April 20, 2012
You've never heard of Chimineas Ranch? Yeah, me neither. At least I hadn't before I had the opportunity to visit during a Flora of San Luis Obispo County workshop that I participated in through the Jepson Herbarium. Chimineas is waaay out in the middle of nowhere in SLO County. It's southwest-ish of Soda Lake, which is part of the Carrizo Plain (I was sooo close!). We were lucky to have THE Chimineas biotanist with us (whose name I simply CAN NOT remember at the moment, big surprise), and he led us along the main road through the ranch to some interesting spots with fun wildflowers. 2012 was unfortunately a "bad" wildflower year; however, we still got to see some beauties. While there we stopped for bathroom breaks and lunch at the ranch house, which I got the impression is available for retreats and the like. Would be a fun place to stay. There's a very inviting pool! And swallows! So many swallows! They were building their nests in the eaves of the house and flitting all around. We also saw a couple coyotes, a ton of meadow larks, and a pair of burrowing owls (proud to say that was my find on the way in). Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures of these critters since I was in a group setting and had no control over the stops that we took. Plus, we were on a mission for plants, not animals.
Ranch House
Ranch
Plant Nerds in their Element
Clarkia sp.
Delphinium sp.
Southern Chaparral
Ceanothus sp.
That's a long road
The Carrizo Plain is out there...
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