Solving a Mystery

I was looking out the window from our desert house and noticed a peculiar white band at the base of what is called Copper Mountain on the opposite side of the highway. It's probably about 2 miles (as the crow flies). I put the telephoto lens on my camera to get a better view, and this is what I saw.

Any guesses? Snow came to mind, if only for a moment. Much too warm for snow, and why would it be in just this one area? I thought possibly a flower bloom, but dismissed that idea too. Although we are having a spectacular superbloom in the desert right now, the predominant blooms are yellow,  purple or lavender, and orange or gold (not white). So Lilly and I jumped in the Jeep to go check it out.

As strange as it might seem, if you guessed some weird white flower bloom that only occurred in a quarter-mile long band along the base of the mountain, you win the prize!!

As we drove the jeep along this dusty desert road, all of a sudden the white flowers appeared!

A little further up the road, they became even thicker. The soil here is very sandy, and Lilly couldn't resist getting out and exploring the area!

After doing a little research, I'm pretty sure these are called Dune Primrose. The dune in the name makes sense. There are other primrose species, but this one only grows in the sandy dunes or sandy soil areas.

A closeup of the flowers. Beautiful!

It's nice to have a little photo-model to provide perspective. I've seen these primrose flowers before, but never in these numbers!

The Dune Primrose blooms totally dominated the sandy soil areas (hence the "band" of white seen from my house). As you move away from the sand and into rockier soil, other flowers and colors dominated.

Lilly's just a blur, but having fun playing up on the nearby sand dunes! That's Joshua Tree National Park in the background.

So that about wraps up the mystery of the elusive Dune Primrose. Thanks for playing along!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.