By Labor Day Monday, things had cooled off around here to a mere 90 degrees or so; I almost needed a hoodie, haha. After doing very little all weekend I was raring to go, but I didn’t know where. I stared at Google Maps for a while and eventually went to San Luis National Wildlife Refuge near Los Banos. This wasn’t exactly a great idea. The reason I chose to go in that direction (southeast) was I figured there would be bad traffic in most other directions. I was longing for the coast but I figured so was every other person in the entire Bay Area. I figured no one would be going in the direction I was headed, which was mostly true. And although San Luis NWR is quite huge, mine was the ONLY car in the parking lot. The whole time I was there I saw only one other couple, who were fishing. The reasons none of this was particularly great were: a) it was no cooler in that direction, if anything, it was warmer (although it wasn’t actually uncomfortable, so this wasn’t a big deal), b) I left relatively late in the day and the refuge is well over an hour and a half away, so I felt somewhat rushed, c) the biggest attraction of this particular wildlife refuge are its two auto route circuits: there are very few miles of hiking trails off the main visitor center parking area (and some of them require getting on a one-way auto route circuit to get to them). There is a time and place when auto routes are welcome, but after driving on extra boring highways for close to two hours is not one of them – especially if said drive had been preceded by a weekend of inactivity. Plus, the auto routes were extremely dusty and I had to get my convertible washed inside and out the next day. That said, it was a pleasant day and I saw a decent amount of wildlife.
Here is the big sign that greets you at the Visitor Center parking lot. It proclaims that the auto tours are a great way to see wildlife because wildlife becomes accustomed to vehicles and will often ignore them and you can use your car as a blind. I found this to be totally untrue; most of the photos I took that day were of startled raptors flying away from my car.
This bridge looks really nice and stable but was extremely creaky.
Little amphitheater near the visitor center, which by the way was closed on federal holidays, which I guess might be another reason I didn’t pick the best day to go.
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