As we’ve recently driven so many times through the desert on our way to Wrightwood, we’ve been making a list of hikes we can do on the way to and from, and prominent among those is the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve west of Lancaster off Hwy 138. We had been following developing wildflower reports on various other web sites, and the announcement late last week that the Poppy Reserve was now in peak bloom prompted us to leave the cabin early Saturday and pay the place a visit. We got to the busy parking lot just after noon, recognizing that several hundred other people had the same idea as us. On our way west from Lancaster, we had passed several large fields carpeted in orange with over a dozen cars stopped at each one, so we did have some idea of the area’s popularity this time of year – here, closer to the valley’s west end, the crowds were much more concentrated while the poppies, oddly enough, seemed less so. Still, while the color was less impressive, the geography itself was much more open and immediately offered views over the valley floor. The reserve is situated on and around a low ridge called Antelope Butte, and we directly left the parking area, headed for the closest overlook on the ridge known as Kitanemuk Vista Point. Only about half a mile from the visitor center, the point is a bump on the ridgeline that indeed allows 360-degree vistas over the area – not only did the oceans of orange seem to stretch away east all the way to Lancaster, but we could see very bright orange fields to the west through a gap between Antelope Butte and its sister Fairmont Butte to the north. The crowds were still very thick here, so we continued eastward on the Lightning Bolt trail toward Antelope Vista Point, a bump about 50′ higher than Kitanemuk about a mile further east. Right away, the trail became narrower and the crowds thinner, and we reached the apex of Antelope Butte about 30 minutes later, stopping many times en route to take pictures and absorb the views. From the top of the butte, we had unbroken views to the Tehachapis in the north, the desert to the east, and the Liebre range to the south – it was a little too hazy to make out much detail toward the desert, but the mountains north and south were gorgeous under high, wispy clouds and otherwise blue skies. But the real story, of course, were the flowers – we had started snapping individual shots of different flower varieties, not knowing then what we were looking at but able to identify most from the brochure we received at the park entrance. From the top of the butte, we descended southeast on a loop trail, shortly thereafter turning west to return via the lowest of two parallel tracks. Here on the valley floor, the colors seemed deeper and richer, likely since our lower perspective meant we saw more flower tops and less grass and brush. Also, the low trail offered views up the hillsides rather than down, and the familiar orange and yellow contrasted nicely with the skies above. Returning to the visitor center, we briefly explored the paved trail leading west through a smaller western loop – however, the flower coverage seemed less dramatic in this direction, and we turned back for the parking lot for a total hike of 4.3 miles. There are something like 9 miles of total trail distance within the reserve, so we’ll have other areas we can walk through the next time we visit. While there was a constant breeze, the temperature was very pleasant in the 70s all afternoon – of course, that will quickly change as summer comes. This was a beautiful and very easy hike, and the lovely views are definitely worth a return trip.