Sunday at the Santa Rosa Plateau

When we learned that the hike to the Vernal Pools was reopened, after a 2019 wildfire charred the Plateau's landscape, we were excited to go back!

The Reserve consists of 9,000 acres of land that has been set aside to protect unique ecosystems like Engelmann oak woodlands, riparian wetlands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, bunchgrass prairie, vernal pools and more than 200 species of native birds and 49 endangered, threatened or rare animal and plant species, including mule deer, mountain lions, badgers, bobcats, western pond turtles, and white-tailed kites.

There are 40 miles of trails though we only traversed a little over three of them.

The famous vernal pools are home to fairy shrimp. Two species of these shrimp live in the seasonal pools on the Reserve, but only one is found here and nowhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the pools in all their glory. Next year we'll come sooner.

Landmark NO. 1005 reads, "SANTA ROSA RANCHO - Located on the Santa Rosa Plateau Preserve, the historical site of the Santa Rosa Rancho is a prime example of various historical phases of cattle ranching in Southern California. Archeological evidence gathered from the site indicates that various bands of Luiseño Indians established village and religious sites on the land. No other historic rancho site in Southern California retains so much of its original setting undisturbed."

Home to Native Americans for thousands of years, their way of life came to an end in the 1820s with the secularization of mission lands. The Santa Rosa Plateau became Rancho Santa Rosa in 1846, under a 47,000-acre Mexican land grant given to a rancher named Juan Moreno, who raised cattle and sheep. In 1855, Señor Moreno sold his ranch to his neighbor, Augustin Machado (owner of the Rancho La Laguna, today the Lake Elsinore area). The adobes that Moreno and Machado owned still stand as the oldest structures in Riverside County.

The ranch passed from owner to owner until 1904, when the Vails, a ranching family from Arizona, purchased the Rancho, plus much of what was to become Murrieta and Temecula.

In 1964, the Vails sold the ranch to the Kaiser Steel Company, which master-planned Rancho California, the communities that today comprise the cities of Temecula and Murrieta. The Nature Conservancy of California, recognizing the abundancy of unique and rare species supported on the Plateau lands, purchased 3,100 acres from the owner in 1984. Additional purchases have now expanded the Plateau’s protected size to nearly 8,500 acres. Thank goodness for their foresight!

I enjoyed meandering along the paths surrounding the adobes, which are filled with various Native American plants with identifying plaques. I thought this was extra special. "Indian milkweed (Ascelepias eriocarpa) is a perennial herb with light green woolly leaves. Flowers are creamy white with a pink tinge. Monarch butterflies use the nectar of milkweeds as a food source throughout their life cycle."

We have spent many a delightful morning wandering about here. On each visit we see/learn/experience something different. It is definitely a local treasure.

We Dream of Travel said it best, "I love that moment in a hike when you snap to and suddenly realize for the last 10 minutes you’ve not been observing nature but have instead become a part of it.”

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1 comments:

Four Points Bulletin said...: Hey! You made it! I am so thankful that the vernal pools are finally open. This whole area reminds me of home. My mom was a docent there in the 80s, did you know that? I remember going on a hike with some people, my mom as the leader, and she took us under an oak tree where there were mortars. I wish I wasn't so young then, I would love to know where those treasures are. I have a feeling, but it would involve going off trail...; March 23, 2022 at 6:07 AM

HAERR TRIPPIN'

Sunday at the Santa Rosa Plateau

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