Carrizo Plain, WTW Spring Time Rally

Starting this thread for everyone to post their experiences at the Rally. I will do a full trip report later. I did put all my pictures up on a youtube slideshow that can be seen here. Note 13 minutes long, almost 200 pictures.

The date I picked was TWTLFF.* We arrived at 3:00pm on Friday, drove in with just a light rain falling, just before the heavens let loose. Annual rainfall is 9 inches, we got 3 of them Friday night. Saturday dawned to "well its not raining now" weather. Quick breakfast and off to the start of the GeoTour.

Tuff Guy 62 did a fantastic job on the tour, will have more in my trip report



At the lunch break my wife decided to pick up a just a little too big of a rock. She pulled her back, time for Motrin and ice. Finished the GeoTour at the visitor's center and made a couple of purchases. Be sure to stop, shop and support them. Driving back to camp the wife's back was not getting better. Wife asked if we could head home, she did not think the FWC bed would make her back better. I thanked Brian and Randy for all the work they did putting the Rally together. Left some appetizers for the pot luck and headed down the road. Hope the dinner was held without rain. Driving up I-5 hit rain heavy enough to slow up California drivers, a couple of cars actually pulled off the highway. We will be back, have the GeoTour handbook and need to finish the area's we could not access in the rain.











* TWTLFF = Two Weeks To Late For Flowers.

Bill,thanks for starting a post.Shame about all the rain.When we were there about the same time in 2011 the flowers were out and put on a great show,BUT it snowed a little and cold.Didn't make for a nice day.Met up with Gene Rubin and friends for a short chat than headed out of the bad weather. Sorry to hear about the heavy rain and the wife's back problems. Been there with health issues on a trip,not fun.
Looking forward to the trip report.
Thanks for arranging the rally.Maybe next time we can make one.
As it turned out we were also on the San Andres fault but 400 miles north,Pt. Reyes area.Nice weather warm and lots of flowers.
Frank

Bill, thanks for posting. YouTube pictures were great. Jd

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Casa Escarlata Robles Too said:

Bill,thanks for starting a post.Shame about all the rain.When we were there about the same time in 2011 the flowers were out and put on a great show,BUT it snowed a little and cold.Didn't make for a nice day.Met up with Gene Rubin and friends for a short chat than headed out of the bad weather. Sorry to hear about the heavy rain and the wife's back problems. Been there with health issues on a trip,not fun.
Looking forward to the trip report.
Thanks for arranging the rally.Maybe next time we can make one.
As it turned out we were also on the San Andres fault but 400 miles north,Pt. Reyes area.Nice weather warm and lots of flowers.
Frank

Click to expand...

Hey Frank, after you left back in 2011, this is what happened:

generubin said:

Hey Frank, after you left back in 2011, this is what happened:

Click to expand...

Thanks Gene for the pictures.Don't remember seeing them before.
Glad we got out of Dodge,pretty but not much fun.
Thanks Frank

I'm convinced if I could camp more often the drought would be over. DV, GBNP, WFF, and now Carizzo rain seems to follow me. It did hold off for the tour and dinner. These are the guys responsible for setting a bad example for Bills wife.

Just a quick report. As we split up some stayed another day, a couple headed over to Jalama and I headed north, either to find another spot to camp or head on home. I promised to be careful. I wasn't. I briefly did get stuck in the mud trying to get to the Wallace interpretive area. I guess that road closed sign was there for a reason. Headed on home as it looked like more rain was coming. Plenty of idiots on I5 just as Bill described.

Trip was great despite the rain. The tour, though cut short due to impassible roads was still excellent. Tuff Guy went way above and beyond. The potluck was excellent but I should have stopped before that last piece of cheesecake. Just a couple pics as I get my gear unloaded.

Despite the lack of flowers there was plenty of greenery

This guy barely gave me time get a shot off.

I'd have never found this one my own. Near the dragons back, and our lunch stop.

Start of the tour.

Sag pond with the fault running through it ( had to remember that stuff for the test later).

Our camp during a respite in the rain.

More to come tomorrow

Nice report Craig.


I just posted my full report here.

Sorry you had to leave early. I'd have loved to stay another day if the weather had cooperated. As it is it'll be good to have time to dry everything off.

Despite the rain looks like "Reilly" had some fun any way ( My "Bob" was envious!)! Sure looks like some wide open country out there, looking forward to more trip reports! Hey Bob, did Domino feel up to making the trip?

Smoke

Oh yeah, every stop, and there were many, Riley got to run around. Not sure where all the wildlife was though. Just a few birds to chase.


Soda Lake in unusual form.

This guy is wondering what kind of invasion is going on.

Riley paying close attention to the lecture.

Lunch break, dragons back to the left, fault below us.

Fault running behind the dragons back.

Thanks Craig for the pictures.
How did you do on the "Test"?
Frank

Looks likes great time despite. Bill, hope your wife's back is getting better. We'll miss you guys at the rally but have fun in Europe.

Yeah, looks like a great get together. Love the idea of having a subject matter expert along for the sight-seeing. Thanks for the photos!

I suppose I'll find out when Brian makes his report. Speaking of which, this is the guide he handed out.
Fortunately I had the presence of mind not to ask how the surrounding geomorphology affected the presence of graboids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graboid)

Now he also said he'll post the full color version as a .pdf so warm up the printer.


So today I pop the top to dry it out. Hmmm, what was that noise? One of the struts popped off. The bracket was bent and the screws were loose. I thought it was very considerate to do it in the driveway and not out in the middle of nowhere. Waiting for the 5200 to cure before I put the strut back on. Hoping its a one time thing otherwise I'll have to look into improving the mounting bracket.

Looks I nearly made it to Wallace Creek looking at Google Earth and the other maps. Don't bother looking at the Nature conservancy website. Its truly pathetic. I was surprised, I thought they'd do a much better job.

craig333 said:

I don't know how I did. I suppose I'll find out when Brian makes his report. Speaking of which, this is the guide he handed out.

Click to expand...

Brian really did a great job of planning.
Frank

N and I had a great time! It was nice to meet some of the cast of characters here. Brian's geology tour was the icing on the cake.



The Carrizo Plain is a beautiful and diverse place.
Unusual signs:








Wildlife and Wild Flowers:











Tumbleweeds:





And some very fine scenery:

What a great weekend! Thanks to Bill for setting the rally up, and to Brian and Randy for the extensive scouting, geo-tour, etc. in my opinion, the rain actually made things better, as the dark skies, clouds, and pockets of sun added great visual drama to the Carrizo landscape. here are a few miscellaneous photos from the trip.

And a few more.

This was a great informative rally in spite of the weather. I want to thank Brian, Randy, Bill and all the cooks who made it possible.

Dick

What a great looking trip. Makes waiting for the clock to tick down, until June when I take delivery, even longer.