Monday, January 6, 2014

Passion: Hiking the South California wilderness for fun and learning......

Nature lovers in South California are blessed with amazing natural diversity close to home..ocean, marsh, desert, chaparral, canyons, wildflowers, mountains..
I have been hiking the South California wilderness for more than 4 years now...some of my adventures...

Especially chaparral..and  taught myself the essential living components of this biome...it has been a great journey so far, a highly satisfactory mission of learning the native flora and fauna..and appreciating their importance for environment stability...however, of late I have become so occupied with classes and exams and related stuffs....exploring nature has been reluctantly pushed back burner...The happy days of hiking every nook and cranny of South California landscapes are memory only..
I was browsing through my albums and fished out these pictures from hikes that had been very delightful, full of new discoveries, great vistas and abundant wildlife...

We reached on this peak after miles of sweaty walks on the unforgiving trails of Laguna wildernness park..well, the reward was worth the pain..
A mature chaparral........





It was winter ....the laurel sumac, lemonade berry and toyon reign the vegetation.......

Spring in cholla and yucca-infested Wildwood park....

Wild oat meadow with yucca blooms.....

Winter in riparian San Joaquin wildlife sanctuary...
Riparian sage-lined ponds.......


Summer in oak-forested Black star canyon....

Late summer in Talbert Natural preserve...A beautiful California pepper covers the backdrop...

Coyote bush-fringed trails....

New Year celebration in Peters Canyon regional park..

Spring in Crystal Cove state park...the flood of mustard blooms look fabulous...

Wild mustard blooms in spring........

Atop mount Rubidoux....winter ..prickly pears are laden with fleshy fruits..

...horizon-to-horizon it was snow-capped mountains... the historic forts and religious symbols infused serenity...

Inland hills and mountains.......

Its in Whiting ranch..I am standing just below a hummingbird nest, carefully built on  a scrub oak branch...

Oak woodland.........

Its in Chino hills state park....velvety grass, wildflowers, birds, butterflies..it had it all..

Spring in Anza-Borrego desert...relaxing under the palm oasis was experience of a kind..

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