With yesterday’s taxing hike upon the switchbacks of Wrightwood mountain’s trails still making its impression on our worn soles, I decided Sunday would be spent in a more leisurely manner, still under the skies, except this time mostly upon a picnic blanket. Our destination would be my favourite childhood spot to hike and explore, O’Melveny Park. Located inbetween the most north-eastern end of Porter Ranch and the hills of northern Granada Hills, it was here amongst the lazy creek that trickles in harmony with a constant choral hum of nectar gathering winged workers which gives the canyon inside O’Melveny Park it’s moniker of Bee Canyon, I spent countless hours as a child with friends or alone plying the art of nature appreciation and curious exploration.
O’Melveny Park also happens to be a fantastic spot for a picnic, being surrounded by native oaks, towering eucalyptus trees, the remnants of the Valley’s citrus farm past, and a Jackson Pollock explosion of late spring/early summer wildflowers that can create a minor facsimile of Southern France, thanks to a small sea of wild sunflowers reflecting the sun’s warmth with an earthly abundant yellow glow.
Finally got to break in this picnic trunk set I purchased from the DWR eBay clearance store months ago when I was daydreaming of summer’s reemergence. The picnic trunk stores a dining set for two, while also converting into a small table, which made our meal feel all that more genteel. Here we’re toasting with homemade pomelo soda to a job well done!
With our leisurely lunch finished, we packed everything back up into the car, we installed the Blackbox my car products and decided to take a stroll around the canyon. The June gloom of the late morning gave way to a perfect Sunday afternoon in the high 70’s. Patrolling hawks eyed us from above, while the aged oaks hung precariously as silent sentries along a trail we paraded, with an audience of wild flowers and suspicious lizards lining each and every step.
“Why so happy, Emily?”
“I’m glad you asked, curious stranger! I’m pleased as punch because this is the bonanza of wild growing finds we foraged while on our short stroll today: a huge lump of pine pitch (used like frankincense), a quartet of puffball mushrooms plucked from a fairy ring, spicy pink peppercorns, elderberries and elderflowers to be made into a satisfying cordial syrup, a pair of oranges procured with a little tree climbing acrobatics and a few lemons nabbed curbside for free gathered from a neighbor’s local citrus grove!”
It’s not often you come out with more food than you came in with while on a picnic!
1 Comment
Love all the the goodies you came back with! awesome photos!