Carrizo Plain Wildflowers 2017

From the Theodore Payne Foundation Page.

Theodore Payne Foundation, a non-profit plant nursery, seed source, book store, and education center dedicated to the preservation of wild flowers and California native plants. This a report for March 24, 2017. New reports will be posted each Friday through the end of May.

It is still a little while until peak bloom at Carrizo Plain National Monument, but there are good patches of yellow hillside sunflower (Monolopia lancelolata) on the valley floor and the hills, particularly the north part of the Temblors and the center of the Monument. Starting to be widespread are goldfields (Lasthenia sp.). In selected locations, there are patches of slender blazing star (Mentzelia gracilenta), desert candle (Caulanthus inflatus), cream cups ( Platystemon californicus) and California poppies (Eschscholzia californica). On the road out to Selby Campground and in the Caliente Range, look for the showy bush lipine (Lupinus sp.) and the interior goldenbush (Ericameria sp.) another stunning blue and gold combination. Predicting that the peak of the bloom will be in 1-3 weeks. Rain is expected this week and road conditions depend on rainfall. And speaking of road conditions, please do not drive the Panorama Road to avoid getting stuck in the clay soil. There is no service in the Monument that will pull you out! Also Elkhorn Road, a county road, is closed due to eroded sections. Soda Lake Road is passable for passenger cars, but be warned that there are several rutted out spots.
 
Decided not to go today because I heard it was too early. Anyone with recent updates?
 
Got out there this weekend with the Mrs and the Missing Links. Bloom has started in the south. Should hit its peak in the next two weeks. Weekends will been crowded and Selby and KCL camps will be full. Lots of space available though to boondock and get away from the masses. I'll post some pics in the next day or two. We're planning on going back out on April 7/8/9.
 
Where do folks boondock there? we drive around for hours last time and never saw any good camping sites that seemed used - specifically looking for existing stone fire rings, for instance. Coords would be much appreciated.
 
Tuff Guy 62 said:
In the general area of 35.036635/-119.606877
Click to expand...
Just south-east. of LE Trevor Ranch.
If you can, build your fire up off the ground in a metal container. Let it burn all the way out and let the ashes blow away.
Map:
https://www.blm.gov/nlcs_web/sites/style/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/bakersfield/carrizo.Par.18885.File.dat/cpnm_visitor_access_map.pdf
Note the gray dotted areas are open camping areas. There is private property in the area, please respect private property.

A brochure with a green line showing dispersed car camping area:
https://www.blm.gov/nlcs_web/sites/style/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/bakersfield/carrizo.Par.34151.File.dat/CPNM%20Rec%20Map%20Guide.pdf

Last years Carrizo wildflower search planning:
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/11533-how-about-a-spring-time-wtw-rally-carrizo-plain/?hl=carrizo
And the trip report:
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/12112-carrizo-plain-wtw-spring-time-rally/?hl=carrizo
If you go thru these, there is a lot of Carrizo Plain info.

And Tuff Guy Brian's Guide Book PDF:
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=24254
Excellent.
 
The inner drum from an old style upright washing machine works excellent. Our local appliance recycling center sells them for $25 I added 3 legs to the bottom of ours to space it off the ground for the best airflow.

Apparently Spring Break is in full effect. My mother & her husband just got back from spending a couple week days in Carrizo. All of the camp grounds were over-flowing both Monday & Tuesday nights!
 
Just got back from the Carrizo late last night (Thursday).
Roads are all dry and passable. Elkhorn Plain road has beeen bladed with a bull dozed.
Hurricane Road over the Temblors is in good shape.
One of the east west roads across the valley floor is posted Road Closed, but it is dry and should be opened.
There are two road graders and a rubber tired roller Parked at the south end of soda Lake road. The county of SLO has done some work on the south end of Soda Lake road and may do more, it could use some more smoothing out. Everything is green.

The wild flowers are in full bloom. Goldfield ground cover on part of the valley floor and many of the Temblor Range mountain surfaces. Tidy tips, poppies, facilia and some desert candles. Saw a few Baby Blue Eyes also along the Soda Lake road near the boardwalk parking area.

Selby campground was full by 3:30, and KCL was full at 4:30 when I drove thru there.

The boondocking spot near LE Traver ranch looks good, goldfields and lots of grass.

It's time to go and see th Carrizo, right now. Lots of people out there.
No rain predicted, but if it does rain the dirt roads can become a challenge to two wheel drive vehicles.

RandyP
 
ntsqd said:
The inner drum from an old style upright washing machine works excellent. Our local appliance recycling center sells them for $25 I added 3 legs to the bottom of ours to space it off the ground for the best airflow.

Apparently Spring Break is in full effect. My mother & her husband just got back from spending a couple week days in Carrizo. All of the camp grounds were over-flowing both Monday & Tuesday nights!
Click to expand...
I agree, inner drums from a dryer also work, and some of them are stainless steel.
 
We had a great visit this weekend - a very beautiful place. The dogs loved having the place pretty much entirely to ourselves. We saw just five four wheeled vehicles (two with FWC's) and five motorcycles in three days. Wonderfully remote. Even got to perform a vehicle recovery on a grand cherokee that was driven into mud too deep for it :) I'll post some pictures later this week. Thank you for the recommendation on the washing machine and dryer drums.
 
We were out and about this weekend. Pretty amazing stuff happening out there...

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[SIZE=12pt]Hi! Does anyone have any idea how long the bloom will last at Carrizo? I don’t think I’ll be able to make it there until April 15. Will that be too late? It’s possible I could try for a day this weekend but it’s supposed to rain so it sounds like that might not be a good time to go anyway due to road conditions. It looks so spectacular- I don’t want to miss it! Any advice would be appreciated![/SIZE]
 
I actually think it will be peaking in two weeks. The poppies were just starting to come in this past weekend and the vast majority of the fiddlehead were just starting also. Everyday we were there more flowers bloomed, but it was still more buds than flowers when we left on Sunday.
 
Concur, there is still time. We will probably give it another go in a couple of weeks, fortunately we are reasonably close.
 
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