Category Archives: Ventura County

Bending the Map in Bear Canyon (Sespe Wilderness)

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Jack Elliott

Falls “Whenever you start looking at your map and saying something like ‘well, that lake could have dried up,’ or ‘ that boulder could have moved,’ a red light should go off. You’re trying to make reality conform to your … Continue reading →

Posted in Ventura County | Tagged Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Outdoors, Photos, Pics, Sespe, Wilderness | 11 Comments

The Ice Can Stove: A Brief History

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Jack Elliott

An uncommon version of an ice can stove fitted with a large chimney cap and a damper on the flue. In backcountry campsites scattered throughout the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties lie the rusty remains … Continue reading →

Posted in Santa Barbara County, Ventura County | Tagged backcountry, Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, History, Ice Can Stove, Los Padres National Forest, Non-fiction, Photos, Pics | 6 Comments

Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: A Female Robinson Crusoe (1897)

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Jack Elliott

Map of California coast showing Santa Barbara Channel Islands In 1835, a ship set sail from San Nicolas Island off the California coast, 78 nautical miles south by southeast of Santa Barbara, and headed for the mainland forcibly removing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Ventura County | Tagged Channel Islands, Chumash, History, Indians, Lone Woman San Nicolas, Native Americans, Nicoleno, Non-fiction, Writing | 4 Comments

Project Sespe Creek: Stage III, Piedra Blanca Beyond Devil’s Gate

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Jack Elliott

Coltrell Flat beside Sespe Creek “Free is the bush, and the desert, and the woods, and the mountain ranges for whoever likes to camp there.” B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre I plod along the dirt footpath of … Continue reading →

Posted in Ventura County | Tagged backcountry, Backpacking, Hiking, Landscapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photos, Pics, Sespe, Wilderness | 9 Comments

Project Sespe Creek Connect: Stage II, Middle Sespe

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Jack Elliott

Dry Lakes Ridge in morning light. Stillman and I worked down the second helping of our Sespe Creek project on Monday. It was a quick half-day, in-and-out through middle Sespe from Tule Creek to Piedra Blanca Trailhead. Once passed the … Continue reading →