The desert blooms with abandon on rare years; this is one of those years. With our plentiful winter rainfall, the flowers are putting on a grand show.
The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy is a substantial tract of land owned by the city of Scottsdale. It is a wildlife corridor and and open land preserve, and it is here that I have been hiking.
A field of California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica)
California Poppies and Desert, or Coulter's Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus)
Chuparosa (Justicia californica)
Pictures were taken on the Paradise Trail to Gateway Saddle Hike, Sunday March 9, 2008.