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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
- Dick Smith on Forest Access
- Smith's Pool
- When Rains Fall, Will USFS Close Our Forest? The Coming El Niño
- Mountain Lion Standoff, Santa Ynez Mountains
- Dick Smith Calling a Condor, Piru 1970
- Hiking Is Not A Crime
- The Pine Mountain Punisher: 22 Mile Day Hike
- Hiking Is Not A Crime; Hiker's PreCheck Forest Entry Pass
- Language of Forest Closure; Assault on an Ancient Right
- Tarantula Mating Season, Santa Barbara County
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Latest Dispatches
- Dick Smith on Forest Access
- Old Mission Sycamore Whacked Again
- Bald Eagle, Manzana Creek, San Rafael Wilderness
- When Rains Fall, Will USFS Close Our Forest? The Coming El Niño
- Language of Forest Closure; Assault on an Ancient Right
- March of the Mustard; The Spread of Noxious Weeds
- Mark of Conquest II: Benchmark and Mortar
- Save Old Mission Sycamore … __ __ __ …
- 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
Lunar Phase
Tag Archives: Backpacking
Rename Los Padres National Forest? Race and Recognition In the Woods
Should Los Padres National Forest be renamed? In the roiling social wake of the George Floyd killing, and the peaceful protests and the violence and destruction that erupted across these United States and the world, in this moment of national … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged backcountry, Backpacking, Hiking, History, Indians, Los Padres National Forest, Native Americans, Race, Racism, Social Justice, Wilderness
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38 Comments
Parks Management Company’s Red Rock Racket and the Secret Green Ticket
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
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Tagged Backpacking, Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, News, Parks Management Company, Red Rock, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez River, Swimming Holes, Wilderness
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6 Comments
Wind Poppy (Papaver heterophyllum)
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 →
The Sign
Santa Barbara backcountry The men emerged at dawn from the confine of darkness with strained faces wet and ruddy as writhing newborns and the forested land materialized before their bloodshot eyes by the minute in the lightening day, ever larger, … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, backcountry, Backpacking, Fiction, Hiking, Nature, Non-fiction, Outdoors, Santa Barbara, Wilderness, Writing
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12 Comments
March is For Morels
March 2020. “Some of the false morels are dangerously poisonous,” Aurora warns. Morels may be the most elusive mushrooms in Santa Barbara County. “Morels can be extremely difficult to see,” David Aurora writes in All That The Rain Promises And … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, backcountry, Backpacking, Foraging, Hiking, Los Padres National Forest, Morels, Mushrooms, Nature, Santa Barbara, Wilderness
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2 Comments
