BRT Insights - WW Kayaking & Hiking: Wildflowers of Bear Valley & Indian Valley, Colusa County, California USA.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Wildflowers of Bear Valley & Indian Valley, Colusa County, California USA.

RichardM, LynneN, MiloN, Peggy, Otis & I did a driving tour to see wildflowers in Capay Valley (Yolo County), Bear Valley & Indian Valley (Colusa County). Mustards and lupines were still blooming in Capay Valley (elevation 210 feet), redbuds were almost finished blooming, and there were no more blooms on the fruit trees. Birds were chirping and tamarisk was blooming along Bear Creek when we had a picnic lunch at Cowboy Camp. With two cookie bakers in the group we were guaranteed to have good munchies. We continued north on Hwy 16 along Bear Creek, turned west on Hwy 20, then turned immediately north on Bear Valley Road. There were some good wildflower displays right at the start of Bear Valley Road and nearby on the the south side of Hwy 20 at the Bear Creek Botanical Management Area. The next 7 miles of Bear Valley Road goes through a narrow part of Bear Creek valley where we found a few roadside wildflowers here and there.

Map of Bear Valley & Indian Valley wildflower hotspots.

• Instructions for online interactive topographic maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
• Full-Screen Map - Bear Valley & Indian Valley in Colusa County.
• Names of landmarks (A, B, etc.) - DoubleClick or point on the red markers.

N 38.99771 W 122.35388 - Cowboy Camp at Bear Creek (A)
N 39.01183 W 122.36066 - Hwy 20 x Bear Valley Road junction (B)
N 39.07101 W 122.40980 - Bear Valley wildflower area, elevation 1290 feet (C)
N 39.18570 W 122.44400 - Bear Valley Buttes, elevation 2166 feet (D)
N 39.30149 W 122.48829 - Lodoga (Indian Valley), elevation 1280 feet (E)
N 39.35521 W 122.45964 - Grapevine Pass, elevation 1800 feet (F)

DoubleClick on the photo to see a larger version - use the back button to return.

• Photo 24 - Bear Valley wildflowers (Colusa County)

• Photo 47 - Bear Valley wildflowers (Colusa County)

Wildflowers of Bear Valley & Indian Valley.

We found that wildflower blooms had increased since my last visit to Bear Valley two weeks ago. We found a giant field of Death Camas (Zigadenus fremontii). Purple Owl's Clover (Castilleja exserta) and California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) blooms had also begun. Continuing north into Indian Valley we found Ceanothus (Ceanothus ceanothus) blooms dwindling, but Yellowray Goldfields (Lasthenia glabrata) were still blooming abundantly. Then we drove over Grapevine Pass, through Sites and Maxwell, and returned home via Interstate 5.