Wind Wolves Preserve near Bakersfield, CA

About two and a half hours south from Fresno there is a Wind Wolves Preserve famous to be "the west coast's largest non-profit preserve". Indeed, at 93,000 acres, it stretches out miles and miles away from where you started. The rolling hills are green at this time of the year and appear to have a smooth cover of grass and wild flowers.

Given this is one of the wettest years in California, I expected to see more wildflowers, but only a few areas had plentiful spots of white, blue and yellow plants.

We took a long hike along the dried out river on the way back. Surprisingly, there was really no water even with the amount of rain we got this year. Sheep, however, did not mind.

On this hot winter day (did I say hot and winter in the same sentence? Yes! We are in California!) there was lots of sunshine, and my sunblock from last year just did not do the trick as I realized having come home.

Back to the trail... We started out on the Tule Elk Trail that has a pretty significant elevation in the beginning, but the flattens out and leads to the valley.

At about a 4.25 mile mark, we transitioned to the El Camino Viejo Mountain Bike Trail for a short period of time, and then merged into the San Emigdio Canyon Trail completing the 8.5 mile loop. It was a moderate hike for me because of the initial elevation gain, length and heat.

Here is the map of the Wind Wolves Preserve in case you decide to check it out.