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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
- Calochortus Fimbriatus, Rare Wildflower
- Eating Poison Oak
- California Stream Orchid (Epipactis gigantea)
- Oil and Animals in the Santa Barbara Channel
- Mugwort: A Natural Poison Oak Preventive
- The Lost Treasure of San Roque Canyon (1895)
- Old Mission Santa Barbara
- Sea Cave Sanctuary
- The Day Hell Hit Santa Barbara; Third Hottest Temperature Ever Recorded on Earth
- Stumbling Upon Chumash Bedrock Mortars
Photos from the blog
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Latest Dispatches
- Old Mission Sycamore Whacked Again
- Bald Eagle, Manzana Creek, San Rafael Wilderness
- When Rains Fall, Will USFS Close Our Forest? The Coming El Nino
- 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
- Hat Tip to the Selfless Samaritans In Service to Others
Lunar Phase

Tag Archives: History
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
Petroglyph, Santa Ynez Mountains
“The symbols of shamans were potentially dangerous because of their material spirituality connecting them to the sacred…The vulva itself was considered unusually perilous. For example, a Northern Paiute account indicates that the worst from of sorcery a man could endure … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, Archaeology, Hiking, Hiking (2), History, Los Padres National Forest, Native Americans, Nature, Petroglyphs, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains
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10 Comments
Condor Cave Reference On Redwood Log, Disney California Adventure Park
Chumash pictograph, Santa Barbara County “Native people drew spiral pictographs—sets of concentric rings radiating out from a center—on cave walls and rock shelters in locations where they are illuminated by the rising sun on the winter solstice. Solstice ceremonies, such … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, Archaeology, backcountry, Chumash, Hiking, History, Indians, Native Americans, Nature, Pictographs, Travel
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4 Comments
Long Lost Trail Discovered, Hiking In A Time Of Lockdown And Distancing
Jack-in-a-crack doing what he does. Wandering. Searching. Hunting. Looking. Seeing. Sometimes discovering. Looking to get my hike on, and so surveying various trailheads through my car window during the COVID-19 governor’s lockdown order, I saw more cars parked than expected, … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, Archaeology, Artifacts, Hiking, Hiking (2), History, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Wilderness
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19 Comments
Farewell To The Rock, Gibraltar Party Place
El Roca Grande circa 1909 overlooking the Santa Barbara littoral, Pacific Ocean and Santa Cruz Island in the distance. Note the metal poles and cable handrail. “In the 1970s this was The Place. Well, if you were a teenager on … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, History, Landscapes, Los Padres National Forest, Non-fiction, Outdoors, Rocks, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Travel, Writing
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2 Comments













