We woke up to a beautiful, sunny SoCal day, a stark contrast to the last time we spent the night in Axle. I slept much better, but we still need to come up with a better mattress solution, specifically one that actually fits in the back.
Before heading off, we took advantage of our isolated location to play around with the drone for a little while. The hills were a lush green from all the rain and the trail that we were on yesterday looked like it continued for a few more miles up and along the ridge line. It would have been fun to do a longer walk but we wanted to get to our next destination, Vasquez Rocks Natural Area and Nature Center, a short, 10-minute drive away.
It’s often used as a filming location and a sign near the entrance touted 100 years of filming history. I recognized some of the movies, but couldn’t recall specific scenes featuring the rocks. I’m guessing the site is probably most recognized as the place where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn in Season 1, Episode 18 (“The Arena”) of Star Trek because the Interpretative Center actually had a Gorn mask for sale.
There are multiple parking lots and we drove all the way to end where there’s a large lot right next to the famous rocks, which are really impressive up close. I could appreciate the geologic forces that resulted in the jagged formation. We scrambled up the crevices but decided not to go all the way to the top. It was already crowded with people and we didn’t feel like we needed to join them on a potentially precarious perch.
Back down on the ground, we decided to loosely follow a trail that took us southeast towards a large group of reddish brown rocks that formed the side of a canyon through which the Pacific Crest Trail ran. We followed the trail as it criss-crossed a stream.
In less than half a mile we reached a major junction and left the PCT. Here, we headed north, walking through some low hills. Eventually we came alongside another large outcropping of rocks that looked like stacked pancakes. As a group of people made their way down we decided to head over. We had timed this well and got to have the top to ourselves. Rather than going back down to the trail we had come from, we walked north along the ridge, eventually finding another trail that took as back down and towards the parking lot. It had been a short hike, just a little over an hour, but we got to explore different corners of the park and enjoy unique rock formations.
Shortly after 11 A.M we started our drive back north. A lot of driving had been involved in our weekend getaway, but we had managed to pack in quite a lot, from attending an overland show and spending a night camping, to hiking in a park we had never been to before. But more importantly, it had been fun and a great change of scenery that didn’t require too much advanced planning. It’s another reason I can’t wait to get into the next phase of our overlanding travel!