580 and up into the hills past Carnegie Park. Take your time as you drive and enjoy the scenery, that's why you're there. Proceed over the pass into Alameda County and turn right on Mines Road. Follow Mines Road as it winds up the mountain in a southerly direction. Until you get to the top where it intersects with Mount Hamilton Road. You can go west a short way to the observatory at the top of Mount Hamilton and have a picnic lunch there, or you can turn east on Mount Hamilton Road and follow it down Hospital Canyon past Frank Raines County Park in Stanislaus County. You'll come out on I-5 at the bottom of the canyon. It's a great trip.

Or if you'd rather see the Sierra foothills, drive south on Highway 99 to Merced and take Highway 140 up the Merced River Canyon to Yosemite National Park. You can have your picnic lunch along the Merced River or drive into the Park and eat like royalty at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Cheap and simple, or expensive and fancy, whatever suits your pocketbook.

If you're in pretty good physical condition, you might want to stop about ten miles east of Yosemite’s boundary at Savages Trading Post where the south fork of the Merced joins the main river. The South Fork Trail is arguably the best wildflower hike in the world. No Jive! In March & April the wildflowers along that stretch of trail are unsurpassed anywhere on earth. Watch your step, because the trail drops off very steeply to the South Fork. After a couple miles or so, the trail flattens out and becomes less steep.

On either trip be sure to take your camera because you're going to see some breathtaking wildflowers.

Until Next Week,

Tight Lines