{"id":57336,"date":"2019-04-19T06:03:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T12:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57336"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:08:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:08:55","slug":"utahs-west-desert-in-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/19\/utahs-west-desert-in-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah’s West Desert In Bloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WestWest Desert wildflower blooms – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/4000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 55mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago on the way to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge I noticed huge swaths of purple wildflowers blooming in the West Desert of Utah. On the way to the refuge the light wasn’t great on the wildflowers and I hoped it would be better on the way back. It was and I felt I had to stop to take some photos of the great views combined with those purple wildflowers.<\/p>\n

There were times that the wildflowers went out as far as my eyes could see.<\/p>\n

\"SkySky Island Mountains and a wildflower bloom – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 56mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And times when the purple wildflowers had sky island mountains in the background.<\/p>\n

\"WildflowersWildflowers blooming in Utah’s West Desert – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 35mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were also times when there were large, fluffy clouds floating over the desert, wildflowers and the mountains where I couldn’t resist photographing them and why would I want to? I don’t often see wildflowers blooming like this in the West Desert and it only seems wise to photograph them when I can.<\/p>\n

\"BigBig sky and a West Desert view – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve heard that people say there is nothing to see in the desert. I have to disagree. There is always<\/em> something to see in the desert. Our wet spring may have helped these wildflowers to bloom so profusely and it also helped turn a relatively brownish view to green. There was so much green to be seen it was delightful.<\/p>\n

\"BloomingBlooming purple wildflowers in the West Desert of Utah – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/8000, ISO 800, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 135mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the swaths of purple wildflowers were huge and some were more confined but each time I saw them it made my heart skip a little beat.<\/p>\n

\"WestwaterWestwater tumble mustard or Blue mustard blooming in the West Desert of Utah – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had trouble photographing close ups of the purple wildflowers because a strong breeze had picked up and was moving the hood of my 500mm lens around and there was also a bit if heat wave distortion going on but I refused be that touron who tramples all over the wildflowers to get a better shot. I never got out of the vehicle to photograph the delicate flowers for that reason and also because it was still very muddy from the heavy rains just the day before.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure if these purple wildflowers are Westwater tumble mustard (Thelypodiopsis elegans<\/em>) which are native or if they are Blue mustard (Chorispora tenella<\/em>) which is an introduced species but I am fairly certain they are from the mustard family. I do wish I could have gotten better and closer images for ID.<\/p>\n

Native or introduced these purple wildflowers were a joy for me to see and photograph in the West Desert of Utah.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Native or introduced these purple wildflowers were a joy for me to see and photograph in the West Desert of Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358,26,1314,5347],"tags":[6627,6098,7076,7077,4101,4098,4069,7075,7079,7081,7080,7078,7074,4307],"class_list":["post-57336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-wildflowers","tag-bloom","tag-blooming","tag-blue-mustard","tag-chorispora-tenella","tag-clouds","tag-desert","tag-mountains","tag-mustard","tag-purple-flowers","tag-sky-island","tag-thelypodiopsis-elegans","tag-westwater-tumble-mustard","tag-wildflower-bloom","tag-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/west-desert-wildflower-bloom-mia-mcpherson-9975.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eUM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105668,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/26\/blooming-prickly-poppies-in-the-west-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":57336,"position":0},"title":"Blooming Prickly Poppies In The West Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Prickly Poppies are one of my favorite summer wildflowers. I find these poppies in desert habitats, most often in the foothills of sky island mountain ranges.","rel":"","context":"In "Flatbud Prickly Poppy"","block_context":{"text":"Flatbud Prickly Poppy","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/flatbud-prickly-poppy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flatbud Prickly Poppies in bloom, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-5507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-5507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-5507.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-5507.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52207,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/22\/blooming-desert-globemallows-orange-wildflowers-that-brighten-the-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":57336,"position":1},"title":"Blooming Desert Globemallows – Orange Wildflowers That Brighten the Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The wildflowers I photographed are Desert Globemallows (Sphaeralcea ambigua) and they were blooming abundantly on the road to the jetty, I don't think I have seen so many of them in full bloom before.","rel":"","context":"In "Box Elder County"","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Desert Globemallows in full bloom, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102220,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/08\/happy-mothers-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":57336,"position":2},"title":"Happy Mother’s Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to wish all moms a Happy Mother's Day with a wildflower that I see blooming at this time of year in northern Utah. This is a blooming Lewis's Flax.","rel":"","context":"In "Lewis\u2019s Flax"","block_context":{"text":"Lewis\u2019s Flax","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/lewiss-flax\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lewis's Flax single bloom, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/happy-mothers-day-2022-mia-mcpherson-3526.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/happy-mothers-day-2022-mia-mcpherson-3526.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/happy-mothers-day-2022-mia-mcpherson-3526.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/happy-mothers-day-2022-mia-mcpherson-3526.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":68754,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/21\/photographing-blooming-glacier-lilies\/","url_meta":{"origin":57336,"position":3},"title":"Photographing Blooming Glacier Lilies","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoyed my journey to photograph the Glacier Lilies yesterday, it was quiet, peaceful and very relaxing. No news, no negativity, and not thinking about what a mess our world is in helped me to de-stress.","rel":"","context":"In "Tooele County"","block_context":{"text":"Tooele County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/tooele-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blooming Glacier Lily - Also known as Yellow Avalanche Lily, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/glacier-lily-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-0879.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/glacier-lily-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-0879.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/glacier-lily-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-0879.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/glacier-lily-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-0879.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131269,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/26\/native-purple-passionflower-in-bloom\/","url_meta":{"origin":57336,"position":4},"title":"Native Purple Passionflower In Bloom","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"There are wildflowers blooming now that I haven't seen since I left Florida in 2009. Purple Passionflower is one of those flowers, so I had to take some photos.","rel":"","context":"In "Oklahoma"","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Purple Passionflower in bloom, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/purple-passionflower-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-6163.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/purple-passionflower-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-6163.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/purple-passionflower-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-6163.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/purple-passionflower-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-6163.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116859,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/08\/autumn-flatbud-prickly-poppy\/","url_meta":{"origin":57336,"position":5},"title":"Autumn Flatbud Prickly Poppy","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I drove out to the West Desert for some peace and solitude three days ago, I was thrilled to spot this Flatbud Prickly Poppy still in bloom.","rel":"","context":"In "Flatbud Prickly Poppy"","block_context":{"text":"Flatbud Prickly Poppy","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/flatbud-prickly-poppy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Autumn Flatbud Prickly Poppy in bloom, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/flatbud-prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2050.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/flatbud-prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2050.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/flatbud-prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2050.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/flatbud-prickly-poppy-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-2050.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}