The winter of 2023 in California can be described in one word – wet. The media have well-documented the repeated and fierce atmospheric rivers of rain and deep Sierra snowfalls that occurred.
We were fortunate to see the results of this bountiful blast of much-needed moisture during our travels around California this year. While not quite the “super-bloom” often defined by the media, the wildflower bloom was still extraordinary.
The Carrizo Plain National Monument, 120 miles north of where we winter in Carpinteria, was mostly spectacular this year. This remote monument, traversed by the San Andreas Fault, is seen in subtle alignment of ridges, ravines, and normally dry Soda Lake. I spent a day there photographing the prominent features on the monument including the white alkali flats of Soda Lake, vast open grasslands, and the broad plain rimmed by steep mountains.