Hi folks,
Thought I'd share some wildflowers for Easter Sunday.
I've wanted to go the Carrizo Plain for years, but it's certainly out of the way and spring wildflower season also coincides with my busiest time of year with my day job. We almost made it a couple of years ago on the way back from the desert but we ran out of daylight and in January it would have been too early for the wildflowers.
We came in from the west thru Paso Robles last Sunday afternoon after making the mandatory stop at La Reyna market for a burrito. It's actually remarkably close to Paso, maybe an hour to the north end near Soda Lake. It had been raining over the weekend and we got there just as the rain was ending. I had searched for dispersed camping regulations and the info was rather thin. It seemed that already-used spots were ok, and it's BLM land after all. I had scouted out a few spots on Google Earth and had them marked on my map.
Arriving late Sunday, we found a spot way off the main road, away from everyone and in the middle of a spectacular wildflower bloom! Mostly fields of gold, and it seems we missed the purples by just a few days. It looks like we drove out into the wildflowers, but really just stopped at the end of the access road at a spot.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/97hkc...ml46ojsfd&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1xjjt...wl8hhk1n9&dl=0
We spent Sunday night here, with a full moon, and all of Monday in glorious sunshine amid the bloom
On Monday afternoon a ranger visited us, and told us we couldn't camp where we were. I told him I had tried and tried to understand the regulations, went to the closed visitor center, etc, and he agreed and said he has been telling "them" that they needed to improve the regulation info on the various websites. He was polite but stern. I get it, lots of cats to herd during the bloom. And I really don't like to be "that guy", oh the shame!
So we left and went to a spot he suggested up in the hills a bit on Selby road, above the Selby campground, which had an amazing view of the plain for sunset.
Then on Tuesday we headed back home but drove down Panorama road out to the middle of the plain until the very sketchy mud got too sketchy. That was the most beautiful bloom of all
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wfhk4...et9rvd5dy&dl=0
Also on the way out we visited the Wallace Creek Interpretive Trail for ground zero on the San Andreas Fault. No one there, another spectacular spot.
We came out via the east on Highway 58 through McKittrick and up the West Side Highway through the oil fields...which I always find strangely interesting. The other way coming from 101 on the west was much easier than via the 5 on the east.
Huge sky, huge bloom! All in all a great quick trip, and we will definitely be heading back!
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