Field Trips

Botanical Field Trips

Kern CNPS Field Trips are open to all. We welcome you to join us to see and learn about our native plants and their habitats, to learn to identify plants, or to photograph them. If you are skilled in plant identification, you can help us all learn.

We try to schedule field trips several weeks in advance. However, because wildflower blooms vary from one year to the next, we may reschedule or cancel a field trip on short notice.

Field trips are often scheduled on a weekend, but we do schedule trips during the week, especially if there’s a dramatic bloom occurring.

We post the field trip schedule in the Mimulus Memo, on this web site, and in our Kern CNPS Event email. (Note: If you opted not to receive email when you joined CNPS, you will not receive an email from us. You must “opt-in” to get our email.) The schedule will only describe the general location of the field trip. The exact location of where to meet will be provided by the trip leaders.

Please dress in layers, wear boots or shoes you can hike in and bring food and water.  You may also want to bring a hat, sunscreen, binoculars, cameras, plant list and useful references such as Kern County Flora and the Jepson Manual. We recommend wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts.

These field trips include short hikes but at a “botanical pace” as we stop to identify wildflowers along the trail.

Because of Covid-19, there will be no carpooling. Maintain social distancing where possible.

Because it’s difficult to manage large groups, the number of participants is limited. Participation is by reservation only so we know whom to expect, and how many will be attending each field trip.

Please e-mail Patty Gradek or Paul Gipe at least two days before the field trip and indicate the names of those who will attend and their mobile phone number.

Please note that if your or your party’s plans change and you can’t attend, it is critical for safety and planning purposes that you call or e-mail the contact person and let them know you will not be there.

All participants are required by CNPS to sign a release of liability waiver.

If you decide to leave a field trip early, please notify the trip leader so we can check you out.

We will provide more details on the location, where we will meet, and what to expect on the field trip to the participants a few days before the field trip.

Everyone is responsible for their own safety. Pay attention and watch for traffic if the field trip is near a roadway.

Previous Field Trip Locales