Devil Winds, Santa Rosa Plateau, Murrieta, CA (#114)


 

California’s most common landscape is chaparral – akin to what’s found in the Mediterranean where winters are mild and summers are dry.   

 

Scrubby and thorny, chaparral carries the scent of sage. It shelters mountain lions and wrentits — the little brown songbirds whose calls bounce like ping-pong balls across the hillsides.  It’s well adapted to fire.  And found at all elevations throughout the state.

 

At a high elevation sits the Santa Rosa Plateau which lies at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.  It’s a rare flat expanse above the crowded valleys below and is chock-full of uninterrupted chaparral.   Occasionally, ferocious winds roar across the plateau and the Santa Ana mountains.  These devil winds – the Santa Anas – sometimes fan wildfires, as happened recently in Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu. 

 

Steely Dan once wrote lyrics about those devil winds.  For years the words Here come those Santa Ana winds again floated in my head without context.  Maybe it was foreshadowing of my lifelong fascination with exploring new landscapes.  If it somehow led me to this exploration of chaparral, I owe Walter Becker and Donald Fagen a beer. 

 

The parking lot at the visitor center is empty when I arrive before sunrise. I set out on a quick loop trail to get an up-close taste of chaparral.  It’s a quiet stroll around boulders, sage, and the plateau’s defining tree - the Engelmann oaks which grow only in Southern California and the Baja peninsula.    

 


 

Next, I drive very slowly to the vernal pool trail several miles away.  It too has an empty parking lot. The mountaintop air is cool and refreshing.  A few streaks of sunshine radiate through the clouds bringing spirit to the seemingly unending chaparral on a Sunday morning. 

 

The trek to the pool is a naturalist’s delight.  Though the pool is dry, it remains an active place.  Phoebes, kingbirds, meadowlarks, woodpeckers and goldfinch are thriving.  The omnipresent chamise – the thick ground covering brush – is holding onto remnants of its yellow flowers.  A patch of prickly pear is plump with fruit.  A deer is spotted on a knoll.  And coyote scat is aplenty on the trail.

 

Exploring the plateau has been wonderful – very peaceful morning strolls through an unfamiliar landscape of quiet beauty.  My senses have been on full alert.  When I return to the parking lot, a jovial volunteer fills me in on the importance of the Engelmanns and is impressed by the list of birds I encountered.    

 

Southern California may be crowded, but up here on the plateau it’s more open and still – and a bit like a secret hiding place.  TNC recognizes its specialness too; that this place, with its Engelmann oaks, species aplenty, and endless chaparral, deserves protection.  Perhaps I was drawn here to explore a new landscape this morning, in some way, by a single line of Steely Dan lyrics.  But I’ll leave here with a full symphony of wonderful memories.  


LEARN MORE ABOUT SANTA ROSA PLATEAU HERE.


Location: Murrieta, CA

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