Bear Valley's first 8 miles are private road and if you get out of your car, true to its name, wild Bears are apt to run up & eat your face - or not.
Mostly not.
At first the claim of 'some of the best wildflower viewing the country seemed a bit overstated. The first wildflower I photographed was so... bland, I wasn't even sure it was a wildflower.
Mostly we did stay in the car, obediently viewing wildflowers out the car window - mostly.
There was these strangely named flowers; 'Butter and Eggs'. Don't be fooled as I was, when I looked it up, this balloonish looking wee things are parasitic - that's why it is reddish brown, and not green - it steals nutrients from other plants. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Then after many miles of not much more than the odd buttercup, Barbara yelped; Wildflowers ahead! There, in a meadow, set far back from the gravel road were loads of pretty purply-pink flowers, that I had to peer at with my binoculars just to get a handle on them - they seemed to be lilies of some sort.
A closer look and I was happy to announce - and wrongly so - we had found wild crocus - not so fast Lady Linneaus! Late night research revealed them to be the rare and beautiful Pink Adobe Lilies.
We were quite pleased with those lilies of the field. They were so far out in the meadow, we had to photograph them using telephoto lens. The Adobe Lilies were Barb's favorites for the day, and next we found my favorites.
their poofy, starburst centers
All together it was an nice colorful, flowery, sort of day.
