Merlie and I headed out to Figueroa Mountain last week to see what was happening with the wildflowers. We were very lucky! The poppies and the lupines were both in bloom. They usually only overlap for a week or two. If you plan to go, go as soon as possible. For many years, the best wildflower view was along Figueroa Mountain Road. No hiking needed. The prime spot was a hillside about 1.2 miles past the Ranger Station.
But then that hillside eroded in a series of storms and it seemed to be gone forever. Not so! It is back in a big way this year! After we visited that hillside we came back to the Lover’s Loop Trail and hiked for a couple of hours. Here are my many photos!
Driving on Figueroa Mountain Road we were delighted to see that Grass Mountain was in full bloom with poppies. We didn’t see many people out there, but we managed to get one couple to take our photo at the overlook.
Continuing further, we saw another hillside covered with poppies, just on the other side of Grass Mountain. In the left side of this photo you can see part of Grass Mountain.
Continuing on, we saw yet another hillside covered in poppies. As you can see, this is right by the road.
We then continued to the famous spot about 1.2 miles past the Ranger Station. Here we saw the devastation of the Lake Fire that happened last July. But poppies are coming back!
On the opposite side of the road is the magical spot!
We stayed awhile and took lots of photos of the flowers and of each other. No one else was there! But if you do go, be sure to find a safe parking place that is completely off of the pavement. You may have to walk a quarter mile or so to find a safe place. Here are some of our photos there. You can see there is still some erosion from past storms, but the flowers are filling in nicely!
We then headed back on Figueroa Mountain Road to the Lover’s Loop trailhead. There were quite a few cars parked there and there were a lot of students from a school on a field trip. I talked to everyone we met about the best place to see flowers on the trail. Unfortunately, I received contradictory information…