As most of you know, I live in the People's Republik of Kommiefornia. Finding somewhere to shoot, specially black powder, is an exercise in frustration. There are a couple private clubs locally, but the wait to get in is several years. And the yearly cost is a factor.
The local BLM access has been blocked for over a year now. They claim fire hazard and road damage from the storms as the reason. Unforunately, I think that's a lie. Every public BLM area has been closed, and they keep moving the re-open dates further out. It was supposed to be February 2nd, now they're saying May 22nd. I don't believe they will ever re-open.
So I started doing some serious research, and think I've found a place! When I was younger, we used to go to a place called Lytle Creek. It's in the foothills of the local mountains. When I lived at home, it was only about a 30 minute drive. It was basically just public land, bordering a creek, that you could set up targets and shoot all day. Well as you can probably imagine, people ruined it. After years of crazies going up there and dragging all manor of garbage with them to shoot at, the place became a dangerous dump and was closed. It remained closed for many years.
Fast forward to now, and there's good news! A few years ago, someone took it over and has opened an actual range there. It's clean and safe, and open to the public. They allow any legal firearms to be shot, including black powder. I'm kind of excited about it! it's about an hour drive, one way. But that's not a big deal to me. I'm going to go up there this week and check it out. If it works out, I'll be doing a lot more shooting!
If I can get up there a couple times a month, I'll be happy. I will start making videos and taking lots of pictures. I got a couple GoPro type camera for Xmas, and I want to put them to good use. So stay tuned!!