Carrizo National Monument

 

April in Kern County is the most beautiful month of the opinion for me. Not only is my garden awakened with all the roses and bulbs flowering but the hills and meadows all around are also covered by wildflowers. And if we had the blessings of a good rainfall in the preceding months everything just gets multiplied manifold. 

Yesterday April 2nd, the first Sunday of the month was a perfect sunny day. There was going to be no rain. Our brother in law from San Diego was visiting. My friend Sonia had texted me the night before if we should go see the wildflowers. Why not? She was at our house by 6:40 am Sunday and we were on the road before 7 am. My husband, BIL Satish , Sonia and me. 

Our destination: Cuyama Valley! Making our way through the hills and oil fields of Taft and the small town of Mariposa on Highway 33/166 going west we reached the town of Cuyama. Nowhere in sight were the wildflowers like we had seen in the pictures on instagram. We stopped at a restaurant in town ,Cuyama Buckhorn, to ask. The young lady at the cashier desk directed us to the site of the wildflower bloom. We picked some freshly baked fruit scones and rye biscuits from the restaurant before heading towards Soda Lake road that we had passed earlier.

This was the magical road that took us through the entire Carrizo Plains National Monument. We started from its south end which is its junction with state highway 33/166 and spent over 5 hours driving through its 50 miles with numerous stops and small diversions to the north end where it ends into state highway 58. The Carrizo Plains is the single remaining native grassland in California and is spread across close to 250,000 acres. The San Andreas Fault runs through this. Vast grasslands flank either side of the Soda Lake road and on the rims are the coastal (Temblor) range of mountains. The time of the year offered a bonanza of wildflower carpets throughout the park extending on the plains as well as the hills and mountains. No camera unfortunately had the capability of catching the magnificent glory of the scenery accurately within its frame. We just had to try to  capture  and lock it in our eyes and souls. 

A guided tour offered to a particularly popular spot called Painted Rock was closed due to mudslides from recent rains. But despite that the entire landscape in the area was more than enough to make one feel fulfilled. 

We had left home believing we would be back in 3-4 hours max. How wrong we were! A few distance into the drive we would see a fresh scene and get out of the car for pictures or short walks. As we were wrapping up one such stop another car stopped across from ours and a man got out and approached us. That’s a lovely pink you are wearing he said looking at me. Would you be ok if I take a picture of you against the yellow flowers? For a moment I didn’t know how to respond. I looked at my companions and they smiled. Ok. I posed for this fellow nature enthusiast and his happiness knew no bounds. The saree had surely impressed a western observer 😃. A carefully chosen pink Bangalore silk with Kantha embroidered florals in white and beige had proved to be a nice contrast against the yellow and purple flowers that overpowered the landscape.

The only food we had with us was the baked goods we picked at Cuyama Buckhorn. And there was no water with us or anywhere inside the park. Highway 58 eastbound was closed due to sections washed out by the rains. We had to head west and take the Bitterwater road instead. That proved to be such a blessing because we got many more miles of wildflowers to enjoy until we got on the freeway. It was past 2:15 pm when we made it to a Punjabi Dhaba on the outskirts of Bakersfield and past 3:30 pm when we were done eating. Made it home by 4 pm. An entire day in the midst of glorious wildflowers. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend this weekend.