One of many mountains & cliffs as we enter the the Los Madres....
These Mamas are something else....
I was told by my aunt, that this area in the mountains is considered the high dessert. The photo below is as a view of us entering this range. I do not have any photos of when we were taking the GPS's [alternate route] as my state of mind was not the best for artistic expression. All these views pretty much are before the real "great adventure" unfolded.
It was 6/29/10, on a Tuesday, when we left Carmel, & did our exciting windy trip up to Big Sur, from there we were headed for Frazer Park, I don't really recall how many miles we had ahead of us, as the trip to Big Sur we knew was adding a few hundred more, but we were game. For this next destination it was now necessary for us to leave the coast & travel inland. As we did so, over time the topography began to change, there were more vineyards & some farms of cherry & strawberry growers, it was tempting to venture off the beaten path, as their produce was tempting, but we kept going.
I had some written directions from my cousin to get to my aunt's home, & we also had some directions from a fellow guest from the Howard Creek Ranch, where we had stayed midway in the California part of our adventure, but we choose to use the GPS, which gave a quicker, & more direct route off the interstate, the last leg of the miles it mapped out for us was apx. 40 miles. So instead of taking a turn in the road that a friend earlier suggested, & instead of beginning the journey & staying on the interstate, we continued with the GPS program....
Next scene, we are traveling in the Los Madres, of beautiful sand colored delicate mountains, climbing higher & higher with a vast remote range of even more mountains, a few cattle grazing areas of hundreds/thousands [?] of acres each, & we continue to climb, higher, more curves, more ridges, an even vaster mountain range is where we are, for we are now in the Los Padres. My emotions were intwined in both awesome, & scary, we saw a total of 2 vehicles, as we slowly aimed towards completing our goal of those 40 miles. Miles & miles, of unbelievable scenery, with also the wonderment of will we make it, or is this GPS going to lead us to a no man's land, like the chain linked road earlier on in our trip. My husband thankfully made sure our gas tank was always topped off, but we really didn't have adequate survival supplies in the car if this journey came to a unforeseen end. I then thought was I just foolish to even think of suggesting that we venture off on a trip across the country as we had been doing for the past couple of weeks, & if we became stranded on one of these mountains, how would any one find us, no cell phone service, in the out country where it is known there are bears & rattlers, & there we were out there & not properly prepared. It was a very tense & scary ride, & with all that beauty around, it was strange to say the least.
We did pass a National Park Campground, & as miles rolled along, we even saw a Direct TV van, it was then that we knew civilization would certainly be at hand. Due to the GPS directions we arrived at my aunt's several hours before we were expected, as the route we had driven, really did shorten the distance, much to every one's surprise. My aunt said "No one travels to us that way." & we of course said we knew why, for it really was the scene of one of those old Hollywood westerns. The only thing missing from that adventure was the sound of some one's hoof's galloping down from the mountains, going across the range & accompanying us to--- Frazer Park, "whoa", we made it!
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