Santa Rosa Plateau & the Very Hungry Caterpillars

It's been a long time since we've ventured to the outdoors...that didn't have anything to do with the beach. But this weekend we went north to the Santa Rosa Plateau. It's an ecological reserve (47,815 acres) filled with wild flowers, some vernal pools, and an old homestead with a 400 year old oak tree. Turns out, this plateau used to be a volcano (wasn't everything either a volcano or underwater?) so there's lava rock, which prohibits the water draining 'fast' when it rains. The slow leak forms a vernal pool where snakes, fairy shrimp and tadpoles live. We saw snakes and tadpoles but didn't see the fairy shrimp!

Because of the winter rain, the wild flowers are spectacular this year. We saw Johnny Jump up's, red maid, I need to do some research and come back to label the ones I don't know.

1 red maid in a sea of yellow

California Poppies

Chocolate Lillies (a rarity, even in the rainy season)

Lupine, Poppies, and Cacti in the background

We hiked about 3 miles ...and during those 3 miles sometimes I would stop, look, and remind myself that we were still in busy SoCal....we had just escaped it for awhile. There wasn't a hint of civilization to be seen. It was beautiful! It was truly a refuge.

Seas of purple and yellow on the plateau

We ate lunch at the old adobe homestead, under the shade of the old oak tree. One of the rangers there said that the faucet (below) was about 8-9 inches clear of the trunk when she first started working there (25 years ago). We sat with some hikers from Pasadena, out to see the wild flowers like the rest of us.

walking up to the homestead

A view looking up into the oak tree. The branches shaded the whole area and even touches the ground by our picnic table.

AJ had the best seat, in the hiking backpack, but Ethan was a trooper and hiked endlessly...until he had fallen about 4 times. By the 4th time he was done...too tired to walk straight, and pick up his feet. So Brian put him on his shoulders. We finished off the day by grabbing In-N-Out shakes...another lost commodity when we moved to Fallbrook. (The closest one is 20 minutes away) It was such a fun day! Getting there in the early morning Brian noticed large bugs crossing the road. He slowed down the car and sure enough, there were dozens of caterpillars crossing the road. When we pulled into the parking lot we had to watch where we stepped to avoid squishing them. They were everywhere, and they were fast. The greeting ranger (where we paid our dues) said they weren't sure yet what species it was, but perhaps the painted lady. Ethan mostly watched the path for the hungry caterpillars as we walked. After we passed the vernal pools however, the caterpillars disappeared. Heading back after lunch, when it was hot, most caterpillars were off the path and up onto a blade of grass. Look closely and you'll notice the darker 'stems' of the blade. They are all caterpillars.