As we face yet another long hot summer fire season with exceptionally dry rainy season, it’s sobering to continue my catch up process of posting here. March 20 saw us taking the short flight to Santa Paula again for more aircraft pampering. Along the way we enjoyed more views of flowers on the hillsides near Ventura.
7252 Lupine
That particular hillside was especially attractive, where lupine minged with other wildflowers and crags from a recent fire. It also offered safe terrain and winds to fly within a few hundred feet and catch zoom pix like these that highlight the flowers.
7244 Patchwork
Somewhere out beyond Santa Paula there was a wildfire painting a pall of smoke hinting at the largest fire in CA history that would devastate this whole region in a few months.
7232 Smoky Omen
Most of the hillsides were still green though, so the next day we decided to stretch our wings with a flight out across Santa Ynez Valley. The rock formations there never cease to fascinate.
2380 Wrinkled Rock
Sedimentary layers open pages of geology going back countless millennia beyond our brief time in the sun. Other rocks stand guard above eroded meadows dotted with blooms.
7363 Stone Castle
More sandstone layers lead the eye down into Zaca Lake nestled in a crook of the hidden valley.
7376 Zaca Lake
The poppies ran amok on Grass Mountain, where our long zoom caught this relaxing scene.
7395 Grass Mtn Poppies
Though pale in comparison with prior flights in the Figueroa Mountain area, the brief intense rain of early 2017 had painted some scattered hillsides and meadows in the hues of various blossoms. They describe delicate intriguing shapes telling the story of subtle variations in soil chemistry and many other factors over time.
7351 Hue of a Moment
John & Anne Wiley 
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