Photo-finish Friday: goodbye, hello

Today's pic is next in a series of goodbyes and hellos as we begin to pack up and leave Los Angeles for our place in the desert. I recently took this snapshot on a morning walk about ten minutes from our house out there.

The spring flowers have been in bloom for several weeks. There are lots of these bright yellow bushes, but mostly it's the ground that is covered with tiny flowers. The bush at the top of the pic is a creosote bush which gives off a sharp smell of creosote in the rain - which there will be little of from now until next winter. It also has tiny dark yellow flowers in the spring.

These hills are a network of trails, many of them forged by young riders on dirt bikes and ATVs. Not exactly kind to the environment, which is a lot more fragile than it looks. But usually a walker has the whole desert to himself. I look forward to more time on foot in these hills.

Photo-finish Friday is the bright idea of Leah Utas over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.