Category Archives: Santa Barbara

Petroglyph, Santa Ynez Mountains

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Jack Elliott

“The symbols of shamans were potentially dangerous because of their material spirituality connecting them to the sacred…The vulva itself was considered unusually perilous. For example, a Northern Paiute account indicates that the worst from of sorcery a man could endure … Continue reading →

Posted in Santa Barbara | Tagged Adventure, Archaeology, Hiking, Hiking (2), History, Los Padres National Forest, Native Americans, Nature, Petroglyphs, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains | 10 Comments

Condor Cave Reference On Redwood Log, Disney California Adventure Park

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Jack Elliott

Chumash pictograph, Santa Barbara County “Native people drew spiral pictographs—sets of concentric rings radiating out from a center—on cave walls and rock shelters in locations where they are illuminated by the rising sun on the winter solstice. Solstice ceremonies, such … Continue reading →

Posted in Santa Barbara | Tagged Adventure, Archaeology, backcountry, Chumash, Hiking, History, Indians, Native Americans, Nature, Pictographs, Travel | 4 Comments

Parks Management Company’s Red Rock Racket and the Secret Green Ticket

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Jack Elliott

Kid on a rope. Parks Management Company employees will never tell you that you’re free to drive past their checkpoint at First Crossing, at the end of Paradise Road in Santa Barbara County, and park in unpaved pullouts along River … Continue reading →

Posted in Santa Barbara | Tagged Backpacking, Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, News, Parks Management Company, Red Rock, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez River, Swimming Holes, Wilderness | 6 Comments

Carrizo Plain Elk Under Full Moon

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Jack Elliott

Tule elk graze Carrizo Plain. Two photographers perched before one end of Selby Rocks outcrop shooting the moon rising over the broken spine of white sandstone. We drove past, along the meandering dirt road, through the undulating beige grassland, down … Continue reading →

Posted in Santa Barbara | Tagged Adventure, backcountry, Carrizo Plain, Elk, iPhoneography, Landscapes, Nature, Photography, Pics, Sunsets, Wildlife | 1 Comment

Wind Poppy (Papaver heterophyllum)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Jack Elliott

Rancho Nuevo Canyon, Dick Smith Wilderness (Early May, 2012) “It is possible to be indifferent to flowers—possible but not very likely. Psychiatrists regard a patient’s indifference to flowers as a symptom of depression. It seems that by the time the … Continue reading →