California Trip Part 1: Corrizo Plains

So we've been back from our 12-day CA excursion but both Keeper and I started back to school this week so I knew the blog updates would have to wait until this weekend. We had a great trip but it would be super-long post to do everything together so here is part 1...

We left Tuesday morning, July 22nd for Corrizo Plains National Monument. Keeper tried to pick a park that was around a day's drive west of Phoenix. We considered Joshua Tree, but that is only four hours away (with climate much like Phoenix) so we had to get creative with our pick. Corrizo Plains is a little known place that apparently has great wildflowers (in season) and is a great place to view wildlife. I was a little concerned about it being too hot to camp here in the summer, but the nighttime temps were definitely lower than in Phoenix and we really wanted to try out our new tent so we figured what the heck.

We left the highway around Lancaster/Palmdale, CA and found ourselves on dirt roads in the middle of oil wells. There weren't many other cars around and we soon were on unmarked dirt roads that were only wide enough for one car. The views up and around the mountains were amazing although it was kind of a scary drive looking over the cliffs. When we found the entrance sign to the "park" we thought we might see some more people (or more signs at any rate). We didn't. We were following Keeper's Google Maps directions to the letter until we came to .....a fence. I would like to say that it was not a gate, but a fence. Nice job, Google Maps, nice job. We back tracked and turned up a road we "thought" might be in the right direction. After about 30 minutes of not seeing a single soul except one lone wild cow, I started royally freaking out. I had visions of a flat tire, running out of gas, being lost for hours in a place in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service. Keeper tried to calm me down but I was getting hysterical.

We finally found ourselves on a road that actually appeared on one of my 3 maps (the whole national monument, according to any of my maps, did not have a single road going through it). We started heading in the direction of Los Padres National Forest and I thought, at the very least, we could camp at one of the campsites listed on the map. After a few miles, however, we saw official-looking signs (with mileage!) directing us to various places in Corrizo Plains National Monument (like to the campsite Keeper had previously looked up). We decided to give it a 2nd chance (now that we were no longer lost) and soon found ourselves in an incredibly beautiful (but desolate) place.

We pitched our tent at Selby Campground and I was still a bit apprehensive about being the ONLY ones in the whole place camping for the night. We decided to go for it. We had a lovely dinner of PBJ sandwiches and decided to go hike some of the Caliente Ridge Trail. We saw a gorgeous sunset followed by a starry sky like no other we'd ever seen in our lives. We did, unfortunately, pitch our tent over the burrow of some sort of rodents who spent the night scurrying and digging around the tent so neither of us got much sleep.

We were up pretty early to break camp and drive around the park some more. We walked down to Soda Lake (if you look closely you'll see Keeper standing out in the middle of the lake)... and found that it is completely dry in the summer. It was a very
unique and peaceful place. I think it would be really cool to go back in springtime and see the wildflowers. Overall a very interesting adventure. We left mid-morning and headed towards the coast...