Picture of the Day - Parkhill Country

Today my buddy Mike and I and our dogs took another hike out at east Santa Margarita Lake off of River Road. And again like a week ago we ventured off of the familiar, beaten path and saw the eastern part of Santa Margarita Lake Park from a different perspective. I shot this image from a  hilltop perspective looking east toward just south of Black Mountain. Note the tectonically uplifted Miocene riverbottom deposits covered in chaparral so typical of the Parkhill Country in and around Santa Margarita Lake. Also note the clouds gathering as the big El Niño-esque "pineapple express" approached our region today. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).