How about this, I know where there are some nice flowers blooming right now. We took a drive up to Lee Vining and then over Tioga Pass and into Yosemite. Along the Tioga Rd (Hyw 120) there are some nice flowers blooming along the road between Tuolumne Meadows and Olmsted Point. There are lots of little Lupines carpeting the forest floor. They are only a couple of inches tall but there are lots of them. There are also some large bushes of deep purple flowers, I’m not sure what they were and didn’t stop to look them up, but they were quite pretty. In the area of Tenaya Lake there are a lot of Davidson Penstemon growing along the granite domes. The penstemon are glowing in large bunches all the way up to Olmsted Point. There are plenty of other flowers in bloom along the road too. I may be going back there tomorrow to photograph them. If I do I will give a better report on what is blooming. So far these are the best wildflowers I’ve seen this year.

On a scarier note, as we were driving back home, in the area of Crowley Lake, a BLM Ranger went zooming by with his lights flashing. He turned at the Green Church and headed down the Benton Crossing Rd. A minute later a Long Valley Fire Department truck went by with lights flashing, and then a CDF truck went by. It looked like there might be smoke along Glass Mountain. As we were coming down Sherwin Grade we drove through what appeared to be smoke at about 7000 feet. It didn’t smell like smoke, but it was pretty thick. We drove out of it at about 6500 feet. Now, just about 5 minutes ago, a strong smell of smoke came through the house. I don’t know what’s going on, and hopefully it’s nothing, but there seems to be signs of a fire in the Eastern Sierra. I will check it out and maybe have more info in the morning.

Just read a report that there are a lot of yellow bush lupine blooming out on Point Reyes. And, according to a ranger in the area, Chimney Rock is blooming the best he’s ever seen. Is this true? I don’t know, I’m 300 miles away. I wish I could head over there to confirm it for you.

I just got back from Brockman Ln, the news isn’t good. The big bloom of iris happened during the windy days last week. From the road the fields look great, there are flowers all over. But when you get up close the flowers are in bad shape. Their edges are curled under, they are very pale, and they are tiny, maybe half of their normal size. You can find a nice little flower here and there, but they are in the minority. It’s to bad. It would have been a great bloom this year if the wind hadn’t blew last week. There are still buds to bloom, but they don’t look healthy. Last week the buds had a nice greenish yellow color to them. This week they have a yellowish white color to them. I don’t know what Round Valley looks like because I didn’t drive out there. I would suspect that it’s the same though.

Just got back from a drive down to Division Creek. For those of you that don’t know where that is, it’s half way between Independence and Big Pine on Hwy 395. It is also where you will find the best display of Inyo Bush Lupines around. But not this year :-(

The Bush Lupines are blooming right now, but it’s nothing spectacular. Most of them are blooming along the creek and they aren’t very photogenic. If you get ten yards away from the creek there isn’t a flower to be found. The most, and best lupines I saw were just below the groves of oaks. There were a few nice bushes there with some pretty purple flowers that would have made good pictures if the wind hadn’t been blowing so hard.

There is also Brittlebush and Piute morning glory blooming right now. If fact there is a lot of Piute morning glory blooming. Lots of very small flowers on them though. During the wet years the flowers were bigger. Lower down the road, near the power plant, there is some nice wild rose blooming too. You got to love the wild rose. It doesn’t care if it’s a wet or dry year, it still puts out beautiful flowers.

All in all I wouldn’t recommend a special trip to Division Creek this year. But if you’re in the area over the next week or two you might take a drive up there. There are a few lupines and a few pictures to be had, but don’t worry if you don’t make it up there.