Offroading Carrizo Plain National Monument Superbloom

[jhmoore]

Arriving home late last Monday from a week in Washington, D.C. with the family for Spring Break, the 4Runner looked at me dolefully from the driveway and suggested that it really was time to go somewhere...

And I hadn't gotten out to enjoy this year's wildflower superbloom...

So we loaded up this weekend and headed out to Carrizo Plain National Monument. Who knew that it had some really awesome trails up into the mountains?? Mostly we got up away from the dust and tourists on the plain and headed into the hills. While many roads marked on the maps weren't roads anymore (closed off and overgrown), plenty still existed and were simply stunning during the wildflower bloom.

Two video clips from this morning. Our human to rattlesnake ratio on that adventure was 1:1 -- one other person all morning (a BLM ranger) and one rattlesnake!

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<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2x2kjeqk8Ik" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[MAST4R]

I had no idea either, looks like a great drive! Perfect timing with the flowers, too.

 

[jhmoore]

I had no idea either, looks like a great drive! Perfect timing with the flowers, too.

I'd been up into the mountains on the Temblor Range side before... too much traffic on the one road up there, but then nice if you drive the ridgeline.

This time we explored the Caliente Range. Tons of roads marked on the maps (various Gaia layers) were no longer roads, but lots still were. We found one great trail that went way way up into the mountains and in theory could have brought us back down again, but we came to a section that my daughter named "Dead Man's Drop" and turned back. I have no idea how or if anyone has ever gone down that section and survived!! I can see maybe completely nuts people driving up it, but down... no way...

 

[MAST4R]

I'd been up into the mountains on the Temblor Range side before... too much traffic on the one road up there, but then nice if you drive the ridgeline.

This time we explored the Caliente Range. Tons of roads marked on the maps (various Gaia layers) were no longer roads, but lots still were. We found one great trail that went way way up into the mountains and in theory could have brought us back down again, but we came to a section that my daughter named "Dead Man's Drop" and turned back. I have no idea how or if anyone has ever gone down that section and survived!! I can see maybe completely nuts people driving up it, but down... no way...

Well, that sounds interesting

We enjoyed the Sonoran desert a lot in February and the first half of March. It was gorgeous. But we have already re-calibrated, going to higher elevations.

 

[jhmoore]

I attempted to make a GPX file of the route. Hope it worked & is helpful for anyone headed up there. Please note that I do NOT recommend going down the waypoint that my daughter named Dead Man's Drop. It's very steep on pretty loose dirt & gravel with a hard turn to the left and a cliff straight in front. I think you'd have a lot of trouble controlling the slide of a heavy vehicle on the loose substrate and make the turn ... versus just going over the cliff.

The other thing to note is that I'm not sure that there's any way out if you were to go down Dead Man's Drop. On the map, it looks like the old trails connect up to the north, but we went around and tried to get there from the north and that trail is closed. Then there's a T off to the east below Dead Man's Drop on the trail maps, that connects up to what looks like a major trail... but we tried to get to that major trail and it also no longer exists.

RENAME the attached file to .gpx -- this forum wouldn't allow a file upload of that type

 

[ANDY_FTLC]

My GF, myself, my buddy, and his GF went to Carrizo a couple of weeks ago as well. I didn't think I would of enjoyed it as much as I did. The plain was definitely packed with tourists but it was nice once we got up into the mountains. I would definitely come back next year.

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/Lz5Tmvz/IMG-1056.jpg" alt="IMG-1056" border="0">

 

[jhmoore]

My GF, myself, my buddy, and his GF went to Carrizo a couple of weeks ago as well. I didn't think I would of enjoyed it as much as I did. The plain was definitely packed with tourists but it was nice once we got up into the mountains. I would definitely come back next year.

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/Lz5Tmvz/IMG-1056.jpg" alt="IMG-1056" border="0">

Cool shot!!! Drone?

 

[ANDY_FTLC]

Cool shot!!! Drone?

Yup! We were playing around with my buddies Mavic II Pro and now I really wanna get one lol