Time for me to #TrackTheBloom! That is the superbloom that is happening this year in the various Southern California deserts! I didn't make it to my primo destination of Anza Borrega State Park, but had many, MANY adventures on my first day and the beginning of my second. Click on the links below to catch up!
2) The hot yet cool Mud Volcanoes and still more adorable Owls and Birds.
3) The wacky and yet inspiring artistry of Salvation Mountain and Slab City.
4) Death and Beauty at the Bombay Beach Ruins.
In this post, I'll share some of my best photos of the flora and fauna I found in the Mojave Preserve off of historic Route 66. I was there on March 19, 2017, so there could be different flowers blooming now.
Fremont's Pincushion (white) and a yellow-centered Desert Dandelion (they also have red centers and can be seen in my previous post).
And in this picture too!
Another of Fremont's Pincushion
Desert Chicory
Desert Sunflower
Not to be confused with the Desert Marigold! (Or did I confuse them? I'm not sure really. lol)
The Desert Marigold has more layers than the Desert Sunflower (as far as I can tell).
The next purple ones confuse me. They're called Red Maids if I'm not mistaken. But they're not RED!. lol And I think the white flowers with them are Popcorn Flower.
This is Slender Popcorn Flower
And here we have regular Popcorn Flower with beautiful purple Desert Sand Verbena.
Desert Sand Verbena
Desert Sand Verbena with Desert Evening Primrose, or Browneyed Primrose.
'Browneyes' closer up
These kind of blend into the desert floor, so I had to do the Sin City affect on them to make them stand out. Fitting since Sin City is Las Vegas, just a ways down the road from here.
Desert Purple Mat
Yellow Cups. They look similar to desert Poppies, but they have little red dots inside and are more yellow than orange.
I thought this was Desert Sage, but now I'm not sure. I'll try to find out and update.
Beautiful desert landscape with White Fiddlenecks and possibly Desert Sage.
Another that I couldn't find a definitive name for. May be a poppy, but again, seems too yellow.
Desert Lupine
Gorgeous Beavertail cactus in flower!
I was lucky enough to see a very cool Desert Spider Beetle running along!
And then I saw three lizards!! Woot woot! Two I would call medium sized and the third was smaller. I'm going to try to find out what species they are and update.
The funny thing was I was photographing the dude on the right when I saw a quick flash of movement on the left. I lowered my camera and then saw the second lizard on the left! He had just ran up!
I didn't get the clearest pic of him. :-(
Here you can see him further down. lol He was gone pretty quickly too. Just running around in the desert. I know how you feel buddy!
To finish up, just a couple wider views. This one I thought was cool as there are about 7 different varieties of flowers in the photo.
And this is a lovely view of Amboy Crater, where I saw the beetle and lizards! I need to go back and hike the entire trail since I didn't have time on this trip.
So amazing and fun! I'm so happy that I got to see so many gorgeous desert flowers and the lizards and beetle too! Can't wait to go back! My next stop (after checking out of my hotel) was going to be a Yucca filled area up Barstow Road that I had driven through the day before.
Until then! TTFN!
xoxo
