Mother Nature Is Rejoicing From the Rain and Showing Off all of Her Colors

California’s superbloom is what every nature lover’s dreams are made of

A superbloom is a rare desert botanical phenomenon in California in which an unusually high proportion of wildflowers whose seeds have lain dormant in desert soil germinate and blossom at roughly the same time. The phenomenon is associated with an unusually wet rainy season. — Wikipedia

I have always loved taking pictures. I am no photographer, it simply makes me happy to go through and make some edits. I also love to look back on old photos and feel nostalgic.

After the big super bloom in California in 2019 and the flood of photos that I saw all over the internet, I knew after the rainy winter that we had, there would be a surplus of flowers sprouting all over what is usually a very dry state.

I was pulled and drawn to the urge of taking my own beautiful flower photos.

Living near the crowded beach all my life and not surrounded by greenery, I often need to escape the concrete jungle and head out to parks.

When everything begins to turn green, the flowers are not far behind.

March showers bring April flowers — this is a more appropriate saying for Southern California, especially this year.

You can be jealous of our weather here but it comes at a price. There is always traffic. There are always crowds. I need to see other things than people everywhere.

As I searched for the best places to visit to see all of the beautiful wildflowers that Southern California has to offer, I was reminded of what happened in 2019 during the super bloom.

There is an area about an hour from my house called Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore. During the super bloom, this area was flooded with flowers.

And, people. Way too many people. The internet drew much attention to this beautiful area that was a blanket of flowers. The entire hill was orange and purple. People needed their Instagram shots.

So many people disregarded mother nature at Walker Canyon and were only worried about their photos. The area was mobbed by visitors. The freeway was at a dead stop many days in a row.

People trampled the flowers, went off the trail, and disregarded all of the signs so that they could be in the middle of the flowers for their photos. Some were adorned in flowery outfits, beautiful high heels, and stage makeup, so they could get their perfect flowery photo.

Since then, Walker Canyon has been closed to the public. You cannot enjoy this area because of the mess that was made years prior. By mess, I mean people also left their trash all over this beautiful area.

As I set out this year to view the flowers and take pictures, I reminded myself of the beauty. I went out seeking to be in nature. I wanted to get away and be somewhere else that isn’t crowded with people and concrete.

Being that Walker Canyon was closed and the closest place to really see the California poppies, I ended up finding a lake that was surrounded by wildflowers. The week prior I found a hiking trail not far from my house but I wasn’t seeing enough flowers, I needed more.

Although Peter’s Canyon in Tustin was beautiful and I had a great time doing a solo hike here, I really wanted to see the full super bloom in person.

My eyes were yearning to see all of the beautiful wildflowers that were blooming.

Sure, I want to take pictures like everyone else but why couldn’t everyone just walk the trail and view the flowers from the dirt trail?

That is what I was planning to do. You can still get stunning photos without trampling Mother Nature’s spectacular beauty.

My brother happens to be in town and staying at my house and he is always game to do something new, even if it meant spending 3 hours in the car.

The 1.5-hour drive out to Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, CA, was a breeze and I am still flabbergasted that we didn’t hit any traffic on the way out there. Once we got out of Orange County, we started to see all of the green hills with beautiful mustard flowers.

Although these mustard flowers look so gorgeous on the hillsides, they are actually invasive. Once the summer is over and all of these dry up, they become the perfect kindling for wildfire season.

We drive past Walker Canyon and are in awe. This is where the poppy viewing starts on our drive. Even though I was saddened by what happened in 2019, I can see why people flocked to this area.

But, once we arrived at Diamond Valley Lake, I was happy that we passed Walker Canyon. We were in for a real treat and a gorgeous hike.

We weren’t the only ones who found this not-so-hidden gem. The line to get into the parking lot was a mile long but ended up going pretty fast. Since the trail was so wide and long, it didn’t feel as crowded as I thought it was going to be.

As we approached the trail, which cost $4 to enter, there were minimal flowers yet we were still struck by their beauty. With the lake in the background and a perfect 70-degree day, we were ecstatic that we made the long drive.

The dirt trail heads up to a bend and once around the bend, the true viewing pleasure began. The hillsides were covered with wildflowers of all sorts.

The orange California poppies danced in the wind, mixed in with sky lupine.

Tidy tips were sporadically placed in between as if they were aesthetically meant to be there.

I reveled in the fact that we didn’t see any black mustard because those wildflowers adorn areas close to my home and we saw them all the way to Hemet. That did make me happy once I learned about how invasive they are and what trouble they cause in the fall.

Instead, yellow ranchers’ fiddleneck graced the hills with their presence, speckled with other flowers like Deep blue arroyo lupines, purple Canterbury bells, and pink-red maids.

Then, we began to see it happen. The people that cannot follow the rules. A group with long flowy dresses, large sunhats, and their children dressed up in similar fashion.

Out in the middle of the flowers. Off the path. Trampling Mother Nature’s beauty for their perfect photos.

They are right next to a sign that says DO NOT CROSS. Do not go off the dirt path.

Can these people not read? I start to get internally furious.

Thankfully, a park ranger is being paid to keep these people in check and remind them to stay on the path. Read the signs.

I give them a side eye and my brother tells them not to ruin it for the rest of us. They don’t even look at us. Go home if you can’t follow the simple rule.

After our 3-mile hike, we decide to sit on a bench overlooking the lake to eat our lunch. We both continue to marvel at the space that we are in.

Taking in all of Mother Nature’s beauty around us and trying to drown out the screaming kids that approach us.

We were there for 2 hours so we took that as our cue to leave. Next time I will get there early in the morning to beat the crowds.

Check out a few beautiful spring flower stories.

This one by Marianne O showcases the flowers in Hong Kong and I was especially delighted by the national symbol of Hong Kong, the Bauhinia Blakeana.

Osan Fernando writes about the beautiful cherry blossoms in Japan. I’ve been yearning to see these in person but the pictures will do for now.

If you are interested in Globetrotter’s monthly challenge, check out the prompt.

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Thanks for reading!

Much love, Michele