California Poppies - Table Mountain

The California poppy, the state flower that has always seemed to elude me. I spent a lot of time last year scouring for wildflowers in California, hoping to capture the vibrant poppy, but to no avail. 

It was a new year, and wildflower season was here. I couldn't wait to capture the wonderful colors of spring. Table Mountain in Oroville, CA is covered in them every year, so I figured at some point I would end up there. I went there multiple times last spring, and saw lots of lupines, and other yellows, and pinks, but no poppies. But this year, I had seen people posting videos and photos of the area with poppies, and I thought to myself, "what? How can there be poppies? I spent so much time there last year and never saw any." I had to go. I have learned over the years that flowers can be unpredictable from year to year of where, and how much they bloom. So I guess this year they just decided to show up.

I left my house in the afternoon, eager to see what the day would bring. Once I got to Table Mountain, it was just as I remembered it, yellows and purples covered the landscape, and the smell of Spring filled the air. I couldn't wait to get out and explore. When I first arrived, it was just like last year, lots of lupines and whatever the yellow flower is. As I headed further out, I slowly started to see oranges. Eureka! I had found poppies. 

The area I had in mind has two creeks that converge and usually has lots of flowers around it. When I got there, I couldn't believe how many poppies had bloomed. It was nothing like this last year. I walked around a bit, looking for different angles and frames, and when I saw this creek, I thought, "I would love it if I could find some flowers with this creek flowing out behind them into the horizon." I looked down, and sure enough, there was a small grove of poppies right where I hoped there would be, it was like destiny. I knelt down to take the photo, and I knew, this was the one. I had finally captured the California poppy that had eluded me for so long.