Philip Fibiger

I realize that deserts can have some pretty incredible foliage, and in season the flowers can be beautiful, but I never expected the flowers in the Mojave Desert at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve to be so stunning. The fields of orange just went on for what felt like miles. A cautionary note to potential visitors: Stay on the more beaten paths, and try to hang around other people. Emily and I were heading toward a particularly bright patch of flowers, we could see a SUV parked next to it. We left the foot path and started heading across the fields in a straight line toward the flowers. I heard an unmistakeable buzzing sound just to my right. I was turned the wrong direction and didn’t see anything, but after we’d moved a safe distance away, Emily told me she had seen the very large coiled rattlesnake that I’d almost stepped on. Ugh.

Here are my photos from the trip.