Carrizo Plains Wildflowers

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.

Riding at Hilda Crook

Sunday we joined my cousin and his wife on the trails in Loma Linda Ca. We went riding at a place we all have never heard of or been too called Hilda Crook. It was pretty nice, and remote right in the heart of the city. The canyon we chose had a ton of single track switch backs and high speed corners.

It was Yosh's second time on the bike and she did great. She surprised each of us with how well she did. Especially not being afraid of descents!



After a bit of traveling up the canyon we figured that we were going up the steepest section of trail we could have picked. And at this point Yosh was spent since her legs weren't used to the cadence yet. We came to a 45 degree mtn climb up the side of the ridge and figured it would be best to turn around for the day.

On the way back down, i had to try this down hill cliff shoot.. of course the camera battery died when i finally dropped down it. It was a rush and i would not recommend it. My cousin would try it after me but later decide against it because he was afraid to hit his pedals in the drop in point. If you hit your pedal, then you'd be tumbling down for a while. Of course the photo never shows the grade justice.



The flowers were out in full bloom.. it was great.


Yosh said she had a good time. Next time she wants to do something that's flat and more enjoyable. I explained to her that some rides are pure climbing and others can be a nice cruise on some flat trails.. but never expect it to be easy. She said, she'll be back to do it again.

Dang, Im a lucky guy.. she likes to camp, 4 wheel, kayak, hike and now mtn bike?


Thanks to Cory and Nicole for inviting us out on a casual no stress sunday ride.

Tierra Del Sol Desert Safari

Well, usually we try and go to remote places to get away from people. This past weekend was TDS and i had some friends that were going to be out there, so i figured what the heck, why not. Last time i was at TDS was in 2003 and it was complete chaos then, nothing much has changed. It's one big nonstop party with people everywhere.. think "spring break with 4x4's" in the middle of no where. This was the 47th year of the event and they had a huge turn out. Rumored to be more than last year, even with this economy. Guess that's a good sign. The event takes place in Ocotillo wells area and the 4 wheeling excitement is over at Truckhaven hills just west of the Salton Sea. Basically a bunch of mud hills with twisty tight trails through the sandy SoCal desert. TDS is the second largest 4x4 event in the USA. Second only to EJS (easter jeep safari) in Moab Utah. This year there was over $100,000 of raffle prizes and tons of vendors on site. With the paid registration we help keep our land open for further use.

There's not much else to say, so i'll let my pictures speak for themselves...