The California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is native to grassy and open areas from sea level to 2,000m (6,500 feet) altitude in the western United States throughout California, extending to Oregon, southern Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and in Mexico in Sonora and northwest Baja California.

It can grow 5–60 cm tall, with alternately branching glaucous blue-green foliage. The leaves are ternately divided into round, lobed segments. The flowers are solitary on long stems, silky-textured, with four petals, each petal 2–6 cm long and broad; their color ranges from yellow to orange, and flowering is from February to September. The petals close at night or in cold, windy weather and open again the following morning, although they may remain closed in cloudy weather. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule 3–9 cm long, which splits in two to release the numerous small black or dark brown seed. It is perennial in mild parts of its native range, and annual in colder climates; growth is best in full sun and sandy, well-drained, poor soil.

It is the official flower of California. April 6 is designated California Poppy Day.

Each spring, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve comes alive with the seasonal surprises of the Mojave Desert Grassland habitat.  The duration and intensity of colors and scents vary from year to year.  Although the wildflower season generally lasts from as early as mid-February through mid-May, the park is open year-round from sunrise to sunset.  Fall is also a pleasant time to visit, as the days are normally warm with milder winds. 

Eight miles of trails through the gentle rolling hills, including a paved section for wheelchair access, make the park a wonderful place to hike and explore any season.  Get away from the city and relax in the quietude of the countryside, with only the birds singing and hawks gliding silently overhead.  Benches located along the trails make good places to sit quietly and watch for wildlife, such as singing meadow larks, lizards zipping across the trail, gopher snakes and rattlesnakes.  If you're lucky, you may spot a coyote or bobcat.  Numerous burrows around the trails may house mice, gophers, kangaroo rats, beetles, scorpions, or others. 

The Antelope Valley is located in the western Mojave Desert at an elevation ranging from 2600--3000 feet, making it a high desert environment. Until the early 1970's sheep grazed the buttes, but park management has excluded sheep.  Pronghorn Antelope grazed long before then, until the railroad of the 1880’s brought recreational hunters in numbers too great for the species to recover. 

This State Natural Reserve is located on California's most consistent poppy-bearing land. Other wildflowers: owl's clover, lupine, goldfield, cream cups, and coreopsis, to name a few, share the desert grassland to produce a mosaic of color and fragrance each spring. As unpredictable as nature - the intensity and duration of the wildflower bloom varies yearly.  California State Parks does not water or use any other means to stimulate the flowers; the land is preserved to only be influenced by the natural forces that had once influenced all of our surroundings.  The broad views of this landscape provide eyefuls of brilliant wildflower colors and fragrance. Whether you most enjoy expansive fields or the close-up study of a single flower, this is the place to visit.

Location - Directions
The Reserve is located 15 miles west of Lancaster at 15101 Lancaster Road. 
From Highway 14:  Take the Avenue I exit and head west 15 miles.  Avenue I becomes Lancaster Road. 
From I-5:  Take Hwy 138 east and turn right on 170th Street West.  Make a left at the end, onto Lancaster Road.  Follow the road two miles. 
Latitude/Longitude: 34.72482 N, 118.41271 W




Trail to the Visitor Center. Two flags, one for US and the other (below) for California



Poppy field on the way to Visitor Center



The parking lot and surrounding farm area with poppies in the farm field

A large Joshua tree near the visitor center. The area is just west of Mojave Desert.
Joshua trees grow in this area,



A view toward south-east. Snow covered mountains are in the San Bernadino Range



The poppies are not in full bloom yet. We were about one week too early.



The entrance and the parking lot. Southeastern view of Antelope Valley



Another area of hiking trails



A bus load of Korean church members came.



Our group on the trail



Yellow wildflowers at some places



Bigelow Coreopsis or desert sunflower. Yellow wildflowers are very hard to identify.



From the top of the hiking trail. A view to the south.



A view to the northwest. A large poppy field on the plain.



Close up of a few California poppies



Looking down



Fields of orange and yellow wildflowers



Area where the poppies are mixed with desert sunflowers



At times, a few different flowers.



Hiking trails through the Poppy Reserve. Again, poppies are not in full bloom.



A sunny side of a hill where poppies are in full bloom.



People wandering around along the hiking trail.



A side view of poppies. San Bernadino Mountains in the background.



Northwestern part of the Poppy Reserve along 170th Street West.



Along 170th Street West



Poppies in the northwestern plain



Along state highway of 138. A few Joshua Trees with flowers.



Close up of the flowers of a Joshua tree. Another smaller flower is about to bloom at right side.


Cream Cup, California Platystemon at the sandy shoulders of highway 138.
It is amazing they can grow and bloom on a dry sandy soil at the roadside.
But, how about us? Haven't we done that too?


Text from the Internet, Photo (April 7, 2010) by SNUMA WM - August 23, 2010