Howdy.....
On Monday I was checking out the Santa Maria area.... then I moved more south into Los Olivos area. Through out this region there are many farms and vineyards, rolling hills and very green grassy hillsides.
I went to the rangers station for Mt. Figueroa. I decided that this was the area I was going to stay for a bit. I also purchased a National Parks Pass. This is a really good deal. For under $100 you get a pass (looks like a credit card). This gives you free entrance to all National Parks across the USA. It also gives you other discounts...(even in some Parks) free camping. Kinda wish I had gotten this much sooner- as I have visited many National Parks so far and would have saved several hundred dollars by now. But lesson learned....and will know to get them from now on. Once you get the pass it's good for 1 year. I intend to use this pass a lot and will renew it when this one expires!!!
Mt. Figueroa is a good size mountain. It has primitive camping only. No electric no running water. I set up and settled in. Then went back down the mountain to get supplies.
I was the only camper up on "My Mountain" for my 1st - 5 days. Because the area was very remote and no one else was up there- I decided to set up tent and put all of my belongings in the tent and to live/sleep in the SUV, for safety reasons. There are a lot of big wild animals up here (black bears and mountain lions)... I didn't want to take any chances.
The weekend came and so did a few other campers- about 6 other groups...but by Monday the mountain and I were alone again!!! LOL
I was up on the mountain 8 days before I saw any rangers!! Once they realized I was up there- they did drive by once a day to check on me. The weather during my stay was great - sunny and in the 60's the whole time. I made a couple of side trips down "My Mountain" to get supplies and to check out surrounding areas. One area I visited was Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley. This is a very quaint region. Known as the "Danish Capital of America" It looks like a Danish Village was plucked from Europe and set down in the USA. There are about 150 different speciality shops, vineyards, many B&B's...and many more things to see and do. It really is a place to come visit!!
For more info on this area see: www.solvangusa.com
Another area near by was the San Rafael Wilderness- in he Los Padres National Forest. This approximately 80,000 acre primitive wilderness area.
I had been up on "My Mountain" for 10 days when a Ranger came by to warn me about a bad storm coming in the next day. I told him I had been monitoring the weather...but thought it was going to be just rain. He agreed it would be just rain but the winds were going to be very strong- and he said up on Figueroa the winds can get really bad. He strongly suggested I not stay up on mountain during the storm- just in case. I thanked him and told him I'd move out the next day. The next morning was sunny and no sign of storm coming....but I started to pack up the SUV and just was I was putting the last of my things in the SUV - it started to rain lightly. By the time I was 1/2 way down the mountain it was pouring and the winds started to pick up. Once at the bottom of the mountain- it was a driving rain and the winds were unreal!!!! I was so glad I left when I did- I could just imagine how wild it would have been up on top of that mountain!
I went back to the motel in Santa Maria for the night and decided to head back to the Tulare area the next day to meet up with some friends.
So til we meet again take care everyone...off to get the pictures for this area together....Love Donna
See pictures in Album # 129: http://picasaweb.google.com/Pandadmd5880
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