Just got back from a great weekend at Carrizo Plain National Monument. I volunteered to help remove barbed wire fences from the Monument, to enable antelope and elk to roam freely.I was going to drive up Friday night, but I was tired by the time I got home from work and packed up my camping gear and food. So I opted for my own bed, and set the alarm for 4:30 am.
Hit the road at 5 am. I drove North up the 33, which is a pretty winding mountain road through Los Padres National Forest. The moon used the mountains to play peek-a-boo with me for many miles. There was no traffic. - at all. Flushed a couple of large owls, missed a few bunnies. It was COLD up there - at the pass, it was 34 degrees. It took two hours to get to the entrance of the Monument, at Soda Lake Road. It was dawn. Drove 30 miles of semi-paved and dirt road as the sun painted the hills and ravens and hawks soared. Nice.
Got to the Goodwin Education Center by 8, early enough to brew a little espresso and have a snack. The rest of the group trickled in, and by 9 we were ready to go.
We hit the first fence line and made pretty short work of it. A dozen dedicated folks can get a lot done!
Then we moved on to a challenge. A large corral and a loooong fence line - disappearing into the horizon. I working on the fence. It was amazing - I turned around, and we were hundreds of yards from the road. It was hard work - but it was great to SEE your progress. I have bruises and scratches (including 2 on my face, where the barbed wire fought back), and am sore in several places. But we removed well over a mile of fence and the corral. It was pretty warm, but then in the late afternoon the wind came up pretty strongly. Which cooled things down, but blew dust and debris, took my hat a few times, and even knocked me off balance a couple of times (while I was carrying rolls of barbed wire back to the road).
We camped that night at Selby Camp. It was super windy (brought back memories of the first few nights on the Alsek) and pretty chilly. We did pot-luck - four of us from ForestWatch, a crew of 4 from northern San Diego county (former Nebraskans, who love the Carrizo for it's rolling golden hills), and a Sierra Clubber from LA. Chile, spaghetti, salad, lots of wine (I brought 2 bottles of 2001 Casa Moneta - which was fought over), bread, and cookies for dessert.
After dinner, a few of us walked under a full moon down to an old barn. Had an old truck behind it, and an owl nest inside (occupant was out hunting, for sure). Pretty cool.
Slept in the back of the car, and awoke to a glow in the eastern sky. Made coffee, watched the sunrise. Eggs and bacon for breakfast, then a few of us went to a couple of spots in the Monument - Painted Rocks (pictographs) and Wallace Creek (a creek that straddles the San Andreas Fault.Flushed a barn owl at Painted Rocks. Wish I'd been quicker with the camera...
Did the long drive back, and will be going to bed early tonight!
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