Carrizo Plain National Monument

Carrizo plain national Monument In the Carrizo Plain, southeast of San Luis Obispo County, California, 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It contains more than 200,000 acres of the Carrizo Plain National Historic Site, the largest remaining native grassland in California. Three hundred years ago, California's central valley was a vast grassland where antelopes and elk graze and wild flowers swept through spring. Today, the historic remains of the Carrizo Plain State are still alive in urban and agricultural development. The Carrizo Plain National Historic Site is one of California’s best preserved secrets. The Carrizo Plain offers visitors a rare opportunity to get along with nature. There are a variety of wildlife communities on the plain, including species listed as threatened or endangered. Highlights of the National Historic Sites of the Carrizo Plain include the white alkaline flatland of Lake Soda, painted rock, vast open grasslands and vast plains surrounded by mountains. If conditions are right, many wild flowers can be laid on the ground of the valley. Although brief, it can be breathtaking. Soda Lake concentrates salt when the water evaporates, leaving behind white sediments of sulfates and carbonates.

California has very abundant rain, and you can see a sea of wild flowers outside Carrizo Plain National Monument near Soda Lake in the southwest plain.