Tuesday Feb 20, 2018

Back Roads, Hoping for Wild Flowers

I was planning a driving trip for Luann and me to take the Old Stage Road from Salinas to San Juan Bautista. I checked the maps and it said it was unpaved in some places, which made Luann and bit nervous. But it was a beautiful day and we headed out around 10am. We drove through the middle of Salinas and up the main road past the Rodeo Grounds where I showed Luann where I had taken pictures earlier. From the north end of town I found San Juann Grade Road and the Old Stage Road branch. A sign said the road was for local traffic only, closed 3.5 miles ahead. We pressed on.

I hadn't been to that part of the Salinas Valley in a while and was sad to see how people used the county roads as dump sites. Some of this must be because of the increasing cost at the public refuse transfer sites (dumps in my day) but I think a lot of it was just laziness and lack of pride. Who would spoil the outdoors by dumping their trash, discarded TVs and refrigerators and waste on the side of the road. I've seen this mentality before, leave your trash in the parking lot on the ground rather than walk 50 feet to use the trash can. Lazy and stupid.

We found the end of the road and there was a gate blocking the way. The private land along the way was posted as no trespassing and I'm a believer is staying off of other's land unless invited so we turned back. There was a sign that also helped me make up my mind: "No Trespassing. Violators will be shot, fed to the coyotes and then the sheriff will be called" I didn't even stop to take a picture of the sign.

We ended up taking San Juan Grade Road. The hills had turned green with the rains but there were no wild flowers blooming yet. The road was fully paved and ended up in San Juan Baptista. A few pictures at the mission grounds, lunch in town then back to Highway 101 and home.

Photo of the Day

Mission San Juan Bautista and Bell Tower