Carrizo Plain National Monument - Sun, 31 Mar 2019, 4:30pm

With California's epic superbloom afoot and beautiful weather across much of the state this weekend it was a great time to see... crazy crowds of tourists. Visiting Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve was like going shopping at the mall during the Christmas season (except with better weather), ( Read more... )

Carrizo Plain National Monument - Sun, 31 Mar 2019, 2:30pm

The brilliant yellow fields of wildflowers we saw on the drive to Carrizo Plain National Monument continued into the base of the valley.


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Saturday, 11 Mar 2017, 6:30pm.

It's 6:30 now and we're back to civilization after a day in Carrizo Plain National Monument. For dinner we've picked out a promising looking sushi restaurant in... drumroll, please... Paso Robles. While I relax with a Kirin and prepare to kill some fish I'm jotting down notes about how we finished up the afternoon ( Read more... )

Saturday, 11 Mar 2017, 3pm.

Scrambling across the ravine to reach the rocks on the far side (see previous blog) was exactly what I figured it to be: a little bit of crab walking/butt sliding on the way down that I'd be able to climb back up without any theatrics. Going down is always slipperier than climbing up. Either way, I was soon back on ( Read more... )

Saturday, 11 Mar 2017, 3pm.

As we drove downhill from visiting Caliente Ridge at Carrizo Plain National Monument we observed that there were more unusually shaped rock outcroppings than just the Painted Rock area that was temporarily off limits to protect nesting falcons.


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Saturday, 11 Mar 2017, 1pm.

The drive over from Paso Robles (aka Hamburglar Pass) this morning was pleasant. We drove back roads headed east from Paso, encountering minimal traffic past town limits. Residential neighborhoods quickly gave way to tidy grape farms, and eventually even those gave way to rough hills and mountains- all blanketed in ( Read more... )

We wrapped up our trip at Carrizo Plain after visiting Painted Rock and Wallace Creek. One thing I didn't mention in previous journals is that it was HOT out there. When we arrived at the trailhead for Painted Rock around 4:30pm it was still about 100 degrees out. With no shade to be found on the treeless plain it was intense walking even 1.5 miles ( Read more... )

After visiting Painted Rock at Carrizo Plain National Monument we drove out on dirt roads to see Wallace Creek, a stream bed that has been interrupted by movement along the huge San Andreas FaultThere are lots of fault lines in California, with new little ones still being discovered, but the San Andreas is the big one. It's the one responsible for ( Read more... )

We stopped for two hikes while visiting Carrizo Plain National Monument (see previous blog) on Saturday. The first was at Painted Rock, a sandstone outcropping said to be one of the best examples of rock art in the world. It has been used as a sacred site by native people, such as the Chumash, dating back over 3000 years ( Read more... )

After our drive through Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday (see previous blog) we arrived at the south gate of the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Tucked away in this grassy valley between two low hills is... well... kinda nothing. And that's the point. It's a preserve of what California's Central Valley was like centuries ago, ( Read more... )