March 3, 2021

At the beginning of March, my photo group — FotoPosa — consisting of three friends and I (on this particular outing) drove along the Blossom Trail. The Blossom Trail is in Fresno County, California. It is a self-guided motor tour through orchards full of trees from almond and apple, to plum, apricot, peach and citrus trees.

Snow-like ground cover from the falling almond blossoms.

The blossom season begins in February and runs through March. I recommend, if you’re in the area during the season, to drive it sometime. We drove a circuitous route on the back country roads through Clovis, Fowler, Selma, Kingsburg, Reedly, Minkler, Centerville, and Sanger.

There is plenty of parking alongside the orchards making it easy to get out and take photos.  Although it is private property, the orchard owners expect this; however, once blossom season ends, it is not open to access.

The tangerine trees were loaded with fruit. They infused the air with an aromatic fragrance. We pulled over on the shoulder of the road to photograph them. Across the street a man stood on his porch and yelled, “Hey! Hey!” We waved but he kept shouting to us.  My friend bravely walked over to tell him we were only taking photographs.  He went on to say that we should grab a few tangerines. Relieved that he wasn’t angry with us, we pulled a couple of the dimpled beauties off the branches.  They were the juiciest, sweetest tangerines I had ever eaten. 

There are many historical points of interest along the route as well as farm stores, wineries, small town shops, and places to dine. We stopped at a few of them.

Photo credit: Marilyn

Our final stopping place was at the Blossom Trail Café in Sanger where we had a fantastic lunch outside on the covered patio. So ended our tour of the Blossom Trail, a unique way to spend an afternoon with friends.