Hiking Santa Barbara

Easy paths at the Carp bluffs

Santa Barbara presents a diverse topography for hikes, from ocean bluffs to front country to the rugged back country. These three hikes give you assorted scenic vistas, a moderate workout and great photo ops. Plus none are too far from downtown. A note on hiking here in Santa Barbara, and all along the Central Coast: Yes, we have poison oak so always be cautions when going off trail. It’s called poison oak but it can’t kill you but rest assured, as a native Californian and having had my share of it – it ain’t fun. Even as of this writing I contracted some on my left leg while hiking in Big Sur. Always bring water, hat, cell phone, and sunscreen when you hike. My small pack also includes a knife, and nuts for protein, just in case. So get packed and get going!

The views from the bluffs

Coastal

The Carpinteria Bluffs and Seal Rookery is less hike and more easy stroll on soft dirt paths, and the bluffs are a great beach excursion across eucalyptus-studded groves heading to the water. It’s only a mile out and a mile back, but this coastal walk is perfect for any age and fitness group, in fact the elevation gain is like 2 feet. The scent of chaparral meets you as you pull into the parking lot with low grasses and shrubs in front of you. There is also access down to the beach, however part of the beach is closed off December 1 through May 31 during birthing and nursing season for the harbor seals who seem to think mating in public is just fine (showoffs). While there, they are noisy but fun to watch. Located right off the freeway this is immensely easy to get to and gets you to views of both the ocean and the mountains and gets you to the water’s edge while still feeling like you’re in a preserve. That feeling is briefly interrupted by crossing the train tracks, but as long as there are no actual trains in your way, it’s all good. You might see whales and dolphins, certainly plenty of sea birds (not on the train, on the hike). To get there exit Bailard Ave. from Highway 101 north or south and head to the ocean. There’s a small parking lot right in front of you.

The views from Tin Can Meadow

Front Country

Rattlesnake Canyon is one of the more popular hikes and is fairly easy, and no, you won’t come across any rattlesnakes since it was named for its serpentine canyon. This is a well-marked trail and is less than 4 miles in total. You’ll pass by pools, streams and eventually come out the top of a small hill with panoramic views to the ocean and the Channel Islands. From Los Canelos Road near the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden it’s just over 1 mile to the second stone bridge where there is ample parking before and after the bridge on the road pullouts. Starting on the trail it feels like you’ve been jipped – it’s hot and dry and uninteresting. After 10 minutes on the trail there’s a short incline where you encounter two oak trees - go left (going right is a short trail, nothing exciting). 

Never know what's  you'll find on Rattlesnake trail

You soon hook up with the creek in a wooded area then cross the creek and head up into sheer diversity. You'll likely see grey squirrels and wild bunnies (not mean, just wild). It will take you 40 minutes at a moderate pace to reach Tin Can Meadow, which is a great turnaround point. There’s a flat rock there where you can sit for a while, surrounded by tall grass and absorb the beauty before heading back. There is a terrific diversity of stuff here from multiple stream crossings to wooded areas to open narrow trails, moss covered boulders, pine and oak trees, low scrub and thick trees. With an elevation gain of 900 feet it’s also a decent workout.

The rocks, ocean and Islands from Lizard's Mouth

Back Country

Lizard’s Mouth (West Camino Cielo Road) For a completely different experience, head to Lizard’s Mouth, so named for the unusual sandstone outcroppings – though not sure how a lizard affected this. On the south facing slopes of the mountain with panoramic views of all of Santa Barbara and Channel Islands (and quite possibly China…well maybe not) this a sea of wondrous boulders, curvilinear smooth sandstone, as if sculpted by hand, windswept and eerie. Take Highway 154 up from Santa Barbara 7 miles to West Camino Cielo and turn left. Follow the road 4 miles to the Winchester Gun Club entrance. Turn around here and on your right had side, about 100 yards back down the road you’ll see a graffiti sprayed brown wooden sign, about 20 feet off the road. There are no real paths here you just wander in between large boulders and on top of sandstone flats. Some boulders you can walk underneath and you swear they might collapse on you. It almost looks like a movie set and Lizard’s Mouth has an otherworldly moonscape feel to it. It’s easy to get lost so keep an eye on where you came from. Small trails head out to, and in-between, the rocks, some with small crevices and near cave-like entrances. It’s pretty much rock hopping out here. It's a little disconcerting to hear the gunfire from the Winchester Gun Club up the road at first, but you're perfectly safe. Weekdays are better as it’s less crowded.

 

For a totally different hike, check out my post about the Arroyo Hondo Preserve

Hiking Arroyo Hondo 

Murder at the Mission: The Haunting at San Miguel

When Mission San Miguel was founded on July 25, 1797 just north of Paso Robles, the founding fathers could never have imagined the terror that would occur at this sacred site just 49 years later. The scene of a horrific murder, many people believe this mission is haunted. We may not know about ghosts, but here’s what we do know about that cold December night. The original temporary church built in 1797 burned in 1806, and a stone foundation church was completed in 1821. After Mexico fought against and won their independence from Spain, the Mission system began to collapse and by 1834 the Mission had become secularized. On July 4, 1846, Petronillo Rios and his business partner William Reed purchased the floundering mission for a few hundred dollars, operating it as a lodging and trading post and Reed and his family lived there. Reed, usually wearing a blue peacoat, required that guests pay in gold, and he bragged that he’d amassed a small fortune, hiding it somewhere at the mission. Remember that California was not part of the U.S. at this time and any currencies from Mexico, the U.S., and even money from Spain were probably considered worthless.

On the afternoon of December 4th, 1848, six men arrived at Mission San Miguel. Pete Raymond, Joseph Lynch, Peter Remer, Peter Quin, and Sam Bernard, accompanied by someone only known as “John,” an Indian from Soledad. They stayed that night but left the next morning heading south to San Marcos Creek just a few miles down the road but then they returned to the mission and spent the rest of the day and part of the evening there on December 5^th. It was during these early evening hours that this gang of cold-hearted men murdered everyone at the Mission including William Reed and his wife, Maria who was expecting a baby, and their 4-year old son. Also killed was Josefa Olivera, Maria’s mid-wife, and 3 other children; 11 people in total. The men had been warming themselves near a fire when Bernard offered to go outside to get firewood. He returned with an axe hidden in his armload of wood and struck Reed several times while the John the Indian stabbed him with a knife. Sam Bernard and the others stalked and killed the women and children, then took the bodies to the carpenter's shop. When their blood-drenched bodies were were found they were still wearing daytime clothes.

Based on the interrogations of Joseph Lynch, Peter Quin and of Peter Remer, this is what happened that cold December night. After the ruthless murders they drank wine stealing any valuables they could find, which wasn’t much, ransacking the place in search of Reed’s gold – but they never found any. They left the mission that evening and spent the rest of the night south of present-day Templeton, and spent the next night south of Mission San Luis Obispo, but by this time a posse had been formed and was tracking them. What they didn’t know was that on the very night of the killings, a man named James Beckwourth was carrying mail from Nipomo to Monterey when he stopped at the mission and discovered the bodies. Shocked, he rode on to Monterey and informed the military governor of the murders. The gang left San Luis Obispo and traveled down to the Los Alamos area and obtained, we presume, fresh horses at a ranch. They rode through Santa Barbara stopping at Rancho Ortega, at present day Summerland, where the posse caught up with them, but this was not to be a bloodless arrest. Sam Bernard was mortally wounded. Pete Raymond jumped into the surf attempting to escape, and was drowned. Peter Quin was wounded and captured having killed a member of the posse; Joseph Lynch and Peter Remer were also captured, and later confessed to their parts in the murders. John the Indian had peeled off from the group around San Luis Obispo and was never found. 

The chapel interior

Reed’s partner Petronilo Rios, helped bury Reed and the other victims in the cemetery of Mission San Miguel, “just outside the rear door of the sacristy; a little to the southwest and near the old first church wall,” according to one account. All 11 people were buried in one mass grave and it must have been a disturbing sight seeing the bodies of the children.

Lieutenant Edward O. C. Ord (Fort Ord in Monterey was named after him) from Monterey and nine soldiers were dispatched to Santa Barbara to act as a firing squad.

According to accounts Joseph Lynch, Peter Remer and Peter Quin were executed by firing squad in Santa Barbara on December 28, 1848, near the corner of De la Guerra and Chapala Streets. Reports said they were buried in the cemetery of Mission Santa Barbara, but that seems highly unlikely that they would have been buried there considering the murderous acts they had committed at Mission San Miguel. At any rate, following the murders Mission San Miguel converted rooms into a hotel, saloon, and retail shops. Over the years many people have claimed they have seen the ghosts of William Reed, wearing his peacoat and a lady in a white dress around the mission grounds. 

Some swear they have heard muffled screams coming from near the chapel, and images of the young boys who were killed that night. Are ghosts real? And do the tortured souls of innocent victims attempt to make contact with the present world? Is the gold still there, or was it ever there? Does William Reed and his wife, Maria call out from their graves? That’s for you to decide. Perhaps when you visit Mission San Miguel you might find the answers.

Watch my “2 Minute Travel” video shot at Mission San Miguel at midnight: GHOSTS OF THE COAST

 

Arroyo Hondo Preserve: Hiking Through Time

I am not a botanist. Nor do I pretend to know much about native plants, habitat restoration, or land use regulation. Regardless I committed to a 10-week program of habitat restoration at the Arroyo Hondo Preserve along the Gaviota Coast; that stretch of sun baked coastal land which extends from Santa Barbara out to where Highway 101 turns inland. This 30 mile stretch is one of the last un-spoiled tracts of coastal land in California and is a multitude of agriculture pasture lands, canyons and pristine beaches.

At 782 acres the Arroyo Hondo canyon looks deceptively small. The earliest known inhabitants of Arroyo Hondo were the Barbareno-Chumash civilization going back about 5,000 years. When Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed through the Channel in 1542, his team recorded a camp of the Native Americans located here at the mouth of Arroyo Hondo creek. Just 227 years later when the De Anza expedition actually walked this area, the village at Arroyo Hondo was abandoned. Of course the arrival of the Spanish spelled doom for the Chumash, maybe they understood that.

Rancho Arroyo Hondo was part of the original 26,530-acre Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mexican land grant to former Santa Barbara Presidio Commandant Jose Francisco Ortega in 1827 – that’s quite a gift by today’s standards. Only three families have owned this land since the Chumash first inhabited it and the adobe house on the property was built in 1842 by the Ortega family and was used as a stagecoach stop on the route between Lompoc and Santa Barbara in the late 1800s and the old road (since there was no freeway or railroad crossing) passed by the adobe. There is a small museum inside, two rooms actually, mainly photos and a few scrapbooks providing some history. 

Undoubtedly because of the narrow canyon at Hondo and its streamlined views down to the road it became a refuge for outlaws including Joaquin Murrieta, known to have murdered at least one man (Murrieta was killed by a posse in 1853 at his headquarters near Coalinga), and Jack Powers who terrorized travelers after the gold rush. Therefore you have the aptly named and best hiking trail here- The Outlaw Trail which takes you from the mouth of the canyon far up into the mountain with killer views. The trail is really two parts, a low key stroll through Hollister meadow and a slight incline which stops at a small grass clearing. Housed there is a wood picnic table placed strategically so you can rest and enjoy ocean views. If this seems taxing, don’t bother with the rest of the trail. From here it ascends sharply into the mountains and you leave behind the lush meadow by the stream and as you ascend the vegetation becomes more sparse, low to the ground, the heat becomes more pronounced, and the land more unforgiving.

Views along the Outlaw Trail

Heading up the Outlaw Trail you pass through successive layers of rock formations, some estimated to be about 40 million years old. At the top are sweeping views and a cool malformed sandstone outcropping looking more like Swiss cheese with holes and tunnels permeating its core, where you can stand and feel like you own the whole world. The views to the Pacific and the Channel Islands are unsurpassed. It’s just you and the random hawks and turkey vultures who silently soar above you. To your left is the Tajiguas landfill (which one local paper described as the “prettiest and most expensive landfill” in the tri-counties) and the peculiar juxtaposition of two canyons, one a nature preserve and one a garbage dump, is amusing, if not a little sad. But then that’s exactly the point of keeping Arroyo Hondo in perpetuity. This canyon won’t end up being a dumping ground for our insatiable need to waste things.

Looking down the canyon from the top of Outlaw

During my 10 weeks at the preserve I weeded, hoed, planted “native” plants under the direction of botanist Darlene Chirman, weeded again, mulched, watered, and tediously weeded again. I was curious about restoration, after all, what are “native” species and how do you track a chronology of plants? The rule of thumb in California is that native plants refer to plants here prior to the arrival of the Spanish and the goal is to bring Hondo back to that close approximation. Once the Spanish came they began cultivating the land with seeds and cuttings from Spain and Mexico, forever altering the landscape. It seems futile in some regards to get back to that point in time, and certainly with ubiquitous weeds piercing through the ground and the constant effort to root them out, it’s a perplexing task. But if left unchecked, this preserve, along with the plants and animals like mountains lions, newts, birds and fish that have long called this place home, would suffer from a changing landscape forcing them to retreat elsewhere.

Volunteers doing their thing

Perhaps that is the obvious nature of evolution and we should not try and maintain a piece of land, memorializing it from its heyday. Perhaps evolution demands we let nature take its own course, and that’s a viable argument. But after 10 weeks here I realize that we humans are stewards of this planet and the animals and plants in it. The work that restoration volunteers do here may not stop nature from what She wants to accomplish, but they are helping to preserve Hondo as it was before Westerners came along. The hope is that this place of natural beauty and history will inspire others, and that, regardless of what might happen with building codes, zoning laws and property rights, this valuable section of the Gaviota Coast will remain unspoiled and available to everyone.

Hondo is open the first and third weekends of each month. There are free docent led hikes the first Saturday and third Sunday of every month at 10 a.m. There’s no cost to visit, but donations are gladly accepted. Advance reservations are required – simply do this on-line – as a way of knowing who comes out, in part because the gates get locked and you don’t want to be stuck here. From Santa Barbara north on Highway 101 Arroyo Hondo is four miles past Refugio State Beach. Look for the blue CalTrans call boxes spaced one mile apart on the right hand side of the highway. The Arroyo Hondo entrance is located immediately after call box 101-412.   ARROYO HONDO PRESERVE

Monterey's Mission

The beautiful Carmel Mission

Monterey may be the bread basket of America (the Salinas Valley is one of the most fertile places in the country), and home to Cannery Row and the fantastic Monterey Bay Aquarium and neighbor to Carmel and Big Sur, but it’s also home to three historic California Missions, all wildly different, two of which you’ve probably never visited. Many people forget that Spain ruled this area for over 200 years and the Spanish were on California soil in the mid 1500s. It is the chain of 21 Spanish missions that, in essence, created the blue print for what eventually became California. In fact Highway 101 was originally the dirt road that connected the missions known as El Camino Real – “the king’s highway” - and the mission themselves acted as early trading posts and historical repositories.

Sunday services at Carmel

San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission –Carmel’s Crown

Known succinctly Carmel Mission (3080 Rio Rd., Carmel, 831/624-1271, Daily 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Admission $6.50), is still a very active parish with regular Sunday services (all three missions offer mass). The large compound includes an extensive museum with the first known library in California still on display – courtesy of the mission fathers who were the first librarians and historians in California as not much else existed in the late 1700s. There are exhibits of early Native American culture, building materials from the mission period, vestments and displays on how the friars lived and cooked. The chapel is more ornate than the other California missions and it’s clear that a lot of money has been spent on upkeep as the place looks nearly pristine and the grounds are expansive and beautiful. It can get crowded, making parking out front difficult, but the mission is just on the outskirts of Carmel.

Mission San Antonio - the olive tree is at right

Mission San Antonio de Padua –Lost in Time

The third mission started in California’s chain of 21 is Mission San Antonio founded in 1771 (Fort Hunter Liggett, 831/385-4478, Jolon, daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Admission $3). It’s commonly referred to as “the mission that time forgot” and that’s unfortunate, but here’s why - it’s 25 miles off Highway 101. The location is remote and it sits on the Fort Hunter Liggett U.S. Army base which the public can access (have your drivers’ license and proof of insurance ready – you cannot get on base without them). Look for the original brick wine vat, constructed between the late 1700s early 1800s, which uses a gravity flow system. This was one of the first missions to produce wine and the interior courtyard has a large vine by the well which is originally from Spain, lugged over here when the missions were founded. Several other rooms display artifacts like embroidered vestments, mission era tools and priests’ quarters. 

This grapevine was brought over from Spain by the padres

There are also remnants of the old waterworks and a beautiful large olive tree planted in 1846 right out front. The church itself is longer than most, but simply decorated, with painted wainscoting along the walls. The mission was damaged in a recent earthquake and the race is on to raise money for much needed restoration or else it will be shuttered, and we’d hate to lose a valuable piece of history. You may say toy yourself: why should I drive all the way out there to visit just an old mission? Well, aside from the historical significance, also located nearby is the old Hearst Hacienda – a ranch house on the former William Randolph Hearst property, designed by Julia Morgan and where Hearst would take his guests (Clark Gable and Errol Flynn stayed here) on horseback who were sojourning at the Hearst Castle. The Army bought it from Hearst in 1940 but you can stay the night here in one of the old ranch rooms. They are pretty Spartan, but you can also access the military bowling alley nearby for some food and maybe bowl a frame with a general. Room rates range from $50 to $95. You need to contact the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division of Fort Hunter Liggett and make reservations directly with them.

The Hearst Hacienda

Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad –Solitude in Soledad

Founded in 1791, Mission Soledad (36641 Fort Romie Rd., Soledad, 831/678-2586, daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., free admission) was the 13^th in the chain of 21 missions. It too is one of the least visited missions even though it’s less than three miles off Highway 101 in Soledad (take the Arroyo Seco exit off Highway 101) and is an easy visit on the way to several of the area wineries. 

Mission Soledad

Every October there is a wine auction from mainly local wineries to raise money for restoration. The chapel is one of the smallest and most simple I have visited in the mission chains and the humble structure is surrounded by crop fields and you can see vineyards of the wineries in the Santa Lucia Highlands in the distance. It’s small and not as postcard-pretty as California’s other missions. The original mission was badly damaged in the floods of 1828, and wasn’t reconstructed until the early 1950s. But the original adobe walls can still be seen; mounds of rounded earth returning to the dirt from whence they came. In its day, the mission hosted a vineyard, fruit trees, and herds of cattle. There are a few rooms of artifacts on display from the mission days.

The original Mission Soledad walls

Check out this video I shot at Mission San Antonio in September 2012,
Monterey Mission Video

and make sure when you come to Monterey you find time to visit these missions as they are the link to California’s illustrious past.Contact them here:

Carmel Mission

Mission San Antonio

Mission Soledad

Hearst Hacienda: (831) 386-2262

Paso Robles’ Garage: A Wine Festival for the Curious

Quick, here’s a word association: I say “garage” and you say “_______” (fill in the blank). Chances are you weren’t thinking of wine, let alone hard-to-find wines…unless you’ve lost your own wine in your own garage and if so, you’re on your own.

Garage bands conjure up images of unseen talent lamenting away in near obscurity before they make it big. And the same is true with winemakers. The term garagiste is from the French meaning, well, garage, and it has nothing really to do with garages with the exception of winemakers in that country who are making small lots of wine, a few hundred cases to maybe a thousand cases, and who defy conventional winemaking to do their own thing. Frankly anyplace you visit has undiscovered hard-to-find wines, but they’re not easy to find…wait, we just covered that. Fortunately, the Paso Robles Garagiste Festival does the gathering work for you, enabling you to meet face-to-face with these elusive wines and winemakers.

Relaxing at Windfall Farms

The 2^nd iteration was held at Windfall Farms in Creston, just east of Paso Robles on a crisp autumn day. There were 48 winemakers pouring 130 wines so realistically you can’t cover everything, but I can say from my experience as a wine writer, I did not find a bad wine out of the limited wineries I was able to visit. The wineries represented make less that 1,200 cases, and most make considerably fewer cases than that and the majority are off the radar. “You have to do a little digging to find us,” Per Cazo Cellars owner Dave Teckman told me. The sheer diversity and small allocations are one of the reasons to come to this. There is a propensity towards Syrah and Rhone blends, as Paso does these quite well, but make no mistake, this is not the usual suspects. For example:

Phillip Hart of Ambyth

Ambyth Estates makes biodynamic wine from biodynamic grapes. There has been so much mis-information about biodynamic wine and whereas it’s a convoluted subject to go into here, the bottom line is that it goes beyond organic and frankly, anything that does not add chemicals to our soils is a good thing. Phillip Hart’s wines ($38 - $45) will absolutely change your perception about biodynamic wine and just how solid they can be. Other producers include Paso Port whose seductive port wines ($30 - $45) are flat out comprehensive and terrific little numbers, and Bodega de Edgar, a rather sloppy name (named for owner/winemaker Edgar Torres) but who makes impressive Tempranillo ($32) and Tempranillo blends, as does Bodegas M who produces excellent Albariño and Tempranillo, both at $25.

Also observed at this festival are some of the Iberian varieties such as Albariño and Verdejo, and fun, funky blends like the energetic ZinG ($29) from Per Cazo which is a blend of Zinfandel and Grenache, two partners you don’t see dancing together, showing that wine need not be merely a standard offering of straight Cabernet. Of course, having said that, Mike Sinor’s Sinor-La Valle’s Pinot Noirs (only $30 - $40 and worth every penny) are true, delicate and straight forward Pinots with a slight backbone of Central Coast roughness.

There are wine-centric seminars, winemaker dinners and the usual trappings of any wine festival, but what sets this apart is that these winemakers are celebrated for being obscure. So plan on attending and plan early, it always sells out.

The Paso Robles Garagiste Festival