We left Yucca Valley shortly past noon, and Google Maps called out nearly 3 hours travel time from there to the Poppy Reserve located west of Lancaster – we figured this was an inaccurate estimate based on some system glitch but blindly chose to follow the directions provided, routing us first northwest around Victorville before leading us across the Mojave on various back roads. As we passed by Saddleback Butte State Park (which was graced with beautiful fields of gold and yellow flowers, by the way), Chris looked the map details and realized Google was taking us way west of the Reserve on Hwy 138 before doubling back east – Chris turned off the app at this point and chose to simply follow Avenue I westward, having been that way several times before. As we neared the Reserve, we could see the fields of bright orange along the southern slopes of Antelope Butte – we also began to understand the amount of traffic ahead of us on this route, which ended up coming to an abrupt halt about a mile short of the park entrance. About 45 minutes later, we had crept close enough to see cars making the turn into the park from our direction, and it finally became clear why Google Maps had wanted us to come from the west, i.e. to avoid the gridlock – doh! So, note to self: trust Google Maps. After another 15 minutes waiting at the ranger kiosk, we paid our $10 entrance fee and found a parking spot in the dirt overflow lot. We got our gear together and headed up to the main trailhead, noting the line of about 30 people waiting for space to free up in the array of portable toilets located there, and we began walking up the Lightning Bolt trail toward the initial high point of the ridge to the north – however, upon gaining the ridgeline, we could see broad swaths of yellow and gold to the north below Fairmont Butte, an area we had skipped last time, so we backtracked west down the ridge and descended northward along the park’s western loop trail. When we last hiked here three years ago, there were many more flowers of many more different varieties in bloom – now, it was all fiddlenecks and goldfields with poppies scattered about, most of which were closed in the moderate but constant breeze. Still, it was beautiful as we made our way around the loop, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows eastward behind us. We took our time, glad to be away from the crowds on the ridge and accompanied by a relative handful of other visitors on this particular path. Eventually, we made our way round to the western limit of the loop and found a junction, the right fork of which led south and east along the base of Godde Hill while the left led eastward to the low summit – we chose the summit trail and were rewarded with grand views over the whole west end of the Antelope Valley, including the flower-bedecked Fairmont Butte to the immediate north. Passing by the visitor center on the way out to the car, we found empty restrooms with flush toilets – apparently those waiting in the parking lot didn’t know/care about the more fulsome accommodations a little further up the hill. Only about 2.6 miles here today (about half of the total of our previous visit), but it was enough to close out the three-day trip – Cynthia completed Miles 11 and 12 on the loop, which got her to 20% of her quota for the year in just one long weekend. More to come…