Western Sojourns: Travels with Camissonia: Corona Lake, Temescal Wash, Concordia Ranch Road (Riverside County, CA): 3/14/19

Monday, March 25, 2019

Corona Lake, Temescal Wash, Concordia Ranch Road (Riverside County, CA): 3/14/19

Aaaaaaggggghhhhh, nooooooooooo, say it ain't sooooooooo!!!! I thought this place was kinda sorta "secret" from the hordes that have been flocking of late to nearby, literally adjacent, Wilson Canyon Road in Lake Elsinore. Well, apparently not, as we saw a long line of cars parked along Concordia Ranch Road and lots of people ascending the poppy-adorned hillsides this afternoon. Sigh. Lake Elsinore officials finally decided to close the Lake Street exit off I-15 after several weeks of horrendous traffic jams due to the unprecedented onslaught of enthusiastic wildflower enthusiasts. As of last weekend and until the blooms are finally spent, you'll have to park your car at the Elsinore Outlets off Nichols Road and fork out $10 a head to catch a shuttle to see the poppies on Wilson Canyon Road. But if you've got Waze or Google Maps and a noggin, you'll soon figure out that there's another somewhat less-traversed way to access this bloomapalooza. And I thought I was so clever to be one of a select few to have plotted out this route to bypass the crowds! So much for hubris...

Well, thankfully, we did manage to avert the multitudes on this particular day when we detoured off the freeway to Temescal Canyon Road after work and took these photos from my trusty iPhone. Our best cool find along the way were Coulter's Matilija Poppies in Temescal Wash just south of Corona Lake. Unlike our annual California poppies, these S0Cal/Baja endemics (aka "fried egg poppies) are perennial, rhizomatous and shrub-like up to 7' tall, with large, yellow-centered flowers. They're not yet in bloom but should be in a few more weeks.