Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

Solitude on a Busy Day, Matilija Wilderness

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Jack Elliott

The canyon mouth of Upper North Fork Matilija Creek.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

—Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

I am suspicious of consensus and despise group mentality. I don’t go with the flow, I swim upstream. The surest way not to convince me of something is to tell me that everybody else is doing it, or believes it or the like. I shy away from crowds and I dislike seeing footprints on the trail. I cringe when I pull up to a trailhead and the parking lot is full of cars. It’s not hatred of people, but preference for solitude.

That is the whole point for me in getting out into the forest, to escape the masses. To this end I prefer hiking during the week. If I go somewhere particularly popular on a weekend I usually do so on a cloudy, cold or rainy day when most people avoid the area.

And yet in early May, a weekend of all days, a blue-skied warm Sunday, I was headed into the Matilija Wilderness on a day that guaranteed a crowd and everything I prefer to avoid. I knew before getting there, by way of the exceptional weekend weather, that a mob of people had descended upon the creek. Arriving at the trailhead parking lot my presumption was confirmed. The lot was stacked with vehicles.

Coming to the fork in the trail I took the path less traveled. Less traveled because it lacks the exceptional waterfalls and swimming holes found along the other route. But that didn’t bother me. I wouldn’t enjoy hanging out at a waterfall with a noisy pack of people there anyway. If I was with friends, then yeah, I’d have fun and a crowd wouldn’t matter, but not on this day. I was out alone and after something different.

Of course, as for the two trails, “the passing there/Had worn them really about the same.” If it was less traveled my choice of paths didn’t show it. I merely figured that the vast majority of people that day had headed toward the waterfalls and swimming holes and that the other branch of the canyon, the one I was headed up, would be relatively vacant by comparison. I was not disappointed.

“Growing up [in Santa Barbara], I lived in a house that had a fairly big backyard and a creek across the street. It was when I was by myself that the environment meant most to me. … Being in nature can be a way to escape without fully leaving the world.”

—Lauren Haring, as quoted in Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Upper North Fork Matilija Tributary Cascade

Matilija Creek Waterfalls

Posted in Ventura County | Tagged Hiking, Hiking (2), iPhoneography, Landscapes, Matilija Creek, Nature, Outdoors, Photos, Pics, Tales, Wilderness, Writing | 3 Comments

Edgar B. Davison’s Cabin (circa 1900)

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Jack Elliott

Edgar B. Davison’s Fir Canyon cabin, Figueroa Mountain, Santa Barbara County. (Courtesy Bryan Conant, by way of a friend.)

“Edgar was a forest ranger on Figueroa Mountain from 1898 through 1912, making $75 a month. Grace and Edgar built a cabin in remote Fir Canyon, in what is now the Los Padres National Forest, and lived there for the early years of their marriage. If they were separated, grandson Don Davison related, at sundown Edgar would signal from his lofty Figueroa perch with a mirror to Grace in Ballard, flashing an all’s well. “

—William Etling, Sideways in Neverland: Life in the Santa Ynez Valley, California (2005)

Edgar B. Davison

Edgar B. Davison was active in civil society and described himself as being “proud of California, and a deep-dyed optimist as concerns her future.” He was a proactive citizen that helped build the state into what it is today. The son of pioneers, he was in many ways a pioneer himself as an early resident of Ballard in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Describing the tiny community as she first saw it in 1882 when brought there by her parents, Davison’s wife Grace wrote, “Ballard was a mere handful of houses, with a school, but as yet without a school house.”

Edgar B. Davison helped build the town church and school and worked as the first manager of Ballard’s Oak Hill Cemetery, which was founded in 1883, and within which today still grow several towering redwood trees he planted.

In 1894, concerned about a drought, Davison wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Herald asking the editor for clarification about the “possibilities of causing rain by artificial means.” His question was published in addition to a lengthy reply informing him in conclusion: “When the conditions are favorable for rain, explosives and fires may precipitate rain, but when the air is too dry no artificial means can cause rain to fall.” The editor went on to warn people of being “duped” should they “contract or subscribe to any rain making agents for the production of rain.”

Davison participated in party politics and in 1898 was elected a delegate in the Republican county congressional convention. The next year the San Francisco Call published a letter he wrote commending the newspaper for its “bold and fearless fight” against political corruption in California. In 1911, President Taft appointed him postmaster of Ballard.

Memorial plaque at Oak Hill Cemetery.

Aside from his work within the Ballard community, one of his more enduring legacies enjoyed by countless outdoor enthusiasts and hikers through the decades was the protection of a mountain reserve that eventually became part of the Los Padres National Forest, as well as the building of Davy Brown Trail.

Davison created the Davy Brown Trail between 1898 and 1899. The three mile path leads down the backside of Figueroa Mountain (4528′) to Sunset Valley and what today is Davy Brown Campground (2095′).

During the same period of time around the turn of the century, Davison was actively involved in laying the groundwork for what would become the Zaca Lake Forest Reserve, which eventually became incorporated into what today is known as the Los Padres National Forest.

On September 12, 1898, the San Francisco Call noted Davison’s leading role in the creation of the Zaca Lake portion of the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake Forest Reserve:

“. . .Edgar B. Davison of Ballard, to whom is due, through his exponency of the idea in the newspapers, the setting apart of Pine Mountain Reservation by the government, . . .”

On September 25, 1898, the Los Angeles Herald offered readers an illustrated feature story about the new forest reserve, which praised Davison for his conservation work.

Originally Edgar B. Davison, H. H. Doyle (the present county clerk of Santa Barbara county), Henry Robinson (editor of the Santa Ynez Argus), Mrs. Flora Haines Loughead and others suggested to Congressman McLachlan that Zaca lake and a few sections adjacent be set aside as a government reservation. …

Mr. Davison’s articles in the country press had great influence in forming public opinion to be ready to support the petition. …

Edgar B. Davison, who has done as much as anyone else to procure the reserve for Californians, is a young man, a resident of Ballard, near the reserve. He is 29 years old, and has lived near or on the tract for fifteen years past. Pleasing to state is the fact that his zealous efforts to secure the state a splendid reserve have not been unrecognized at headquarters. Mr. Davison is now one of Commissioner Crawshaw’s assistants, and has his headquarters in Brown’s cabin, on the Little Manzana.

Davison became one of the first forest rangers serving in Santa Barbara County. He used the Fir Canyon cabin on Davy Brown Creek as a station for his duties, as well as using the cabin built by C.E. Munch in what today is known as Munch Canyon for his winter headquarters. Neither structure still exists. Today, along the Davy Brown Trail, a plaque notes the location of the old Davison cabin.

The Edgar B. Davison cabin site in 2012. The above shown green plaque can barely be seen in the shadows just below center frame and to the left of the thin trunk of the tree.

The “X” marks the location of the old Edgar B. Davison cabin.

Reference:

William Etling, Sideways in Neverland : Life in the Santa Ynez Valley, California (2005)

E.R. Blakley, Historical Overview of Los Padres National Forest (1985)

Grace L. Davison, Beans for Breakfast (1956)

Posted in Santa Barbara County | Tagged Ballard, Davy Brown Creek, Edgar B. Davison, Figueroa Mountain, Fir Canyon, History, Los Padres National Forest, Non-fiction, Photos, Pics, Santa Barbara National Forest, Zaca Lake | 5 Comments

Toddling Down the Davy Brown Trail

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Jack Elliott

The hills along lower Figueroa Mountain Road on the way to Davy Brown Trail.

With a toddler in tow I recently had the fortunate opportunity to rediscover the Davy Brown Trail with fresh eyes. Having kids provides a chance to see the world once more through the eyes of a child, and to rediscover and enjoy again what for years has been taken for granted and ignored. The mundanity of overlooked places, neglected because they long ago turned ordinary then lost their appeal and became boring, disappears when in the company of a youngster. The old and dull become new and exciting once more.

On the drive up Figueroa Mountain Road we passed the front gate of Michael Jackson’s Neverland estate. It was too much of an abstract concept for a small child to comprehend and get excited about, but I don’t think anything could make the gate and guard house there give me a thrill anyway.

Farther up the road a calf taking milk from its mother became worthy of a stop. Though previously, without the company of a toddler, I likely would not have noticed feeding cows or at least would not have cared. So too did horses in a roadside field become an exciting attraction worthy of more than a mere passing glance. Deer bounding through the grass on the slopes of the mountain turned from a common sight into a spectacular finger-pointing event. The ordinary vicariously transformed into the extraordinary.

The smaller things in life take on greater value. Common bugs seen for decades throughout one’s life, and previously ignored, become objects of unusual fascination worthy of closer inspection and the expense of considerable time. Flowers show beside the trail like gold nuggets, each one spotted with vociferous triumph. The gentle wind whispering through the fir trees overhead, audible but invisible, very well might be the trees themselves whispering in some unintelligible arboreal language. Stomping through two inches of water at a creek crossing becomes joyous recreation rather than mere rote locomotion. A short once familiar trail of a few miles turns into an epic journey through an unknown realm. The world is new once more!

The bucolic beauty of Santa Barbara County hinterlands with Zaca Ridge rising in the distance extending from the western edge of Figueroa Mountain.

The summertime golden-brown slopes along Figueroa Mountain.

The crest of the trail leading into the canyon where it cuts sharply back leftward.

With a toddler in tow in a backpack, I carried another day pack or “chestpack” across my front side. Along the upper reaches of the trail as it drops deeper into Fir Canyon.