A South Prelude to Carrizo Plain Superbloom: Exploring New Grounds at Los Padres National Forest Near New Cuyama

 

 

 

Date: March 6, 2026
Location: Los Padres National Forest, off SR166, New Cuyama
Coordinates: 35.068083, -119.984589
Length: 3 miles
Level: moderate

 

 

The good amount of rain that California received early in winter got me excited - a superbloom spring was expected. As it happened, not only was there a superbloom reported from many places in California, but it had started about a month earlier than usual. Tied down to all kinds of obligation I stayed at home and drooled over the reports displayed on my screen. At the first opportunity I had for taking a couple of days off I packed my camping gear, left the house in the good hands of Pappa Quail, and took off south to Carrizo Plain National Monument, one of California's best places to see the superbloom. It also happens to be the closest, but it is still a four hours long drive away from my home. Four hours long, if entering the monument from the north, which is what I did on all the previous times I visited it. This time however, I planned to enter from the south. Specifically, I wanted to explore the area of os Padres National Forest along SR166. It took me four hours just to get to where SR166 split from Hwy101 and when I reached the trailhead I panned on I found that it was closed and off limits. I therefore continued driving east until I reached anther trailhead - that of Chimineas Ranch. This area, I soon found out, was a hunters trail. There were self-issued permits at the trailhead kiosk. I filled one, gathered my things and started up the trail. 

My hike as captured by my GPS

I was the only one parked at the trailhead and throughout the hike I saw not another human being. The weather was nice and warm but not to hot. A soft wind sent waves through the grass.  

I didn't have a paper map of the area with me so I relied on the map of my navigator. Right at the start the trail was ascending up the eastern bank of a wide, dry creek.  

I didn't know what to expect in terms of wildflowers in this area. I did see wildflowers right away, but near the trailhgead they were only here and there, not forming blossom carpets. 

Red Maids, Calandrinia menziesii

I was happy t see the first creamcups flowers of this trip. I have a warm spot in my heart for these cute flowers. I don't get to see them in the parks near my home. 

Creamcups, Platystemon californicus

Above the creek were the collapsing remains of an old ranch house and barn. The ruins were fenced and locked off, I assume for fear of opportunistic camping. On the other side of the trail was another fence of an area that looked like an agricultured field, although that too looked abandoned. 

Most of the greenery I saw around was of invasive weeds. In between the invasive stork's bill and the foxtails however, I was seeing quite a lot of the tiny miniature lupine in bloom. 

Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor

A few butterflies fluttered about and one of them paused just long enough for me to take its photograph. I didn't take a strong zoom lens with me so I couldn't get a good closeup image. 

Buckeye Butterfly

The trail was an old dirt road that was overgrown with weeds. I was going generally northward into an area of green, open hills dotted with widely dispersed oak trees. Very similar to the East Bay hills near my home. 

Trail

I strayed a bit from the trail to look at small clearings in the grass field and found the small dot-seed plantain, an almost invisible little flower. 

Dot-seed Plantain, Plantago erecta

A bit further up the trail I saw the first wildflower that looked new to me. It was a clover with a tight inflorescence and tiny, delicate flowers. 

Rancheria Clover, Trifolium albopurpureum

The blue dicks flowers I did know. These blue beauties are very common in many parts of California, including the Bay Area. 

Blue Dicks, Dipterostemon capitatus

The oak trees were not the live oaks I was familiar with from the hills of the East Bay. These were blue oaks and some of them looked very big and majestic. 

Blue Oak, Quercus douglasii

I continued uphill on a mild slope, and the higher I got, the more wildflowers I was seeing. I started seeing the goldfields flowers, here in smaller patches rather than in large carpets. 

California Goldfields, Lasthenia californica

Mst of the yellow flowers I saw were of the goldfield or other asters. Some however, was of flowers of other families, such as the desert parsley. 

Foothill Desert Parsley, Lomatium utriculatum

I came over the first crest. It was fairly low, but still high enough to have blocked the view of the tall ridge on the horizon. 

I noticed a white area on the faraway slope and zeroed in on it - it was an exposed sheer slope of white rock. Above the exposed are I saw a nice patch of yellow  - I could only guess that this might be a goldfield bloom patch. 

Below me, near the trail I found a late-blooming shootingstar. Any other year it wouldn't be considered late but this year everything was blooming much earlier. Nearly all the other shootingstars I saw n that hike were already in fruit. 

Padre's Shootingstar, Primula clevelandii

Curtesy of recent rains - there were a few mushrooms blooming between the weeds as well. Not too many and not very fancy ones, but nice to see.   

The trail continued, mildly uphill and curving a bit eastward. My navigator indicated that there should be a trail fork soon but I didn't see any. 

A raven flew by fast, carrying something in its beak. I regretted not bringing the stronger zoom lens with me. I would have to get much closer to birds in order to get any decent photos of them. 

Common Raven

The trai Iwas on vanished in a field of blue and purple flowers. I moved carefully between the flowers, trying to see if the trail continued anywhere, but couldn't find any extension of the path. 

The purple flowers were of the Purple owl's clover - a species of paintbrush. There were lots and lots of them all over the place.

Arroyo Lupine, Lupinus succulentus (left) and Purple Owl's Clover, Castilleja exerta (right)

The blue flowers were arroyo lupine. There were many f the lupines too, and they seemed to shine in the sunlight, beautiful like etherial candles. 

I checked my navigator again and figured out that I must have passed somehow the trail junction without noticing it. There was no more trail in the direction I was going so I needed to go back to where the junction was supposed to be and take the other trail branch. In fact, when I looked to the north I could see the other trail going up the hillside. 

Rather than backtracking, I opted to go directly to the creek. I carefully crossed through the tall grasses and then realized that the trail was below and that the bank was way to steep to descend without risking a fall, so I looped back south to catch up with the trail before the invisible split. On the way I walked past some nice looking oaks, all in different stages of renewing their foliage. 

I also came upon a dismembered bovine skeleton. The bones were already dry and bleached, and they were strewn around in a disarray. I didn't see any cattle on my hike, nor did I see cow pies. It looked like cattle wasn't recently present there. 

When I reached the place where according to my navigator was the trail split I realized how I had missed it. It was all green with weeds, and I had missed the poles marking it. 

I descended down to the creek and resumed my northbound hike. The creek was dry but the thicker vegetation was evidence of a relatively recent flow. 

Down at the creek there were also lots of fiddleneck flowers, but also other plants in bloom, such as the lilac-colored lacy phacelia. 

Lacy Phacelia, Phacelia tanacetifolia

I found a single larkspur plant in bloom and sadly, it was trampled down. I lifted it and supported it with my pole to get a photo but it fell back down when I let it go. There were a few other larksuprs nearby, but all of the others were still budding, none in full bloom yet. 

Royal Larkspur, Delphinium variegatum

I was hoping to continue the hike inside the creek but the trail soon ascended the eastern bank again. I guess it makes more sense to have my road not in the creek if I were the rancher who managed the place. 

Trail

Near the trail was a patch of agave plants that were charred t their core. Roasted agave used to be a native delicacy in years past but these agave were not cooked on purpose - they were silent evidence of a past local wildfire. 

Chaparral Yucca, Hesperoyucca whipplei

A small raptor was hovering over the hillside - it was an American kestrel. Not having the suitable lens I couldn't get a close up photo of this beautiful bird. 

American Kestrel

The trail got seriously steep. It was also overgrown with low, spreading plants that were not invasive weeds - they were a native species of lotus. 

Full of small, yellow flowers, this native member of the legume family is one of what are called, 'pioneer species', meaning the first plants to resettle disturbed areas. Many legumes are on this list because of their symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria that gives them a competitive edge when growing in poor soils.  

Chile Trefoil, Acmispon wrangelianus

The top of the steep ascend wasn't the end of the uphill part of the trail. In fact, the trail continued going on and on to the north. I checked my watch: soon it would be time for me to turn around and head back. For the time being however, I continued onward. 

A few thin white mustard plants bloomed near the trail. Most mustards in California are invasive but this slender one is a native species. 

California Mustard, Caulanthus lasiophyllus

Almost without noticing I have gained considerable altitude. From the higher point of view I could now see what I couldn't see before - large carpets of bloom. 

I was too far away to ascertain which species made that pink patch although I suspect they were the owl's clover like those I've seen earlier on the hike. At my level I saw blooming milkvetch shrubs. It was lovely to see them in bloom - most often I see them when already fruiting. 

Santa Barbara Milkvetch, Astragalus trichopodus

Another species of lupine was blooming near the trail - the hairy and somewhat spiny chick lupine, with pink flowers. 

Chick Lupine, Lupinus microcarpus

Soon I was facing another steep slope and the dilemma of how much further to hike out. I was enjoying my hike and the peaceful solitude but I also wanted to get into Carrizo Plain while there was still daylight. 

I decided to go up just that one more slope and then turn back. As I expected, the trail continued north and there were more slopes to ascend beyond the one I climbed, but I stopped and enjoyed the view from where I was, resolved to nt go any further that day. 

I also had a nice, unobstructed view of that steep peak with the exposed rock and yellow flower patch. Part of me was sorry for not getting any closer to that peak. Maybe next time I'll be in the area. 

I was high above the valley and the sun was in my eyes on the way back. Getting down the steep parts of the slope was slower than I expected - the small gravel was pretty slippery. 

Perhaps the most common native wildflower blooming in that area was the common fiddleneck, so named because of its curling inflorescence. 

Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii

I didn't stop as much on the way back. I have seen pretty much all the wildflowers there already and I was also getting hungry. On the less steep parts of the trail I was much quicker, almost galloping. 

I walked pretty fast but I did pause every now and then to take a closer look at things. I stopped by the patch of agave plants that were still intact - the fire hasn't reached them.  

Chaparral Yucca, Hesperoyucca whipplei

I thought I saw all the wildflowers there were to see there on my way up, but on a closer look a plant that looked like a clover at first glance turned out to be a species of milkvetch - a new species for me. 

Two-seeded Milkvetch, Bubo virginianus

On my return I also paid attention to other things that were affected by the past wildfire in the area - some f the oak trees were completely burnt. 

A few of the impacted oaks didn't burn completely though. Some of them were showing signs of recovery. I hope they'll recover completely with time. 

On the way back I also had the chance to look again at some f the wildflowers that I didn't consider stopping for on my way up, such as popcorn flowers. 

Flaccid Cryptantha, Cryptantha flaccida

When I was finally down at the creek I also looked at the moisture left from the recent flow, which was only a few days ago. That remaining moisture gives the creek plants an extended growth time. 

Spring was all around me. I enjoyed seeing it in the wildflowers display but just as much in the light green of the newly budded leaves. 

The trail rose up from the creek again, giving me a nice view of its beautiful sine curves. Coming out of the hills I was hiking on, this creel connected with the larger Cuyama Creek. 

A single western bluebird perched on an extended branch of a spring-budding oak tree. The bird shows too small to identify in the photo but it was a bluebird. I didn't manage to get any closer - one more step and it flew away. 

Western Bluebird

Coming down to the last downhill part I eventually saw the cattle - a small herd of cows grouped near a small pond on the other side of SR166. That ranch across that road was still a functional ranch. 

I completed the rest of the hike in a few minutes, left my filled out permit in the intended box as instructed on the kiosk, then changed my shoes to sandals and got into my car.  

It took me two more hours, including a fueling stop at New Cuyama, to get to the southern entrance of Carrizo Plain National Monument. I stopped at the entrance information kiosk to appreciate the first mat of wildflowers and the lovely pond below. 

The shadows were already long, and I still needed to find a campsite. The established campgrounds in Carrizo Plain National Monuments are small and fill up fast on spring weekends. It was likely that I'd find myself camping in the wilderness but I thought I'd first check the KCL Campground, which was the closest one. I was fortunate to find there the last remaining campsite unclaimed and so I parked and pitched my tent just as the last daylight was fading out. 

While I was pitching my tent I heard a loud hooting sound from a nearby eucalyptus tree. As soon as my claim to the campsite was visible, I took my camera and went looking for that owl. I knew that owl - I heard and saw it on my previous visit to Carrizo Plain, exactly at that location. I could see the owl all right, but the light was already too low to get any decent photo. 

Great Horned Owl

That night was the last night before changing to daylight saving time so by 6:00 pm it was already dark. I prepared and ate my dinner in the light of my head flashlight, then went back into my car to pass the time reading my book for a couple of hours before eventually going into my tent for the night. I had a nice plan for the morrow - to go exploring along the east side of the monument.