[Antelope valley California Poppy Reserve ] : 29 March 2003 -spring vacation-

The night before at around 9 PM, my roommate came back and asked me if I was interested in going hiking. "Where?", I asked. "I'm not sure..," she replied, "but we will see fields covered with California poppies!" That sounded so amazing that I felt that I needed to go take a look.. So we left the next morning at around 8:15AM to meet near the Engineering building. .. There, I found out it was an outing organised by the UCLA hiking club! Two people drove their cars (one was a pick up truck).. and it took around one hour and a half driving north to reach there. The reserve is in Lancaster. Gone was the city-skyscrapers and houses. What is left is the scenic flat horizon in the Mojave Desert country side and the LA county Jail with many layers of fences with barb wire!

field of golden California poppy flowers.. .

The poppy is California's state flower... . As amazing this sight may seem, I hear that this year doesn't have as many poppies as usual due to the lack of rainfall.. . Yes, this is in the Mojave Desert!!


This is the UCLA hiking club that I went with. Actually, everyone is a graduate student except me.. and for some reason, everyone is a computer science or a biology related major!! hmm. ..


Me and my Indonesian roomate! Don't I look short in this photo? :D The reason why our hair is flying all over the place is that the wind is so strong up there!


(photos by my roommate)