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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
- Chanterelle Mushrooms
- Indian Head Test Pattern (1939)
- Condor Petroglyphs, Death Valley National Park
- Aliso Park Campground
- Surf Fishing For Halibut
- Widow's Tears Falls, Santa Ynez Mountains
- Raking the Forest: Anderson, Trump, Kuyper
- Painted Rock Camp, Montgomery Potrero, Sierra Madre Mountains
- Jack O'Lanterns and Chanterelles
- Don Victor Valley and Pine Canyon
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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
Tag Archives: Camping
Fog Drip Morels
Sans soil. Every day, for weeks now, a marine layer swamps the coast so far this spring, cool and sometimes spritzing. I wake to the rhythmic tap of fog drip falling through the rain gutters. May 5 morels. Measurable precipitation … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Camping, Fieldcraft, Foraging, Hiking, Los Padres National Forest, Mushrooms, Nature, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Wild Foods, Wildlife
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The Intelligence of Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata)
Wild tobacco growing in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Santa Barbara County. (Fall 2024) If we define intelligence as an ability to perceive, understand and respond effectively to environmental stimuli, then we might attribute to plants what is normally considered … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Science, Wilderness, wildflowers, Wildlife
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Parks Management Co’s Selective Fee Enforcement
A valley of mixed woods, Condor National Forest, Santa Barbara County. RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Camping, Davy Brown, Figeuroa Mountain, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Nira, Outdoors, Parks Management Company, Santa Barbara, US Forest Service, Wilderness
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2 Comments
The Extraordinary Rains of August 2023
The organic curves of chaparral-cloaked Condor National Forest. I’m growing like a seedRain’s been falling on me — KT Tunstall, Feel It All “I’m wondering if we won’t see August thunderstorms.” I wrote that in June, a freak premonition. The … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Landscapes, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Santa Barbara, Sespe Wilderness, Wilderness, wildflowers, Wildlife
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3 Comments
Renaming Los Padres: Names Of the 1930s
Detail showing Abel Mtn. on a 1938 map of Los Padres National Forest. Backstory I’ve long had an interest in place, in the particularity of natural settings and the composition of undeveloped scenes, and in the forest placenames chosen by … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged backcountry, Backpacking, Camping, Chumash, Hiking, Hiking (2), History, Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Wilderness
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7 Comments
Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure 