Del Ventui Road, Fort Hunter Liggett, Monterey County, California
California has very strongly marked seasons — not the four seasons of northern Europe and the eastern U.S., but a cool wet season and a hot dry season. The transition between the two, especially at the end of the wet season, is brief but dramatic. Almost all the annual and perennial native plants of the grasslands bloom in this short period before the ground dries and hardens. For a few weeks certain favored areas can be literally covered with brilliant blossoms, mile after mile.
One of the best and most reliable wildflower areas is Fort Hunter Liggett, formerly part of the vast Hearst Ranch. Grasslands and oak parklands spread for miles in the valleys of the San Antonio and Nacimiento Rivers, giving us a rare opportunity to visualize the landscape of pre-industrial California. The timing of the great flower shows varies. In the desert it can be as early as March, but for most of the state it is more likely to be in April. This picture, of goldfields and blue lupines, was taken the third week of April.