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The Sisquoc Falls: A Little Known Region in California Explored (1884)
Sisquoc Falls, located in a restricted condor sanctuary in the San Rafael Wilderness, is officially off-limits to the general public. The following narrative was originally published in the Santa Maria...
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A Feeling of Aliveness Hard to Find In Any City
Sunset in fall, Los Padres National Forest. Rich sensory perception is the essence of human existence and it occurs in nature more strikingly than perhaps anywhere else. In the remote, less visited...
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Jack Elliott’s Custom Deluxe Trail Cakes
The more time I spend hiking the more important food becomes both in taste and nutritive content. Sooner rather than later it seems every sort of energy bar, snack, meal and caloric form is tried. Some...
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Finding Clarity and Perspective in the Wilderness
Castle Rock, San Rafael Wilderness Concerns in the wilderness revolve around basic necessities not luxuries. Removal from the busy, overstocked urban realm and immersion in the sparse serenity of...
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Return to Whiteacre Peak or Day of the Condor
A long lost condor radio transmitter on Whiteacre Peak. Condors seem to have an eye on Whiteacre Peak in Sespe Wilderness. The first time Stillman (davidstillman.blogspot.com) and I hiked the peak,...
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Mountain Lion Skull
Back in August (Life and Death in a Creek) I had mentioned happening across a dead mountain lion while out poking around the Los Padres. Some time afterward Stillman and I returned to the site and he...
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A Goofy Guerilla Camp, Cedar Creek
Along Cedar Creek Trail While ranging off trail recently I came across a bootleg camp along a small spring-fed tributary of Cedar Creek in Sespe Wilderness. It was situated right in the creek. Branches...
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Lost Valley, Hurricane Deck, Potrero Cyn 20 Mile Day Hike
Hurricane Deck, the prominent ridge defining the skyline. There is no trace of water on Hurricane Deck, no trees and no campgrounds. It’s a 20 mile long ridgeline with south facing cliffs and steep...
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Ballard Camp, Figueroa Mountain
La Jolla Trail Trail through the oak trees. Dropping into Birabent Canyon on La Jolla Trail. A U.S. Forest Service stove at Ballard Camp, which was presumably named after the nearby town of Ballard or...
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Lion’s Mane Mushroom
Afternoon reflections on a deep pool, which would be a lot deeper, as the mineral stain on the rock shows, were it not for the current droughty conditions. Hericium mushrooms are one of the subtle...
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Rock Art Ramblin’, Searching For Chumash Pictographs
David Stillman standing at the base of the second fall in a series of waterfalls which flow when it rains. So we go and so it is, around this bend and that, up over and down under and around we go...
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Chumash Polychrome Rock Art
The painted cave is shown here at center frame. These Chumash pictographs are located in a remarkable cave with a lofty view overlooking the surrounding countryside. It has a level floor and is...
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Oyster Mushrooms
Wind carved tunnel through soft sandstone. We spent yesterday morning wambling our way through the brush, up a shady wet canyon and back down the canyon, up an adjacent exposed sunny ridge over and...
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Montecito Peak, Santa Ynez Mountains
Montecito Peak, Santa Ynez Mountains Numerous parked cars line the road at the trailhead when I arrive one September morning. Several people in different small groups linger about getting ready for a...
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Mussel Harvest At Low Tide: Modern Man, Ancient Practice
It’s been 80 degrees the last few days; winter in Santa Barbara. The negative low tides of winter offer a great chance to get the kids out on the beach exploring tide pools and instill in them a...
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Salmon Choking the Santa Ynez (1896)
Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (c) Timothy Knepp – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The following newspaper brief was published in the San Francisco Call on March 11, 1896 and testifies to the way...
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8@20 WNW 286°
A lesser set wave on Friday, January 24, 2014. As an observer it’s interesting to me, the big(ger) wave event along this stretch of coastline. I surf and I surf, and I surf, through the months or even...
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Point Conception, the Cape Horn of the Pacific
A mural of Point Conception lighthouse painted on the exterior of a building in Lompoc, California, Santa Barbara County. An accompanying reader board describes the surrounding coastline as “the...
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Swordfish Cave, Earliest Chumash Rock Art On California’s Central Coast
Luisa Ygnacio, Barbareno Chumash (1913) “The people venerated the swordfish because they sometimes chased whales ashore and thus the people had a lot of meat.” —Luisa Ygnacio (c. 1835-1922) “All,...
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Rain Beetle
A drop of rainwater suspended in a spider web stuck to the underside of a boulder. Prior to the recent few downpours last month in late February and early this March, it hadn’t rained in a long time....
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