Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve
We went for an easy hike at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in Murrieta on Sunday. We hit the reserve shortly after sunrise to be there before the crowds and to give the poppies in Elsinore, which we would see later in the morning, some time to warm in the sun and open up. Mike took me to his secret spot where chocolate lilies (Fritillaria biflora) are blooming. We saw lots of them, it was quite a display. Indeed, they look like chocolate. I was more interested in the oaks along the trail, they are bigger so I don’t have to blowout my knees crouching down to photograph them like I would with the lilies. Backlit as they were by the morning sun, the oaks were so contrasty that I had to resort to the old HDR multi-exposure technique to make them look reasonable.
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| Oak tree and dirt walking path. Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA. Image: 20531 Location: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA |
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| Oak tree and dirt walking path. Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA. Image: 20532 Location: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA |
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| Oak tree and pastoral rolling grass-covered hills. Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA. Image: 20538 Location: Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, Murrieta, California, USA |
