Hiking Vasquez Rocks - 03/13/2010

What started out to be a Saturday photo-op at Vasquez Rocks County Park turned into a 3-mile hike. I drove up to Vasquez Rocks to look for wildflowers, but once I got there, I decided to start hiking some of the areas in the park that I had never investigated before. Usually when I head up there, I stay mainly around the “famous” rocks, the ones that everyone has seen in the movies and on TV shows, but today, I hiked out behind the “main rock” then headed over to a section of the Pacific Crest Hiking Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, travels from Mexico to Canada through 3 western states, California, Oregon and Washington. Here is a link to information about this trail:

http://www.fs.fed.us/pct/

I had hoped that there would be wildflowers, but the only ones I saw were some little purple ones that blanketed the floors of the canyon and a couple of others that were actually some bushes that were in bloom, one being Bladderpod. There were a lot of people there enjoying the park and even some rock climbers.

All in all, I had a great morning. Spent 2 ½ hours exploring and loving every minute of it.

If you are interested in reading more about Vasquez Rocks County Park, here are some links that you may find interesting:

http://parks.lacounty.gov/Parkinfo.asp?URL=cms1_033383.asp&Title=Vasquez%20%20Rocks%20Natural%20Area%20and%20Center

http://www.santaclaritaguide.com/VasquezRocks.html

http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/vasquez.html