UNPREDICTABLE WILDERNESS

CHUCK GRAHAM

From afar, the Temblor Range in the Carrizo Plain National Monument was swept in different shades of yellow. Huge swaths of rancher’s fireweed, goldfields and hillside daisies brightened the arid mountain biome. From where I stood at the base of the Caliente Mountains looking east toward the Temblors, it was the only color on what are typically barren hillsides.

Another Super Bloom had arrived. Absurd amounts of rain during Winter 2022 and 2023 – along with substantial snowfall – had brought on another spring full of vibrant wildflowers. With solid rain totals and mostly consistent moisture from November through the end of March, it ended another drought.

As spring approached, anticipation mounted with each passing week. It felt like a bloom was coming. The Carrizo Plain wasn’t just green, it was acid green. The vegetation was lush and dense. Places where I’d spotted active kit fox, badger and giant kangaroo rat dens in the past were completely smothered in fresh growth.

Fleeting natural wonders

I pulled off Elkhorn Road on the northeast side of the semi-arid grasslands and hiked an old ranch road to the rolling ridge of the Temblors. Up close, a multitude of colors revealed themselves. Blazing stars, California poppies and Parry’s mallow are native wildflowers that close up at the end of the day. They don’t begin to open again until the sun hits them the next morning.

However, after walking up to the top of the ridge at 3,600 feet, all the colors, the wildflowers hidden amongst all the yellows, started to pop. Valley phacelia was abundant on the hillsides. Chia, blue dicks and owl’s clover were also there.

One of my favorites, though, was just starting to bloom. Desert candles were still just arriving in mid-April. Sometimes reaching up to four-feet-tall, the yellowish lime-colored stocks were beginning to burst into their beautiful magenta-colored blooms. They looked incredible, standing above the hillside daisies and blazing stars, the perfect blend of yellow, orange and deep purple.

The waiting game

Due to all that significant rain, most species of native flora were waist-high, and so thick it wasn’t allowing for much open ground. It made it very tough locating wildlife. That, and lots of visitors enjoying the abundant wildflowers across the Carrizo Plain, kept mammals and birdlife hunkered down and further out across the veld.

Rancher’s fireweed was particularly dense. Places where I’ve located antelope ground squirrel and burrowing owl dens in the past were well hidden this time. I did get lucky though.

An active kit fox den that was very busy with six pups in 2020 was active once more. In 2021 and 2022 it was not active at all, but I decided to walk up the hill just to be sure during the second week of April. The den was surrounded but in the middle of it all was a barren mound of dry dirt.

With my binoculars I counted four entry points to the den. All the telltale signs were there. Plenty of flies buzzing around the openings. Leftover prey was scattered about –even a couple of giant kangaroo rat tails were probably nothing more than play toys at that point.

I posted up in the fireweed and sat waiting. After 35 minutes the dad rose above an opening. First there were his ginormous ears, some of the biggest amongst all canids. It was like a periscope rising out of calm seas. However, once his entire head was exposed, he slowly vanished, lowering himself out of sight.

Another 35 minutes passed, and with the same results. Then 15 more minutes passed, and a cute pup exited the den. It looked about four weeks old, and flopped down in the dirt, sunning the afternoon away. Its dad passed by once, and another pup came out only to quickly enter another opening in the den. Wildlife has always been on its own schedule.

Patience was needed for both another bloom and some thriving grassland fauna, but enough rain will always be the determining factor.

Adventure and travel writer Chuck Graham lives in Carpinteria and contributes his writing and photography to publications far and wide. For more wildlife photos, visit chuckgrahamphoto. com or follow Graham on Instagram at @chuckgrahamphoto.