Natural History Wanderings

Submitted by Spencer Westbrook  author of A Guide to Wildflower Locations of Central and Southern California

I travelled from Ventura to Pinnacles Nat Park along Hwy 101. While it has been a very dry year the timing of the springs rains was such that the hills and fields were green with grass but few, if any wildflowers.

I hiked west Pinnacles trails and was able to find flowers, not lush displays but nice flowers nonetheless. There was even a bit of water flowing in the creeks. It can get quite hot at this park so do not expect much to last more than a few more weeks at most.

I then traveled on one of my favorite roads, Carmel Valley road from the Arroyo Seco area west of Greenfield (on Hwy 101) to the Carmel area. This is a very pleasant drive on a classic California backroad with oaks, meadows, great views, streams and in this case several displays of nice wildflowers including shooting stars, chinese houses, lupine, mule ears, poppies, fiesta flower, violets. Don’t expect to see much if you drive more than 25 mph or less, so take your time.

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I camped in Big Sur then took Nacimiento Road from Hwy 1 up and over the coast range mtns to Fort Hunter Liggett, another true classic California back road. Again driving slowly, not much choice on this winding road, I was able to find some very nice displays of flowers perhaps the best being the beautiful columbine about 3/8-1/2 mile up the road from Hwy 1, and a nice display of indian warrior growing on the rocky outcroppings  just beyond the summit.

Fort Hunter Liggett can have beautiful carpets of lupine, poppies and other annuals but in this dry year not much was found. There were several small patches of poppies around the mission which is always fun to visit.

I spent the night in the old Hearst HQ building,  the Hacienda, this being part of the former Hurst estate, (getting on base is a bit of a hassle but tell the guard you are staying at the Hacienda) and was able to view the lunar event in clear skys.

Drove home back down Hwy 101 the next day, about 4.5 hr trip.
So I recommend Carmel Valley rd and if possible, Nacimiento Rd for a pleasant days outing. Take your time, stop and look around and enjoy these classic drives