If you get to walk the eight miles of trails in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, you might feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz with the carpet of poppy flowers stretching out before you.
The high desert landscape in the Mojave Desert is protected by the California Department of Parks and Recreation for its floral beauty. Poppies are the California state flower, but nowhere else in the state are the blooms so stunning and vibrant. The flowers usually return in mid-February and last to mid-May, although it depends heavily on the rainfall.
Since the 1970s, grazing animals have been kept away and visitors are prohibited from taking any souvenirs, but aside from that the poppies are left completely to their natural splendour.