CA 166 - Day Trip Thru Carrizo Plain

I left San Luis Obispo and headed south to CA 166 which is the road from Santa Maria to New Cuyama and then Bakersfield. The hills along 166 were green as the result of a recent rain. I hiked up the Forest Service lands trail (Adobe) to get a good view of the valley created by the Cuyama River.

I then took a left and headed north on Soda Lake Road to travel through the Carrizo Plains National Monument. Carrizo Plain National Monument is a large enclosed grassland plain, approximately 50 miles (80 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles. It contains the 246,812-acres, the largest single native grassland remaining in California.