I left San Jose in the early morning, heading out on the start of another
road trip, visiting a variety of places, not just desert summits this time.
I planned to spend several days in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, taking
in Spring wildflowers on display there. The national monument is a vast tract
of land managed by the BLM, encompassing most of the Carrizo and Elkhorn Plains,
along with much of the Caliente and Temblor Ranges on either side. There are
also state lands on the west side managed as a wildlife reserve with limited
access. Soda Lake Rd is the main thoroughfare running through the monument,
much of it paved but with a dirt/gravel section in the middle (suitable for
all vehicles). There are various roads forking off that can be used to access
peaks in the Caliente Range to the south and the Temblor Range to the north.
Soda Lake Rd can be reached from SR58 to the north (which I used coming from
US101) or from SR166 to the south.
Peak 2,896ft/Peak 2,786ft
These two summits are located in a small collection of hills in the northwest
corner of the monument. The second summit is actually outside the monument on
private lands. I parked at the top of
on the east end of these hills,
accessed by a very steep spur road suitable only for 4WD. This was really just
for fun - parking at the base of the hill would have added little to the
hiking effort. The hills were fairly covered in bright yellow flowers that made
for a striking introduction to the area as I drove south on Soda Lake Rd. There
are no trails here, save for a use trail that I used to start on from the
saddle, but it soon petered out along the steep,
it followed along. I made my way up to where I had a very nice
hike along the undulating ridgeline, taking in off both
sides. I did my
best to avoid trampling the flowers, but in places there were just so many
that it was impossible not to find some under my boots from time to time. It
took about 45min to make my way to the higher . There is a
great view to of California Valley (a rural community
in the northern part of the Carrizo Plain) carpeted in yellow for many miles.
To could be seen Peak 2,786ft another 1.4mi away. I hadn't
planned to visit it, but the hiking and views were so enjoyable that I decided
on a whim to continue in that direction for the second summit. Along the way I
went over a (marking the boundary of the BLM lands),
taking another 45min to get from one summit to . Though the
grass was tall and lush, I saw no cattle anywhere today. The summit of Peak
2,786ft had and a trio of instruments that looked like a
telecom relay setup. Rather than return the way I'd come, I decided to drop down
into California Valley and hike the roads back to the start as a way to save
some time. I went down to the northeast featuring
, adding some additional color to the scene. The
hike along the roads in California Valley go by a collection of dispersed
homesteads, some abandoned, others roughly maintained. Most of the walk was
quiet and uneventful, though some barking dogs added a bit of annoyance. One
property had eight dogs that came out to give me an earful, but luckily the
fence around the property was sufficient to keep them contained. Not so, the
adjacent property. That one had three dogs, two of which had little trouble
getting through the fence. The owner came out to call his dogs back, but they
paid him little attention. I had walked several hundred yards past the home
when one of the dogs decided he hadn't given me enough trouble and began
running after me, snarling menacingly, his owner's calls unheeded. I unzipped
the top of my pack, pulled out my pocketknife and opened the largest blade,
only a few inches in length, and held it out in my hand as the dog approached.
This was a fairly good-sized dog that could easily take me down with a leap.
I had no real idea what a dogfight would look like, but I figured I'd shove my
pack in his face with one hand while I jabbed the knife into his belly with
the other. Even while the dog was running at me I recognized I might get pretty
chewed up and there was going to be little recourse in suing the owner who
probably had a networth around a few thousand dollars. Luckily I didn't have to
find these things out - the dog stopped about 30ft short of me, snarled
nastily, and then sauntered back home. After watching it continue for some
distance, I put my knife away and went on my way, thinking maybe I should carry
something a little more threatening, like a Bowie knife. I finished up the
7-mile loop in something under 3hrs with a final climb back up
where I'd parked.
Overlook Hill
This is a very popular viewpoint overlooking on its western
shore. The lake has no outlet and can get seasonally large as it was today.
Found just off Soda lake Rd, it's from the parking lot to
the top of the rounded hill. There were many dozens of folks
the small hill to
take photos of the views and flowers underfoot, so many that I really just
wanted to get out of there. And this was on a Tuesday - I can only imagine what
it looks like on the weekend.
Caliente Range loop
After extracting myself from Overlook Hill, I headed south, intending my next
stop to be Painted Rock, another popular spot to visit, though this one with
an actual hike. I found the Visitor Center closed, though the parking lot there
was nearly full with folks picnicing about the grounds. The road to
Painted Rock was closed just past the Visitor Center, after which I found it
to be closed until Jun or July for nesting season. Back out at Soda Lake Rd, I
continued south to the end of the pavement, and then more miles to an unsigned
right spur road. This road leads to the old
and into the Caliente Range. The road passes through a
saddle on the crest of the range at the head of Wells Canyon just above 3,000ft
in elevation. I parked shortly before 3p. This is what
I had come to see - I was almost six
miles from the main road, incredible wildflowers on display, and the place
virtually to myself - I wouldn't see another person or vehicle the rest of the
day. There were six summit in the area that I hoped to visit. Because of the
lateness of the day I would only get to the first five, but they made for a
fantastic loop. Unlike other coast ranges that are thick with chaparral, the
Caliente Range, particularly the lower southeast half I found myself in, had
almost no chaparral at all. The cross-country hiking here is easy and very
enjoyable at the right time of year (it can be dreadfully hot here in summer).
The first summit I visited was along of the range,
about a mile and a half from with only a modest
amount of elevation gain. The fields of yellow flowers were incredibly dense in
places looking towards the Carrizo Plain. To
, could be seen the colorful hills
I would climb next, behind them the Cuyama Valley and behind that the much
higher Sierra Madre Mountains of Santa Barbara County.
From the summit of the first peak, I followed a
to Peak 3,375ft and , in turn. There was an old
barbed-wire along
portions of this ridgeline that proved handy to use as a handline where the
ridge was exceptionally steep. The last two summits took considerably more
work as I had to make my way down into a deep canyon before climbing back up
to the summit. Between Peak 3,448ft and Peak 3,284ft I had to drop into
. I actually started off in the wrong direction,
when I should have been heading west. I was aiming for the wrong point and
it wasn't until some time later I realized my error. I ended up climbing into
and out of two branches of before making
the East Ridge of Peak 3,284ft. Not learning my lesson well,
I made a very similar mistake in descending into Middle Canyon,
when I should have again been
heading west. was particularly deep, but I was helped
by the presence of an (not shown on the topo map) that
traversed the
east side of the canyon to make things easier. It was after 7p and very nearly
sunset by the time I reached the fifth summit, .
It was here that
I realized the sixth summit was several miles off across yet another drainage,
Horse Canyon. To continue on would be to do most of it in the dark and since I
was here to see wildflowers, not my headlamp beam in front me, I decided to
leave it for the morrow. I descended to off
Peak 3,402ft into
the upper part of Middle Canyon where I found a road (this one was expected)
to
to my starting point sometime after 7:30p. The 3.5hr hike was
one of the nicest ones of the year, certainly the most colorful.
I showered and spent the night at the same saddle I'd parked at, moving the
jeep only so that I could find a flatter spot for sleeping. A most lovely day!
Continued...