I think how late I updated this post maybe explains how Carrizo Plain kind of thrown me off back in April, it was still a great road trip, maybe I set the bar way too high after visited here 2 times in both 2015 and 2017, the fact that this national monument became famous and turned into a tourist spot in 2019 completely shattered my dream.
the superbloom in 2019 was broadcast and became widely known, Walker Canyon which we visited in February soon turned into hell in March, news called it "Disneyland size crowd", we too went because of pictures we found on the wildflower report, so I can't really blame the power of the intent but I do feel really bad for people who live in that beautiful town which suddenly become well known and got flooded later on.
to come back to Carrizo Plain was always a plan and a place I kept ranting about, trying to describe how magnificent it is to Quentin for nearly 2 years.
spring shower gave south California a massive blooms, I kept my eyes on the weather forecast for weeks to make sure we will visit on a sunny day and the soil will be dry, apparently some early visitors' cars went into mud tragically.
we aimed for Temblor Ridge, the place which I remember the most in 2017 spring, but was shocked that the entrance was closed.
we drove around and tried several of ways to approach it from different direction, took few hours of mindless driving but all went into dead end.
we also found signs, info boards, bathrooms everywhere, those I did not see in the past, google continuously led us and other visitors into dead end.
there were few times after driving for 30 minutes, we will found ourself can't make a right on X road, forced to drive another 30 minutes back to find another way out. Maybe I was just being way too lucky in the past, because I don't remember this ever happened before.
at the end we stayed around Soda Lake like everybody else did, the view was breath taking but it didn't match the overwhelmingly loud golden blossom I saw in 2017.
after searching for 6 hours plus one short flowerless hike, I finally gave up thinking maybe there will be a surprise around the corner awaits.
Hey Actaeas, I think that's it for 2019, I know you are still thrilled no matter where we walk.
