I like living near, but not in, a remote area in this otherwise heavily populated state. I had thought that the entire county I live in is rural, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, but it turns out I’ve been wrong this whole time (mainly because there are nearly 50,000 people in the nearby town of San Luis Obispo, so it’s not like there’s nobody out here). To find a place where it feels like there’s nobody out here, though, I just have to drive about 5 miles south and east. Happily enough, the Carrizo Plain National Monument is just a little bit farther in the same direction, about 50 miles southeast of my house. It works out well.
This weekend I had a bit of a unique opportunity, though. I’d just gone to the Carrizo last Sunday, when standard time returned. I drove out before dawn through fog that was pretty thick at times, but that lifted with the arrival of the sun to provide a lovely backdrop for landscape photography (at which I am, let’s say, a rank beginner). But this particular weekend I was able to head back out to the plain, because there was a middle school dance Friday night, and I asked my eighth-grade son whether he’d rather go to the dance or go camping with me that night.
To my utter surprise (not), he chose to get out of town with me! So both the boys and I packed up the Suburban (I’m testing its potential as a 4wd mini-camper) and headed out to Selby Campground to see whether there was an open site. And in fact there was! We got to see some beautiful stars (despite a bright first-quarter moon), and we got to enjoy a peaceful campground (despite a rambunctious group of Cal Poly alums reliving their glory days a few sites over), and in the morning we got to see some of the glories of the Carrizo Plain.
Camping on the plain is first come, first served, so I’d been prepared to turn around and come home if there was no room, but it turned out that there was no need; there were several sites available at our first stop, Selby Campground. We could have pushed on to KCL Campground if there’d been no room there, or we could have tried for one of the many dispersed camping sites along the roads in the foothills and mountains. I definitely want to explore the dispersed camping option another time.
Having two teenage boys along on what I’d sort of expected to be a solo trip had some minor challenges: a tent and a campground instead of just dispersed camping with a sleeping pad for the back of the ‘burb, dinner and breakfast for three instead of just me, etc. But I was happy to put up with these slight logistical hurdles to actually be able to show my boys the sights out here, particularly the night sky:
I was also eager to show them the San Andreas Fault, with the Temblor Mountain range to the east on the North American tectonic plate and the Caliente range on the west on the Pacific plate. The monument is one of the best places in the entire state to explore the fault, and it was great to have them along to discover some of it for themselves.
The view in the panorama above is from the Caliente Ridge trail road on the western side of the valley, fairly high up on the ridge, right where the trailhead starts. Soda Lake is visible in the middle distance at center, with the Temblor Mountains behind them. Wallace Creek, where the San Andreas fault has caused some interesting displacement of streambeds, is at the base of the mountains (not visible in photo).
The real attraction for me, though, is always the wildlife, particularly the birds. With two teenage boys in tow, I had to approach the photo ops a bit differently than normal, devoting a bit less time to exploring for shots and a lot less time to setting them up. That said, I managed to find some fun stuff here and there. Take a look:
