The Wildflowers of Wind Wolves Preserve
Last weekend I went for a walk through a bodacious field of wildflowers. A really big field, several miles long. An entire valley, actually.
It was the main hiking trail of the Wind Wolves Preserve. Although the preserve is several years old, the hiking trail only opened to the public last year.
It is a real treasure.
It’s also a bit of a trek just to get there. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. (In reality it’s in the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, only a couple hours’ drive north of Los Angeles. But it feels like the middle of nowhere.)
Anyway, the main reason we went was for the wildflowers. We’ve had a pretty rainy winter here in southern California, and that usually means spectacular wildflowers in the spring. We’d heard the flowers were starting to bloom at Wind Wolves right now, so that’s where we went.
Were there wildflowers? Oh, yes!
Fiddlenecks
Blue Dicks and white flowers
Calfornia poppies
When we drove in, we were greeted by a friendly ranger who gave us a high-quality map and half-jokingly requested that we not do a Sound of Music-style “Julie Andrews” through the meadows. There really was a temptation to run with abandon through the knee-high flowers. And maybe even to sing. But we were good and stayed on the path. And didn’t sing. Much to the other hikers’ relief, I’m sure.
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