Gravel Road, Carrizo Plain - a photo on Flickriver

Gravel Road, Carrizo Plain

            A one-lane gravel road winds across the Carrizo Plain as spring vegetation comes to life.

OK, I admit it. This is a bit of a “record shot,” considering how this place can look like the peak of the spring bloom in an exceptional year. However, it does give me a chance to write a bit about the location and how I came to be here on this day. I was doing the long drive from the SF Bay Area to Death Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area. Since I had decided to stop overnight in Ridgecrest before continuing to the valley, I had a bit of extra time on the first day’s drive. So I detoured through the Carrizo Plain. (Yes, I have driven that gravel single-track, though not on this visit.)

At its best, this place can be remarkably full of spring wildflowers. But my mid-March visit was too early for that, so I had to settle for a landscape just beginning to build toward that climax. In this photograph, the wildflower bloom is just getting started. In exchange, I had the place largely to myself, without the huge crowds that come later. While most who visit for the flowers think of this as a green and wildflower-colorful place, the truth is that most of the time it is quite dry and desertlike.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Taken on: March 16, 2024

Tags:

carrizo

plain

monument

meadow

pasture

field

grass

green

wildflowers

flowers

yellow

gold

agriculture

gravel

road

wind

mountains

temblor

spring

nature

landscape

california

usa

north

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Camera: Fujifilm X-T5, f/5.6, 1/600 sec, 100mm (=150mm), ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm X-T5
Lens:	XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/600)
Focal Length:	100mm (35mm equivalent: 150mm)
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 25.5 (Macintosh)
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