BLM Dispatch #9 - Carrizo Plain National Monument - Part 1
Last weekend, I guided a group of 20 urbanites out to the BLM-managed Carrizo Plain National Monument for another USAL Project camping trip. We were there to see wildflowers, hike my favorite trails, drive the back roads, and share some epic nightly fires under dark skies.
Except there were almost no flowers across the entire plain, outside of a few scattered lupines, lacy phacelia, and stands of bladderpod giving it a valiant effort.
And the weather! It was like a deranged toddler running rampant after crushing a pack of skittles: loud, destructive, and totally unpredictable. In three days, we received rain, hail, 25 mph wind gusts, overcast skies, and nightly temperatures that dipped into the 30’s.
Wind chill minus a thousand. Muddy shoes. Whipping tents. Campfires traded for huddles around a sputtering stove…
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