Wildflower Ride

[SNC1923]

Took a (rare for me) solo ride up into the foothills and mountains near my home in search of wildflowers. Much to my surprise, given our lack of rain, I found them in abundance.

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Heading up into the foothills outside Fountain Springs.

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It was an unusually hazy day, so the skies didn't work out so well. Still, the flowers were wonderful. Note the little squirrel on the right; he saw me off my bike and took the opportunity to cross unmolested.

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The valleys were quilts of orange, purple, and white. The white reminded me a bit of snow, but more about that later. . . .

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Explored a bit off pavement today. This is just a hardpack road that someone forgot to post "No Trespassing."

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Happened across this old majestic fellow enjoying an afternoon in the sun. He didn't seem too interested in me, but I was grateful for the fence nonetheless.

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Later in the day, after a quick bite to eat (note to self: no more road pizza), I headed up M50, a mountain road that should have led me to Kernville. Closed? Surely they can't mean me. . . .

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Along the way I saw a little dirt road and decided to give it a try. I did a bit of exploring among the beautiful pines.

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Oh, THAT kind of closed. I walked about half way through this snow and was slipping all over the place. I reasoned that if I got through, I would simply encounter more later. No cell service, alone, not supposed to be there. . . . I turned around and headed back.

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I prefer the faux wildflower snow.

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In all it was a great ride with lots of photo opps. I carried my tripod and every lens I own, but I only used my 17-85 handheld. Lesson in that I suppose.

Thanks for looking.

[MLS2GO]

Some very nice shots. Great colors and contrasts. I ride an RT, not a GS, but I thought it was verboten to have such a clean GS? :)

[Polarbear]

Thanks for some really good stuff. I live in the middle of this too, in the Sierra Foothills east of Clovis and the flowers are HUGE this year. My allergies, too have been on fire, which I usually have little trouble with. We had a lot of rain this winter, but not in recent weeks. The flowers love something! I just did a weekend ride/campout to our coast Hwy. 1 and it too was equally amazing right now. Anywhere in and around CA. right now, you're in for a show, indeed. Thanks, Randy13233:thumb :usa

[grossjohann]

Looks like a great trip, Tom. Wonderful images as always.

Did you use a polarizing filter to get the sky?

[Paul_F]

Amazing scenery. Thank you for sharing.

[rocketman]

Great shots, dude! In a few weeks we should be getting to that point, flowering trees are beginning to show some color now so the ground cover shouldn't be too far behind and we gotten lots of rain compaired to last year so it should be good showing.

RM

[carter]

What GREAT pictures. THANKS !

[SNC1923]

Looks like a great trip, Tom. Wonderful images as always.

Did you use a polarizing filter to get the sky?

Thanks, everyone.

Alex: I did indeed use a polarizer. I also boosted the blue saturation in some of the photos with Lightroom. I'm sort of starting to get the hang of this post-processing thing.

[dancogan]

Beautiful pictures! Really enjoyed it, while trying to keep the jealousy in the background. What a wonderful area to ride.

[sfarson]

Indeed SNC... beautiful. Sweet color contrast. Have always marveled about sunflowers, how they tend to face the east. Makes one consider deeper thoughts.

[darcym]

Fabulous pictures! We've had good wildflowers in the desert but those foothills are just spectacular. I particularly like the shots where you show some of the road too. Beautiful.

Probably the "better part of valor" by avoiding the snow covered road. That wouldn't have been a very good place to be sliding around and/or crashing.

Thanks for sharing!

[Visian]

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hey, this looks like a burnzilla ride report! :ha

fabulous photography, tom... and great riding, too.

i had a vacation planned here a few years back, on a rented goldwing with my wife (and yes, you *can* ride a goldwing on dirt roads...) but had to cancel because of work.

i did save all the details, though, and would love to return to this area on my own bike.

a buddy of mine recently visited las vegas and drove down to the mojave national preserve. he was going on and on about the wildflowers. they sure do look beautiful in your pictures.

thanks for posting.

ian

[bobs98]

Very nice, Tom. Beautiful shots!