As noted in a previous post, East Camino Cielo to Mono Camp, there was once a remarkable swimming hole and water slide at Mono Debris Dam. Now, due to the massive erosion that occurred during winter storms following the Zaca Fire of 2007, it’s gone forever.
From the archives of Clint Elliott, Mono as she was in all her glory:
The mouth of San Emigdio Canyon, as seen from the sweeping floor of the San Joaquin Valley, resembles a portal affording a peek into the Transverse Ranges. The San Emigdio Mountains abut the valley floor forming a massive rampart, the mouth of the canyon a rare break in the great grassy earthen wall that runs for miles.
Driving up to the entrance of the Wind Wolves Preserve the slope joining the valley with the mountains goes on and on, a steady even climb deceptive in its length when seen from afar. Entering the cleft through the steep hills that forms a natural gateway, the canyon opens into a vast grassy plain parted by the verdant stripe of San Emigdio Creek, and runs to the foothills of the pine covered peaks looming in the distance.
“The preserve is an ecologically unique region where the Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley converge. Due to elevation ranging from 640 to 6,005 feet, the preserve has an impressive array of landforms and habitats that serve as a critical landscape linkage and wildlife corridor between the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada. At 95,000 acres, Wind Wolves is the west coast’s largest non-profit preserve.
. . .
Tule elk were reintroduced to the Wind Wolves Preserve, the southern most extension of their historic range. The elk herd has grown to more than 200 elk and the California Department of Fish and Game estimates the preserve can support up to 2,500 elk. Currently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is placing stillborn calves on the preserve for the California Condor, which can be seen regularly. When the elk herd reaches 2,000, elk will die weekly of attrition, which will aid the condors in becoming free living once more.”
The view looking southward up San Emigdio Canyon.
The view looking through the canyon mouth toward the San Joaquin Valley.
Wildlands Conservancy Website: Overview photo of San Emigdio Canyon.
Memorial Oaks between Summerland and Carpinteria.
“A column of young eight-foot-high live oaks stands on either side of the highway, memorials to Santa Barbarans who met death in active service in World War I. The columns are continuous to the western boundary of the Fleischmann Polo Field.”
—Santa Barbara: A Guide to the Channel City and Its Environs (1941)
In 1928, as a memorial to local combat soldiers that died in World War I, the American Legion Post 49 and the Boy Scouts planted 71 coast live oak trees along the 101 freeway between Summerland and Carpinteria.
The trees were aligned in two columns on either side of the narrow cement road. The one lane ribbon of concrete through the country turned into the four lane speedway of today, and a number of the oak trees now grow in the center median between opposing lanes of traffic. About 35 of the original 71 trees still stand today.
Bibliography:
Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure 