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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
- The Day Hell Hit Santa Barbara; Third Hottest Temperature Ever Recorded on Earth
- On Adventure
- Rock Art Ramblin', Searching For Chumash Pictographs
- Petroglyph, Santa Ynez Mountains
- Matías Reyes, Santa Barbara Mission (1887)
- The Privateer; Subcontractor, Dept. of Unauthorized Forestry
- Raking the Forest: Anderson, Trump, Kuyper
- Condor Petroglyphs, Death Valley National Park
- Lower Lion Canyon, Sierra Madre Mountains
- A Treasure Hunt For Chumash Pictographs and the Vicious Protector
Photos from the blog
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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: Santa Barbara
The Ol’ Swimmin’ Hole
“Most of these places, however, were not marked as special on my map. But they became special by personal acquaintance. … I remembered what Ishmael had said in Moby-Dick about the island of Kokovoko: ‘It is not down in any … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Pics, San Rafael Wilderness, Santa Barbara, Swimming Holes, waterfalls, Wilderness
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6 Comments
Fire Poppy (Papaver californicum)
Great Scott! He’s found it. Our indefatigable wanderer of lands of lesser interest, fumbling, bumbling, stumbling his way onward deep within the myriad folds of the wildfire wasted, drought stricken, flash flood ravaged Santa Ynez Mountains, having mustered the resolve … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Pics, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Wilderness, wildflowers
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10 Comments
The Summer Microburst, September 3, 2017
Looking out from under the shade canopy. Note the umbrella in the air in the distance for some sense of the action and all the dark dots of palm tree debris even higher overhead and the bend in the trunk of … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Arroyo Burro, Beach, Hendry's Beach, Microburst, Nature, Ocean, Santa Barbara, The Pit, Thunderstorms, weather, Writing
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9 Comments
From Graffiti to Graffito, Trash To Treasure
The old black board inside Manzana Schoolhouse, a free-for-all graffiti panel. (Manzana Creek Schoolhouse Circa 1893) Inside the old Manzana Creek schoolhouse within the San Rafael Wilderness of Santa Barbara County one hundred years worth of names and dates cover … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Archaeology, Hiking, History, Landscapes, longreads, Nature, Non-fiction, Pictographs, Rock Art, Santa Barbara, Writing
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6 Comments
Parks Management Company’s Red Rock Racket
Red Rock, Santa Ynez River, Santa Barbara County “The writer’s duty to speak the truth—especially unpopular truth. Especially truth that offends the powerful, the rich, the well-established, the traditional, the mythic, the sentimental. To attack, when the time makes it … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Camping, Hiking, Landscapes, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Pics, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Ynez River, Swimming Holes, Wilderness
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52 Comments













