Antelope Island

Antelope Island, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake. There's still a patch of snow on that mountain.

Wasach, Lake, Hole in Wall

Wasach, Lake, Hole in Wall, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Look how arty this picture is!

Don't Touch the Buffalo!

Don't Touch the Buffalo!, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

The plaque near it's front right foot says 'please do not touch'. (I didn't)

Sara and Sand

Sara and Sand, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Sara checking the sand of the Great Salt lake to see if the grains are round (they aren't here but are in other areas near the lake)

Bee and Calochortus

Bee and Calochortus, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

A bee in a Calochortus flower

Brodiaea filifolia

Brodiaea filifolia, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Federally Threatened plant growing near San Dimas, CA

Clouds and Apartment

IMG_1739.JPG, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Last week these clouds drifted over Ventura during a heat wave. They looked like summer 'monsoon' clouds. No thunderstorms accompanied them but today there were some scattered thunderstorms in the mountains. None made it to Ventura.

Beer Rock

IMG_1735.JPG, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

One of my all time favorite places. Almost anyone who reads this has been here, too.

Globe gilia

Globe gilia , originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Gilia capitata), Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens

Sisyrynchium varieties

Sisyrynchium varieties, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

blue-eyed grass and a white variety, Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens

Goldfields

Goldfields, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Lasthenia californica (goldfields) in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

Mimulus

Mimulus, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

This horticultural variety of mimulus was in an Ojai native plant garden.

Ojai

Ojai, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Ojai, the destination (and thus the halfway point) of the bike ride. In Ojai there is pizza to eat and soda to drink. There is also beer but I didn't want to fall asleep.

Dorky me and the ventura river

me and the ventura river, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Here is me looking dorky with the Ventura River floodplain in the background, from along the steepest part of the bike trail.

Confluence

Confluence , originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Farther along the trail, and thankfully upstream from the refinery, this is where San Antonio Creek flows into the Ventura River. Both watercourses still hold some steelhead trout and support lots of native riparian vegetation. Unfortunately, there is also lots of Arundo.

me and the wasteland

me and the wasteland, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

This is me in the wasteland. Dogs! Fire! Beer! Toxic waste, probably, too.

Wasteland

Wasteland, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Another view of the post-apocolyptic wasteland

The wasteland

Wasteland 3, originally uploaded by inyopfc.

Last weekend my friend Brian and I biked to Ojai from Ventura, a round trip of around 30 miles. It was the longest bike trip I've been on a long time. Near Ventura, the trail passes near an abandoned oil refinery that looks like a post-apocolyptic wasteland.

the water

the water, originally uploaded by sara buggy.

desert water

sara in cyn with h2o

sara in cyn with h2o, originally uploaded by sara buggy.

my favorite canyon has water and green green green cottonwoods