Every Autumn, I take a drive to Bishop for a couple days to look for fall colors. It is always a nostalgic trip because I think of my dad traveling with me. We made the first trip together years and years ago. I now imagine him traveling with me in spirit. This trip is always a chance to slow down and contemplate the wonder of Nature as the end of the year approaches. It is a great time to realize how lucky I am and to start making plans for the new year.
This year I made the trip during the second week of October, a bit earlier than previous years. I started the drive traveling on Highway 178, which initially follows along the Kern River. It is one of my favorite drives, regardless of the season. There are not many trees along the route that offer much fall color, but the Rabbit Brush, sage and other scrub brush offer enough color to usher in a beautiful fall.
Sacred Datura, also known as Locoweed, punctuated the roadside.
I do not know what these rust plants are, do you?
A Quick Glimpse of Lake Isabella
There Was a Nice Purple Color Gracing the Hillsides
Rabbit Brush
Mountain Asters
If you have not driven Highway 178 lately, consider taking a nice leisurely drive some afternoon.
“There are no days so delightful as those of a fine October.” Alexander Smith
“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.” Jim Bishop
I live in Bakersfield, which sits roughly in the middle of California. This year has been a hot one. Most summers, we average 126 days of 100+ degrees, but this year there were more than 150 days. Fall weather offered unusually high temperatures as well. It is technically fall, but it does not feel like it. The trees about town that typically offer some fall colors have been slow in putting on their show. Except for one little tree in my neighborhood. Although it stands less than 10 feet tall, it has boldly offered vivid red leaves to remind us all that fall is in the air.
That little tree encouraged me to take my annual trek to find fall colors. Some years, I head up to Bishop while others I visit Yosemite. This year, I decided I would travel to both locations, figuring I would see some fall colors somewhere en route. Of course, even if I didn’t find fall foliage, the drive itself always offers wonderful views. It is just great to be on the road again!
My first day was an easy four-hour drive from Bakersfield to Bishop. The drive up the Kern River Canyon via Highway 178 initially showed sporadic bits of color.
Eventually, the golden blooms of Rabbitbrush wandered along the highway along with the occasional tree or bush in bloom.
The juncture of Highway 178 and Highway 14 (which soon becomes Highway 395) offered some great views as usual. I love the clouds!
Once traveling on Highway 395, I was I took a short detour near Lone Pine to enjoy the Alabama Hills and a view of Mt. Whitney.
Lone Pine offered some quick glimpses of fall colors as well.
Back on Highway 395, heading toward Bishop, fall colors started punctuating the landscape as the sun started to set.
These red-winged black birds did not readily pose for the camera. The spotted one is a juvenile.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A Few Quotes about the Joys of the Open Road
“Roads were made for journeys not destinations.” Confucious
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” Jack Kerouac
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep rolling under the stars.” Jack Kerouac
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” John Muir
“Still around the corner, there may wait a new road or a secret gate.” J. R. R. Tolkien
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road. . .unless you fail to make the turn.” Helen Keller
“I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.” Walt Whitman
“Only one who wanders finds new paths.” Norwegian Proverb
“It’s always best to start at the beginning. And all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.” Glinda, the Good Witch of the North
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to roam the roads of lands remote, to travel is to learn.” Hans Christian Andersen
El Nino has brought rains to California over the last several months. More rain is still likely, so maybe—after enough rain and extensive snow pack throughout the year—the state’s long, long drought will start to subside. I certainly hope that the drought comes to an end sooner, rather than later.
But I am also hopeful that this year might generate some impressive wildflowers.
In late March 2015, I saw some great wildflowers in Mojave’s Red Rock Canyon. The California Poppy Preserve is hopeful for a good bloom this year, again in late March or April. Thus far no extensive blooms are evident in the park or on the Gorman Hills along the Grapevine. I figured I would start my hunt for wildflowers in about a month.
Then I heard about the 2016 Superbloom erupting in Death Valley.
A Ranger posted the above YouTube video on this year’s blossoms in early February. Even though I did not notice the video until late February—so the blooms would have started to fade—I decided I would head to Death Valley for a wildflower adventure. If nothing else, I knew from my Death Valley trip last spring that I would enjoy the great scenery and fun curvy steep roads.
I started my trip, heading east on Highway 178. Its route along the Kern River is always lush and green after a good rain. This year, California Poppies adorn the hills and other wildflowers jumped out along the roadside.
Lupine
Yucca
My quick detour through Red Rock Canyon confirmed it was too early for extensive flowers this early in the spring. About all I saw were the yellow blossoms of the Creosote Bushes that dot the area near the Visitor Center and an occasional Yucca starting to bud.
Creosote Bush
The next day, when I first started into Death Valley, I did not see much color.
Eventually, gold and purple bushes dotted the roads, but the color was still minimal.
Golden Evening Primrose
Just as I was thinking the Superbloom must be over, I hit a stretch along Highway 190 where Desert Gold bushes spread out across the fields. Although the blossoms were rather muted and starting to wane, they were quite impressive as they stretched across field after field throughout the park. Other wildflowers jumped into view at various places, adding to the colorful palette. Obviously, the Ranger was right: If this more extensive blanketing of color only happens about once every ten years, my trip to Death Valley was well worth the effort. The wonder and diversity of nature is always impressive!
Gravel Ghost
Phacelia
Red Mat
Cream Cup
That’s a Woman Out in the Field
Desert Gold Sunflower
The next day I headed home, traveling Highways 14 and 58 through Tehachapi. Once again, some California Poppies and a few other wildflowers painted the hills and roadsides.
Desert Dandelions
Gravel Ghost
California Poppies
All in all, it was a beautiful and colorful couple of days!
NOTE: I’ve done my best to give the names of some of the flowers, but if you can add a name or make a correction, please do so. Thanks.
Do you have any favorite places you visit to see wildflowers in bloom?
SOME QUOTES ABOUT WILDFLOWERS
“Change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like a stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.” John Steinbeck
“No matter how chaotic it is, wildflowers will still spring up in the middle of nowhere.” Sheryl Crow
“Love is like wildflowers; it’s often found in the most unlikely places.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It is easier to tell a person what life is not, rather than to tell them what it is. A child understands weeds that grow from lack of attention in a garden. However, it is hard to explain the wildflowers that one gardener calls weeds, and another considers beautiful ground cover.” Shannon L. Adler
“There are as many ways of loving as there are people, and that wildflower variety is the great beauty of this dimension of existence.” Rumi
“Wildflowers are the stuff of my heart!” Lady Bird Johnson
“The more often we see the things around us—even the beautiful and wonderful things—the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds, even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less.” Joseph B. Wirthlin
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence, see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Mother Teresa
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” Henri Matisse
“Earth laughs in flowers.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” A. A. Milne
“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter. . . to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in the spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” John Burroughs
Every Autumn, I take a drive to Bishop for a couple days to look for fall colors. It is always a nostalgic trip because I think of my dad traveling with me. We made the first trip together years and years ago. I now imagine him traveling with me in spirit. This trip is always a chance to slow down and contemplate the wonder of Nature as the end of the year approaches. It is a great time to realize how lucky I am and to start making plans for the new year.
Learn More Every Day 