Carrizo Plain National Monument Tours

Carrizo Plain National Monument is home to a number of curiously beautiful sights, both natural and man-made. Among those, visitors can expect to see an ancient rock art site, a creek bed disrupted by the San Andreas Fault, and a lake filled with a glistening layer of white salt. Adjacent to the southwest edge of the San Joaquin Valley, the monument is a 250,000-acre oasis and a diverse complex of habitats for many endangered, threatened and rare species of plants and animals. Soda Lake covers about 3,000 acres and is one of the most dominant geographic features of the plain. As mineral-laden surface water evaporates, a crust forms in the lake, creating a glistening white bed of salt that has become a famous attraction. The Carrizo Plain is traversed by the San Andreas Fault, providing spectacular topography along the eastern edge. Ridges rise sharply from the plain to form the Panorama and Elkhorn Hills, and temporary pools and salt-encrusted ponds appear along the fault, trapping rainwater to create stunning scenery. Painted Rock, a large U-shaped rock outcrop just south of the Goodwin Education Center, features what was once an elaborate, multicolored pictograph site created by the Chumash, a Native American people who historically inhabited the coastal regions of California. Both the interior and exterior sides have paintings, including geometric images as well as human figures, snakes and aquatic images. There are numerous seasonal recreational opportunities, many focused on the plain's abundant birds and wildflowers. Aside from the organized tours, hiking, biking, birding, wildlife viewing and scenic drives are all popular. The San Andreas, Soda Lake, Elkhorn and Seven Mile roads within the monument combine to offer a stunning 70-mile scenic loop drive, and the nearby Goodwin Education Center provides interpretive exhibits and educational programs.