I took this photo a week ago along the Merced river, just outside Briceburg, CA. The California poppy is a fickle flower, blooming in abundance only when conditions are just right. When we get wind of a great bloom, we make the trip.

The intense orange is not a Photoshop gimmick, it’s the cumulative effect of so many tiny blooms in a concentrated space, wide open in the warm afternoon sun.

This image was taken along the South Fork of the Merced on Hite Cove trail (for those familiar with the area.)