His Waypoints blog confirms my observation: it’s a pretty slow season out there.

I had been talking to Dave, my brother in law, about the wildflowers at Henry Coe. They don’t usually go there, but after my brilliant reomendation we made plans for a hike first week of April which is usually quite good. We can usually do a nice casual headquarters loop to see great displays of many species. Middle ridge, Flat frog, Fish trail, Spring trail, and others can be used to bring hikers past profusions of Ground Iris, Larkspur, carpets of Gila and Goldfields, and a whole tantalizing variety. These trails in close to park headquarters are all easy trails which anyone can hike. But, this year’s hike was quite disappointing in comparison. We saw most of the same varieties, but far less than I have ever seen there. Many species were in evidence, but still not blooming despite the fairly good sunshine. My reputation in taters, we made the best of it and had a good time.

If Henry Coe isn’t putting on a show, you know it’s a meager year (on the upside, typos like “My reputation in taters…” always make me smile. I’m hoping Randy has the good humor to leave it intact.)