OYE: Blue Moon Burst Day Party at Wind Wolves Preserve

Of course another wonderful event put on by the best Unilocal ambassador ever!!! Mckenzie did a great job getting us outside and tapping a wonderful local resource that I think most people from Bakersfield are unaware of myself included. I am not athletic at all but this hike was fairly mild and was not too hard as long as your sense of balance is good. The very informative leaders that told us about the native animals and plants that they preserve on their property. We were able to see several deer and even a baby scorpion (with the help of a black light as they glow under it). Towards the end of the hike we were able to pause and watch the big blue moon rise over the mountains. I was so beautiful. We were then treated to yummy snacks by NV Café. The chicken skewers were very yummy and the Unilocal cookies were just the right touch. The Unilocal water canteens were a perfect swag gift to start out the hike and having water readily available to fill them up before we left was very thoughtful. I am so glad we came to this event and I look forward to bringing my kids here in the future.

First off, who knew Wind Wolves Preserve was just outside of Bakersfield!!? When I asked some friends in town about hiking trails, they point me in the opposite direction further away. Thanks to this event, many of us now know of a great area for hiking not too far out of town!
After we all signed our lives away to Wind Wolves, we started the hike just after the sun set. Love night hikes, especially in new places — going in seeing where you’re headed and coming out with no clear picture of where you really were. It just makes me want to explore the area again during the day. Which is exactly what I’ll be doing the next time I have time to make it out there.
It was about a two mile guided hike, it was informative and fun. Learned there’s such a thing as a Bakersfield Cactus, which the preserve help grow, as well as salt bushes. Wind Wolves also have a program for volunteers to come out and help plant them around the preserve. We came across a cottonwood tree and mistletoe, and our lead guide spotted a tiny baby scorpion in the middle of the path with her black light.
After the hike, back at the visitor’s center we were greater with fresh pressed juices from Moo Creamery, and catering from NV Café. The juices were refreshing and the sandwiches tastey.

Wow, this place is beautiful. From the rustic décor, to the old bones, I had a blast.
We started off the night with a pretty tame hike around the hills of the preserve. We came across scorpions, some cool plants and then as we were heading back we stopped to watch the blue moon rise.
After that we went and had some food and drink at the Preserves main building. I had a great time and can’t wait to get back out there and explore.

Awesome event!!! This was only our second OYE and so glad we were able to make it! It’s right up my alley (although my better half isn’t a big fan of hiking)! We both had a great time and was so excited that another friend was able to make it on the list (it was her first Unilocal event)! We’ve been to Wind Wolves before so this wasn’t our first hike in their trails. Always love coming out here and my favorite are the night hikes! Love seeing the clear sky at night and the stars we never see in the sky when we’re in Bakersfield! At this blue moon hike, we were fortunate to see the moon rise over the mountain! Such an amazing experience! Food was great and the Unilocal schwags were cool! Looking forward to the next OYE!!!

The Blue Moon Burst Day Hike was one of the most fun and informative Unilocal events I have been too yet. Wind Wolves provided a fantastic venue, NV Café & Catering served up some delicious treats, Moo Creamery had juice samples and the Unilocal water bottles was the perfect swag.
On the drive up to The Crossing we spotted 3 deer. This was just the start of our adventure on the hike we learned about the preserve, Bakersfield Catcus, spotted mountain lion tracks, mistletoe and 3 baby scorpions. It culminated with the blue moon emerging from behind the mountains perfectly framed by 2 peaks. It was a truly memorable experience.
Following the hike we were treated to some wonderful snacks by NV Café & Catering. The steak and avocado & chicken skewers were very well executed and the pastries were the perfect end to the night. Thank you to all that came and provided such a wonderful experience.

I had the best time on this night hike! What a creative idea. I have never been to the preserve and am glad to have had the opportunity. I’ll surely go back. This was an enjoyable walk appropriate for all athletic abilities. It was fun to be in nature and get a little sweaty and muddy! It was also nice to cool off with an icy cold refreshing drink and a snack at the end. Bravo to everyone who made this such a fantastic evening!

As a school teacher I have brought groups of kids out to Wind Wolves to share in an educational experience about plants and animals native to our area. However, sharing a night hike with adults was way fun! Got to meet a lot of cool people, and I love when people discover this little gem we have right here in our area.
I plan on checking out the webpage to continue to be up to date on events Wind Wolves is having, and different opportunities to share experiences with friends and family. The naturalists are true professionals and have lots of interesting information to share.
Thanks for a great event McKenzie, my first OYE event was awesome!

What is better that a night hike with a bunch of cool Unilocalers?!
I was doggone tired but we went anyways and I am so glad that we did not miss it. I had never been here before! I did not even know this was here!
The area is just so beautiful and well kept. Home to many endangered plants, I learned a lot!
The staff could not have been nicer, very friendly and informative. Jana! (the other Jana!) You held a tarantula! Our guide was super nice too.
I could not wait to get started on the mountain. The hike itself was not too challenging but walking around unsure footing at night (holes, mud) sure makes it different! I had to have earned a little badge tonight hugging a tree trunk so as not to fall in the mud at a 45 degree angle with a popped knee in new hiking boots (ouchie!) :)
I loved when people announced that a critter (IE glowing baby scorpions) was spotted and I rushed to it! This Canadian is not used to seeing so much Cali ‘wildlife‘at one time! Ha! OK, well we saw 3 deer while it was still light out and that was normal for me but just as beautiful!
The stars were out, saw a shooting one and was able to make a wish! The blue moon came out and we all just stared in wonder snapping away on our phones for pics.
THANK YOU McKenzie for making this night happen, getting cold water to the event, the water bottle gifts and the vendors who gave us a nice spread of food and drink. LOVED the bag of sample goodies! Adored the jalapeño THRIVE drink and I will drive to Moo just for those!
We got to meet some awesome new Unilocalers, listen to the toads sing, get some great exercise and breathe some air that was just a little bit cleaner!
5 stars for sure! Very grateful!

What a great event. We were afraid it would be really hot but a nice breeze kept it tolerable. There was a good sized group attending. I don’t know the precise number. We checked in at the visitor’s center then were directed to the starting point for the moonlight hike about a half mile away. We had been to that location years ago and remembered it well having attended a star party there when members of the Kern Astronomical Society. The trail which used to be dirt had been upgraded. Our guide took us off the main trail along a dirt path that crossed the creek at several points with stops along the way to describe plants and animals. We saw grazing deer and soaring crows before starting. Our guide also told us there was now a large herd of elk residing on the Preserve. Along the path we saw toads, frogs, doves, quail and even scorpions which were visible with a black light. I never realized that they showed up with a black light. I guess I will have to invest in one for my hiking/​triking back pack. It was dark when we returned and we even stopped to enjoy the moon rise. What a beautiful site and a number of people took photos of it.
To end it all we drove back to the visitor’s center where there was a wonderful array of light bites provided by NV Catering and cold pressed fruit drinks provided by Moo Creamery. Everything was absolutely delicious.
We are both looking forward to visiting Wind Wolves again.

Awesome Bakersfield Unilocal event at Wind Wolves Preserve national park on the outskirt of Bakersfield that should be exemplary to other Unilocal events, where we hiked for over 2 miles– spectated glowing scorpions, witnessed rare plants and witnessed the rise of the moon from the horizon, also mingled with other Unilocalers, and received awesome Unilocal swags and delicious Free food.
As a Fresno Unilocal squad, I must say Bakersfield Unilocal Squad is doing a great job building the healthy Unilocal community needed in the Central Valley cities, I do hope my city Fresno could catch up, even though Fresno is bigger and more populous, the Unilocal community is not progressing very well yet or as healthy in comparison Bakersfield, it was for that reason that I wanted to attend Bakersfield Unilocal event, and takes notes and see what Unilocal in my city could be doing, or how does Fresno Unilocal event compare to Bakersfield Unilocal event.
The 2 mile experience hiking up a gorgeous foothill in the twilight was really exciting despite it being short (1 hours 20 minutes), the unique feeling of nature that changes as the light disappear from the horizon was just out of this world, especially with nocturnal animals slowly making an appearance like the stink bug and glowing in the dark scorpion babies but also I noticed the change in sound and smell too. Plus when your accompanied by the park guide, explaining every single detail of the national forest, you can’t help to have a good time. The cream of the cake was of course being in the presence with other Unilocalers, being able to talk to them and make new friends.
My key memorable experience was meeting this lovely girl who happens to be half filipino and white– Im bad with remembering names, and also some other Unilocal member who was an editor for a newspaper, and a few lovely couples names I can’t remember– where we discussed about nature, food in their local scene, and also their experiences with Unilocal as a whole. In addition the knowledge gathered from this event was also awesome, like rare plants that existed here and what exactly is a blue moon– apparently a blue moon isn’t even blue, it juts happens to just indicate a rare occurrence of having 2 full moon in a month.
What I really love about this event, is how it combined the true essence of the central valley and its beauty and that is the gorgeous national parks that surround us, we dont need to have our events in a fancy coffee places, or bizarre food like other cities, instead we have something better that other cities envy enough, and I think Mckenzie did a great job selecting the location and the theme of the entire Unilocal event. There are some suggestion I have for Unilocal to make their events even better in the future, but I must say this event was close to perfect.
The positive:
1. The event was organized– check in was smooth, event organizers were present and helpful.
2. There was a nice meet and greet time– enough time for everyone to break the ice
3. The location was gorgeous
4. Organizers Mckenzie and Trish were awesome and friendly, and was present through out.
5. The finger food selection was nicely set up and delicious.
Here are some of my suggestion:
1. Maybe break the group to 2– so that everyone can hear the guide, most people didn’t have a chance to hear the guide properly because it was too big of a group.
2. Maybe instead of everyone driving, getting the park bus to shuttle everyone would have been more fun and more efficient– because I was sort of disoriented when they told me to drive to the hiking point, I was like what, and where? good thing I met another Unilocaler who showed me where to go with her.
3. I was slightly disappointed that the hike only started after 8.10, instead of it being at 7.45 or something earlier, because it was too dark to spectate the nature around us and take more photos.
4. Park waiver and Unilocal waiver should have been signed off together instead of it being separated– made things confusing for me at least.
5. The food was cold but was delicious– meat skewers and fingers food were perfect in taste though, probably because the timing was off– the hike was longer than 1 hour, maybe a better rehearsed time or estimated time from the experts from the park themselves would have made it perfect.
6. The buffet table should be in the middle, there was such a bad traffic congestion as everyone was lining up through the door, there was no exit point where people could move, many of the tables and chairs was blocking people from walking after taking their food.
7. The fresh juice was really delicious, I just wished it was unlimited, because I couldn’t go back for seconds.
Overall great job Unilocal Bakersfield! Your event by your ambassador Mckenzie did not disappoint, and clearly was worth the 2 hour drive to your city from Fresno and your lucky to have such an awesome Unilocal ambassador that truly cares and does great thing for your Unilocal community !

We are huge fans of Wind Wolves so we jumped at the chance to make it our first Unilocal event.
We had a great night! The trail was fairly easy to hike and the scenery was gorgeous! NV Catering did amazing… I loved it all, especially the chicken skewers and macarons!
Thank you McKenzie for putting this together!

I cannot believe that in all the time we lived here we didn’t know this little gem existed! Thanks to a wonderful Unilocal event we got to check it out. (Was a perfect event)
It’s absolutely beautiful. I can see there are plenty of trails to try. There are picnic benches throughout to sit for a quick break or enjoy a packed lunch. The area is clean and the paths well kept.
We had wonderful guides tonight that were very knowledgable about the local plants and animals. Scorpions glow under a black light. Who knew? Well I guess they did lol.
Can’t wait to bring my daughters here. They will love it. Will definitely be looking forward to emails about upcoming activities. We will be donating each time we come, so that this great place stays open.

Never heard of this place til just recently; but it was nice. The tour guide was great, she seemed pretty knowledgeable about the area and she even spotted a baby scorpion for us in the dark. It was an awesome hike and I enjoyed my time there very much. Really cool event!

Blue Moon Burst Day Party at Wind Wolves Preserve was a lot of fun and educational. I know you probably think Party and learning don’t mix, unless you attended this event, but there was lots to be enthralled by if you haven’t hiked at night, and spotted glowing scorpions and dangling mistletoe, along with thousands of frogs, crickets, and nature’s creatures of the night lurking nearby. It was great!
We got the opportunity to see the Blue Moon as it peaked through the mountains on our downward trek back to the party that awaited us.
Did you know that Bakersfield has it’s own cactus? Well, Wind Wolves Preserve is helping to preserve and keep it thriving here in the region by spotting cactus that are in trouble, nursing them back to health and replanting them. Have you heard of red, yellow, green lichen? It’ an algae, bacteria mix that covers that rocks throughout the preserve. Eventually the lichen will erode the rock until one day it is but earth. We’ll not get to see this mystery in our lifetime, but ions and ions in the future children will see what we could only surmise. How cool is that?
There was so much to be learned about the environment around us, here in our own valley.
I snuck away for about 20 minutes prior to the start of the event to enjoy the beauty of the preserve and capture some beautiful pictures and capture some beautiful pictures of natural habitat and I wasn’t disappointed.
You know I am so glad I was included in the Unilocal event because I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Making our way through dry creek beds and a little bit of mud added to this adventure. I know I have forgotten many things, and I really tried hard to remember.
I would have loved to see the constellation hike. But that will be next time!
Thanks Unilocal for this wonderful event! It was fun. The food provided by NV Catering was really delicious. I LOVED the juices provided by Thrive. The Beet Juice with Ginger, and the Lemon Juice with Jalepeno. It was quite the kick! From a personal sit down with Justinne Kenzer (Psychic Girl) I found her suggestions for meditation inspirational. Alicia Burnett Photography, that woman can hike a mountain, capture lots of pictures and smile the entire time. I know she captured some amazing shots.
Thank you to our tour guide Linda Vasquez, who made the preserve come to life after the lights were turned out and the trails were lit with our flashlights and voices. She really has a way of presentation that makes we want to come back and do this again! I am definitely going to plan on attending the Harvest Party Hike she spoke of.
And last but certainly not least, Thank you to McKenzie S. and The Unilocal help crew who brought all of this together, made if fun for everyone, and made sure we got some of that swag.
Looking forward to the next Unilocal event!

Facing a fear is being against all odds in yourself as you are trying to conquer fear itself. I was able to do this last night thank to McKenzie and the Bakersfield Unilocal team. Also a thank you to my wife Maricel P who nudged me to do it.
What fear you ask? I can’t see well at night and being out in the middle of nowhere with just a flashlight unknowing of what the path beholds scares me to death, but I conquered it. When I look at Unilocal Events and this is only the 2^nd I have been able to attend I look for multiple reasons to go. You have you known facts, live up to being Elite, network with fellow Unilocalers/​Elitist, engage in the Unilocal activities, embrace new flavors of food and of course McKenzie knows how to throw a mean event. But I look for other things I might possible take away from it, this one had many written all over it.
Wind Wolves Preserve — I have heard of it but never been here, my youngest son visited last year with his school and he loved it. I’m not physically fit but I am capable of making an effort to do things and I wanted to see if I could do this mild hike or stroll as some called it. The drive from the SW Bakersfield area to Wind Wolves was rather nice and not long at all. I’m from Earlimart so I’m used to driving down back roads like the 166. I believe it was Felix who asked if the path would be marked for Unilocalers who have never visited but it wasn’t hard to find.
It was nice seeing my fellow Unilocalers I met at the last event like Felix and the Unilocalers who I’ve seen on the TALK threads like Aaron & Pat. We had an excellent sized group of maybe 40 and everyone was super supportive throughout the night to help each other get across the muddy streams, ducking below a low hanging tree and the steps as we hiked.
Our tour guide provided awesome insight on the things many of us didn’t know, like for instance Bakersfield has its own Cactus! You can also volunteer to help preserve these cactus on Wednesdays and Saturdays I believe and breakfast is provided.
I can’t lie, this journey was a bit of a challenge for me but I loved it as time passed on throughout the evening. We took adequate breaks and paused to look at mistletoe hanging, watermelon looking plants, and a baby scorpion. There was a moment when our guide had us stop, turn off all lights and just bask in the ambiance of the outdoors. We listened and heard crickets, frogs and bats.
We weren’t able to see the BLUE MOON up until almost the end when the moon started to creep up behind the mountain ridge and it set us up for one of the best moments of the night. Our whole group watched in an almost awe like daze as we watch this rare occurrence.
After our hike we headed back to the Visitor’s Center for refreshments and a taste of NV Café. My wife and I did not get to taste everything offered as we were some of the last to return. The Chicken Skewers were nicely flavored, the veggie sandwiches I thought to be nice & lite. I tried a few of the desserts, whatever was that square dessert, that ROCKED! And I don’t go for desserts either so that quite a bit. We were also offered a variety of Unilocal Schwag which is always welcomed!!!
Can’t wait until the next Unilocal EVENT!

I had a great time at Wind Wolves. I just wish we could have started the hike a little earlier and perhaps hiked for at least 3 miles. Hike was so short that I didn’t even get to drink any of my water that I was carrying lol
Hiking at night is abosulutly amazing, specially with no flashlights. Your eyes adjust to the darkness, you could see some stars up in the night summer skies. Every step in the darkness you took, you could hear the rocky earth beneath your shoes. It was a evening to remember, specially hanging out with all the fellow Unilocalers and meeting new ones as well.
Thanks again Unilocal/​McKenzie for all your hard work. Also thanks to Wind Wolves, Moo creamy and NV catering for always coming thru with great service, NV with great food and a fancy set up.

I had been wanting to trek through Wind Wolves by night, and I’m thankful for McKenzie’s efforts for bringing this into fruition. Happy birthday to her!
My tennis shoes are full of mud. I’m a bit exhausted, but hey: We didn’t get attacked by bears or mountain lions, or brush up on any poison ivy! Perhaps some mosquito bites here and there, but the stroll was awesome! It was even a cool sight seeing a trail of the different lights being flashed by my fellow Unilocalers. we looked like a group of rave club nomads The Unilocal swag and sampler grub were a great compliment (the chicken skewer!) and I am very glad I RSVP’d.

First off, awesome job McKenzie for the great event!
I haven’t been out to Wind Wolves in years so I was excited to finally be able to come back. The location is extremely beautiful and you wouldn’t expect it to be so close to home. MJ and I came a little early and got to wander the location, and now we are thinking about coming back to camp/​day hike. I had never been on a night hike before so I figured it was going to be interesting. The trail we took wasn’t very challenging, but it was nice for the time that we had. My shoes definitely got muddy from that one portion of the trail. Wish I had taken pictures but my phone isn’t the best. It was cool watching the moon rise over the mountain and it didn’t hurt that the weather wasn’t bad either.
The food was wonderful. NV Catering did a great job with their snacks. The steak with avocado and tomato was awesome as well as the sandwich. Everything was pretty good. I’m normally not very fond of juices but Moo Creamery had some good ones. I mainly enjoyed the tropical green one (forgot what it was called).
Awesome job again, and till the next event!

Great experience. The trails were awesome and I never knew we had anything like this so close to Bakersfield. The guides we very informative and knowledgable. We even saw a baby scorpion that glowed under the black light.
The food was very good too. I didn’t get a juice sample from Moo Creamery but the meat skewers and veggie sandwiches were both light and flavorful. Perfect for after a hike. The mini pasties were very good too. Great job NV Café.
Another awesome event coordinated by the birthday girl (yesterday) Mackenzie. Thank you!