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“He may be just a tramp, a guy that likes to roam about this great country without any special aim, just to thank the Lord for these beautiful mountains.”
-B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

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“. . .here, where there are still the silences and the loneliness of the earth before man, . . .”

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Recently Read
- Eating Poison Oak
- Slippery Rock Stagecoach Road (19th Century)
- The Elusive and Fleeting Fire Poppy
- The Bandit of Ballarat
- Carrizo Tom
- Mono Narrows Camp
- Fish Falls, Santa Ynez Mountains
- The Pine Mountain Punisher: 22 Mile Day Hike
- Oil and Animals in the Santa Barbara Channel
- The Storied Life of Davy Brown (Davy Brown Campground, Santa Barbara County)
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Latest Dispatches
- Raking the Forest: Anderson, Trump, Kuyper
- Initials of J.D. Reyes (1907)
- Last California Grizzlies Seen In Santa Barbara National Forest? (1926)
- Eccentric Artifact, San Marcos Foothills Preserve
- Fog Drip Morels
- Naming Santa Barbara’s Modoc Road
- Mark of Conquest; Benchmark and Mortar
- Hat Tip to the Selfless Samaritans In Service to Others
- The Intelligence of Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata)
- The Journey of a Root (1907) and Plant Intelligence
- Santa Barbara County Morels
- Hollyleaf Cherries Golden Morph
- Barefoot Prints In Volcanic Ash, Hawaii (1790)
- Skinny-Dipper Detained, Cuffed and Cited at Montecito Hot Springs
- Red Horny Toad
Lunar Phase

Category Archives: Tales
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 tracts of unsettled land exists a feeling of … Continue reading
Posted in Tales
Tagged Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Landscapes, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Outdoors, Photos, Pics, Wildlife, Writing
6 Comments
The Bandit of Ballarat
“For 11 months, the Bandit led state and federal officers on a 1500-mile chase through some of the most rugged and inhospitable terrain in America. They had pursued him with helicopters, planes, dogs, trackers, and entire task forces, on horseback, … Continue reading
Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato
The name he went by was Charlie or just plain MC and “he’d get mad if anybody said it is Marshall Cletis Byles,” his grandson said. Charlie was a hardworking man with no formal education. “Well, I’ve always had a … Continue reading













