Carrizo Plain

I was very excited, because we were going to the Carrizo Plain. I have always wanted to go there, and I finally would. We left a day later than we were going to because I was naughty the night before. We drove to Ojai, where a woman stared screaming because her dog ran away from her. Then we drove on the 33 to the Cuyama Valley, and  through a pass in the Caliente Range into the Carrizo Plain National Monument. We drove on through the grassy plain next to the San Andreas Fault all the way to the Selby Rocks Campground. On the way, we looked for pronghorn and elk. At the campground, there was no one else there, so we pitched our tent and drove to Wallace Creek. Wallace Creek used to be a strait creek but over time the San Andreas Fault made it curve. We walked across the fault and followed a trail that petered out in the grass. We knew were we were going because we could see the fault, but Sam wanted to stay on the trail. We told him that if they let cows trample this landscape, than it isn’t such a big deal if we trample it. But Sam kept fighting us until we got back on the fault and my father told him to say “It’s not my fault, it’s San Andreas Fault.” Then he was happy.We drove over the rough road and made reservations for Painted Rock. Then we found solar panels.We drove back into the National Monument owned by the BLM and we walked over to Soda Lake. Soda Lake is a dry salt pan that fills in the spring in winter with water. Then birds from the ocean come and swim in the marshes of the Carrizo Plain. But since there was no water in Soda Lake, There weren’t any birds. We played tag on the dry lake bed and then walked on the board walk. After we had seen Soda Lake, we went back to the Selby Campground. It was so cold the whole night long. The next day (Thanksgiving), we took our climbing gear to the Selby Rocks. However, It was so cold that my hands couldn’t move, let alone climb. And, there were bird nests at the top so we couldn’t climb that high. There were Yokut pesels carved into the rock.Then, we drove over to the closed Carrizo Plain Interpretive Center. Behind it there were strange machines built in the late 1800’s. We drove to a parking lot where a rabbit jumped into a fallen over sign pole. We walked over the rolling grass to a rock. We walked around the rock called Painted Rock.Then we stepped into an alcove in the rock where another rabbit jumped into a cave. There were petroglyphs everywhere since this is where the Chumash and the Yokuts Traded.A storm began to cloud the horizon as we strolled back to our car. We stopped at one more place before going home. It was the Soda lake overlook. The land around it looked black because of all the dead wildflowers. Soda Lake looked so much bigger from up on top of the hill.We drove on a road called the Elkhorn Road back to the 33. It was 4-wheeled drive, but our van did it. there were many washes everywhere, but we didn’t care because the storm was on the other side of the plain. When we got to the 33, we realized the road was closed. We drove back on the 33 to San Buenaventura, and we sat on the top of a hill where there was a 200 year old cross and a view of Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands.