Day Two? What happened to Day One?
Day One has been postponed in order to save the best for last.
The Carrizo Plain is known for many things. In the Spring, it’s known for wildflowers — especially this year, when it is the site of a super bloom. Super blooms happen in years that have had a far greater that average rainfall, and we certainly had that in California this year.
When we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, the sky was dark and dramatic: horizon-to-horizon silver-rimmed wet clouds with shafts of sunbeams drawing ever-changing patterns on the plain and hillsides. A photographer’s dream. Day Two? With apologies to John Lennon:
Carrizo
We came back to play
Carrizo
On our second day
The sun was out
The sky was blue
The light was flat
So boo hoo hoo
Carrizo
Even still you made us smile.
On the second day we got up early to catch the morning light. We should have gotten up earlier. By the time we traversed the hour and a half from San Luis Obispo to the Plain, the early morning clouds had dispersed, leaving a clear blue utterly boring sky. Ten- to thirty-mile-per-hour winds made macro photography out of the question.
We decided to explore and let photography be our second priority.
Still we got some good stuff.
The shot above was taken with a telephoto looking at the crest of a small rise with the Temblor Range in the distance. (The mountains are well named: the San Andreas Fault runs along their western slope.)
We headed our exploration in a southerly direction in mid-afternoon — traveling the length of the Plain with an eye toward being in Lancaster in time for a late dinner and Poppies the next day. (Stay tuned.)
It’s mostly dirt road going south — slow going in a VW GTI, which has a fairly stiff suspension. For a long while we were the only people as far as we could see, leaving us all the time in the world to stop in the middle of the road and leisurely take pictures. We crawled along. Then, way off to the left, we saw a strip of bright purple. Bright. Purple. A mirage? Couldn’t be flowers. Could it? We’d never know.
It was miles away and there was seemingly no way to get to it. We drove bumpily along, admiring from afar. After we were thoroughly resigned to a forever unsolved mystery, a side road appeared. Left turn, half-mile drive to a parking loop. And a mile-long trail. As we walked along the narrow track we were slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, immersed in a purple ocean. It was delightful. The vista was amazing. The aroma was almost overpowering. No sound but the breeze. Is this still Earth? You decide. Inside looking out.
This is the pick of the first cull of Day Two.
Tomorrow: Day One.
(Nikon D500, Tamron 100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD. Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 2.2; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
AMAGA Photography Blog 
Beautiful photos! 🙂
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Thank you! Wait till tomorrow… 😉
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FANTASTIC colour.. wow, wow, wow!
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Thanks Liz! There was an abundance of color to explore.
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I’m pleased that your plan to follow Jane Lurie’s lead worked out. Have you determined what the purple flowers are?
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Thanks Steve. No I haven’t. My best guess is flora purpula ridiculosa. But I’m probably wrong.
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Purple flowers are Phacelia.
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With the genus known, the species could be campanularia.
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That seems right. I always find it fascinating that people tend to use the Latin rather than the far more colorful and descriptive common names.
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The problem is that a given common name can refer to more than one species, and a given species can be known by more than one common name.
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I do see your point. So we have one point up for accuracy and one point down for poetry. Tough decision to make. Of course the poetry is vastly ineffective if it describes entirely the wrong plant.
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Michael – Are you sure the Carrizo Plain is not a painting? What a beauty! Also, what is that purple flower in that meadow? What a sight! Thank you.
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Thanks Carolle-Ann. It is a painting — by Mother Nature. Don’t miss tomorrow’s post. I wish I knew what the purple flowers are.
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Purple flowers are Phacelia.
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Pretty amazing, and great! to see these seas of flowers. The yellows are pretty, but it’s that rich purple that’s a real knockout for me.
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Amazing indeed. Sitting among — but not on — the purple flowers was unreal.
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The layering of colors is very pleasing to the eye! Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks very much. It was inspiring.
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Gorgeous images, Michael. Love the contrasts in the first with the angles of the hills. The sea of purple is amazing, isn’t it? Wonderful shot from close range. Incredible colors in both!
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Thanks Jane. Of course you know firsthand. Tomorrow’s post will be worth waiting for… And the next day.
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What incredible colors! I’m dazzled……
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As were we. . .
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I see that I went out of order since I figured day 1 was first. Those are great shots and I wish I had been there, but it is hard to turn one’s nose up at a huge layout of Purplenessa gloriosus.
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Day 1 was second because it was better. Purplenessa gloriousus. My kind o’ Latin.
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I’ve done that with multiple image shoots too, but for me it’s a matter of minutes rather than days. I try to save the better for last but sometimes just can’t keep it to myself that long.
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Delicious colors!!
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Thank you. Good enough to eat!
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Really amazing….I see this isn’t far from L.A. – another place to explore one day, since flights from here to there aren’t long. Do you know what the purple flowers are?
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It’s definitely worth the trip. Nearest town with any place to stay is San Luis Obispo, about an hour and a half away. I forget what the purple flowers are called, but I think it’s further up the list of comments.
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