Anonymous
By Michael
A few weeks ago, I set out early past Lake Cachuma and Los Olivos on my way to Grass Mountain. It’s become a yearly tradition now, after first joining in three years ago along with the crowds that climbed to see the orange fields of poppies a few years ago. Last year, we came late in the spring and any flowers that might have bloomed, as well as the grass that gives the mountain its name, were nearly all dead. Still, even then, it was a beautiful hike with the sunrise striking the sides of tall golden grass, shining and glimmering.
This year, as the forest service has updated, the poppies and other wildflowers were sparse, but the grass was verdant. A low blanket of clouds rolled in near the end of my hike, making what’s now the same old hike unique. Once I reached the top, I found that the old, dead tree trunk that I posted two years prior was now gone. I guess that poppies come and go, some years not coming at all; grass lives and dies, sometimes very quickly; and that old trees don’t last forever.
Photos are in order of 2016, 2017, and 2018. The first is just before the peak, the second is different shots of Grass Mountain, and photo 3 are portraits from the top of the mountain.
