park offer a unique and beautiful contrast to the green-and-brown hues of this Sonoran Desert destination. Visitors travelling along I-10 in southern Arizona can’t miss the prominent 457-metre peak of Picacho Peak State Park. Except for the saguaros, Picacho Peak looked like it could have been plucked from the hills of Ireland. The thrust of mountain rising from the desert floor was luxuriantly green. Sitting 50 kilometres south of our home base in Casa Grande, just off Interstate 10, the state park had been drenched with some unusually large storms stretching all the way back to last summer’s monsoon. The ephemeral Mexican gold poppy is the litmus test for wildflower season: you’ll either spot sparse individuals or be blinded by a field of electric yellow and orange blooms. And this was a banner year for Picacho Peak, a superbloom! Don’t think that you have to climb the centrepiece spire for the best views (been there, done that in my younger years). Just the opposite, as most poppies, brittlebush, lupines and globemallows flourished on the lower slopes. Visitors were able to enjoy plenty of colour from the park road and adjacent picnic tables. We found amazing showings of colour on the easy Nature Trail and the moderate Calloway Trail. The mountain looked like it was grass all the way up the sides. There was a lush ground cover unlike anything we’ve seen in the 20 years since we first hiked this park. Annuals – such as poppies and lupines – germinate in the fall with enough rain. Then, throughout the winter, they need consistent rain every two or three weeks to keep growing. Perennials such as brittlebush and globemallows don’t need that initial rain and are better able to endure rising temperatures. I’m crouched down. Eye level with the poppies. I’m feeling lucent. Even a little light-headed! Maybe it’s the poppy – that master of colour, refraction and mind-altering chemistry. Then again, maybe I’m just not as good at contorting myself into a poppy-level crouch as I was in my younger days. RV Lifestyle CSANews | SPRING 2019 | 23
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx