After my bike riding in and around Pacific Grove, I packed up my van and drove down to Paso Robles. I got a room at my now-usual hotel choice, the Oxford Suites. It’s not too expensive, but it’s quite nice and close enough to downtown that I can walk there to get dinner.
I got up early for the drive out to Carrizo Plain. I was hoping for a super bloom, but given that the poppies and other wildflowers were not out in abundance during my ride on Saturday, I was not expecting much.
I got to there pretty early, and sure enough, there wasn’t any color on the hills, just brown and still some green. I ventured along the Soda Lake Road, stopping off at the Visitor Center to see if there was any information about where to go. I didn’t seem much info there, so I continued along the road, turning off on Panorama Road to see what was over on the east side of the plain.
I stopped here and there whenever I saw some flowers. I got some decent enough pictures doing that, but there wasn’t quite the spectacular scenery that saw back in 2019.
I made my way to the Wallace Creek Trail to check out the San Andreas Fault. Again, not much to see there. I decided to head over towards Selby Campground and explore that area.
I had been around the Selby Campground in 2019, but I decided to drive up the hills towards the Caliente Range Ridge. I did see more flowers there, especially as I ascended towards the ridge.
I got some decent pictures, even though there wasn’t the super bloom that I had hoped for. The only flower that seemed to be in abundance was the Purple Owl’s Clover. Anyway, check out the pictures below the fold.
