Last year we visited Carrizo Plains National Monument and it rained like mad. It was muddy, cloudy and we didn't see hardly a thing. So when i saw some pictures of how beautiful the area looked a week ago, i said lets go before it changes! And quick! So my birthday weekend was coming up and we were heading up to my buddies only about 100 miles from Carrizo. So it made perfect sense to head over and make a day of it. We weren't disappointed.
Heading out through the valley on Soda Lake Rd. Yosh actually drove a bit this trip, she had a blast.
The road runs up the middle of the valley. It's a 50 mile stretch from one end to the other. The valley can be 15 miles wide in certain sections. It is the largest single native grassland remaining in California.
It even crossed the famous San Andreas fault line..
Here's an arial photo of the plain from Wikipedia. To the right handside is the fault line.
The flowers were out in full force. Carrizo is home to some amazing types of wildflowers. The goldfields and phacelia were the two we saw the most of. You almost had to have sun glasses on to look at them in the sunlight. It was terrific.
Find the Sportsmobile in this picture..
Yosh getting some more seat time driving across the valley floor towards more goldfields.
The double track trails were beautiful. They gave you the sense of how traveling was like back in the days.
Stop to stretch our legs..
Dixie playing hide and go seek in the flowers
One of the many pieces of old farm equipment left by ranchers
We headed back towards Soda Lake Rd and south where we found another old ranch.
After a bit, we realized what time in the day it was and started to head back. The plan was to head up to my buddies house afterwards and celebrate my birthday.
On the way back south we stopped off at Traver Ranch for a quick look.
On our way out we were passed by Jason Statham in his Transporter BMW... oh wait no, it was just some idiot that almost crashed into a Jeep Wrangler. The BMW driver obviously had no sense of safety for anyone, including himself.
A nice view of a dry salt lake heading south to route 166.
Another shot in front of the old 76 gas station. This time only with a different vehicle.
If you want to go out and see the flowers, i suggest you hurry. Within the next week or two is the best time, unless SoCal gets more wet weather. For more information on Carrizo and to see our 2008 trip with our Landcruiser click here
Thanks to everyone for a great birthday weekend.