Spring Blossoms With Guided Hikes

  • Are they searching for Easter eggs? Naturalist for You takes families to Wind Wolves Preserve for a guided wildflower wander.

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    Are they searching for Easter eggs? Naturalist for You takes families to Wind Wolves Preserve for a guided wildflower wander.

  • Naturalist for You offers free guided hikes. (Above) Wind Wolves Preserve.

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    Naturalist for You offers free guided hikes. (Above) Wind Wolves Preserve.

  • Woodland Waterfall Hike with Naturalist for You will be offered again March 31. Another Wind Wolves Wander will occur April 18. See www.naturalist-for-you.org to sign up.

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    Woodland Waterfall Hike with Naturalist for You will be offered again March 31. Another Wind Wolves Wander will occur April 18. See www.naturalist-for-you.org to sign up.

  • Naturalist for You offers free guided hikes. (Above) Wind Wolves Preserve.

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    Naturalist for You offers free guided hikes. (Above) Wind Wolves Preserve.

  • At Wind Wolves preserve, during a Naturalist for You hike.

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    At Wind Wolves preserve, during a Naturalist for You hike.

The purple lupine is blooming. As fiddleneck flowers and California poppies splash color across the hillsides, guided tours are also blossoming throughout these mountains.

Excursions into the natural wonderland surrounding us are offered by Joel Robinson’s free Naturalist for You (NFY) tours, photographer Lori Murphy, the Sierra Club, the Tejon Ranch Conservancy and Hungry Valley OHV Park. Here’s a sampling.

Naturalist for You (NFY)

Naturalist for You (NFY) invites you on free excursions to exciting places. A family waterfall tour is planned for March 31 at 1 p.m. NFY founder and Head Naturalist Joel Robinson says that will be followed by a “Life in Fresh Water” excursion up Lockwood Creek, scheduled for April 17 at 9 a.m. A Wildflower Wander at Wind Wolves Preserve is set for April 18 at 1 p.m.

In May, NFY is planning an overnight gathering at Wind Wolves Preserve, which will include nature walks, yoga, wild edible plant foraging and a drum circle. For the schedule and to sign up for the many exciting opportunities, go to www.naturalist-for-you.org.

Lori Murphy’s Photo Safaris

“Photographers come from all over the world to capture the incredible beauty of this area,” Frazier Park adventure and nature photographer Lori Murphy says. “Flower viewing here is the best during the months of April and May, especially on a warm sunny day,” Murphy writes in a new flyer about her guided tour for photographers: “The hills are covered in purple lupine, California poppies, Baby blue eye, Coreopsis and Davy’s gilla. There are so many beautiful species of flowers that I couldn’t possibly name them all.”

During the month of June, Mount Pinos also puts on quite the show with bright red snow flowers, the white, yellow and purple varieties of lupine, purple and yellow wild irises, Indian paint brush and plenty more surprises….”

Murphy’s wildflower and condor-viewing photographic tours run April through June.

“An all-inclusive three-hour, personalized photo instruction tour is $95–$125 per person, which includes transportation from the Holiday Inn Express in Lebec, individual photo instruction, snacks, refreshments in the field, plus a scrumptious lunch from The Coffee Cantina.” See www.yourphototravelguide.com to sign up.

Watch the calendars in The Mountain Enterprise and The Mountain Pioneer for updates on more tours being offered.

This is part of the March 26, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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