Miranda Pine and La Brea

Elevation chart for the ride out from the locked gate on La Brea. First up and then down Miranda Pine to the campground; then back up Miranda Pine and continuing way up up up in two stages to the summit where Sierra Madre is, and down down down Sierra Madre to the parking place at the 166.

Tree (bush) poppies were in bloom. A favorite plant.

The locked gate on La Brea.

This picture, and the next, are intended to give a sense of how the growth comes back from the base of the tree after a fire.

Another blooming plant that there was a lot of.

What I’m trying to show here, but failing because it’s difficult to get the iPhone camera to focus where you want it, is that the sages were in bloom and absolute full of butterflies. There were so many butterflies that on the way down Sierra Madre they were actually kind of a nuisance, flitting back and forth across our path. Amazing; I think I’d never seen so many butterflies in one place - I literally saw hundreds, and there must have been thousands.

I love when we are able to see our own road. Look at how it winds once, twice, three times across the landscape here. Marvelously engineered; it’s a real privilege to be brought by such a fine road into such a fine place.

Wooly blue curls were also in bloom; they are hard to photograph with an iPhone! Also in bloom were Matilija lily and lots of other stuff (not shown, sorry about that).

This stuff was in bloom; not sure what it is.

Artsy-fartsy shot of the moon. As John said sarcastically, “Moon over sticks.” But hey, moon over sticks is exactly the kind of place we were. Dry, gnarled, enchanted.