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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
- Language of Forest Closure; Assault on an Ancient Right
- California Slender Salamander
- Eating Poison Oak
- A Treasure Hunt For Chumash Pictographs and the Vicious Protector
- Dinosaur Footprints, Isle of Skye, Scotland
- Slippery Rock Stagecoach Road (19th Century)
- Alice Keck Park Park
- Indian Creek Waterfalls and Narrows
- Santa Barbara Seen Through A Sailor's Eyes (1835)
- John Haines On Pool Rock
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Latest Dispatches
- 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
- The Intelligence of Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata)
- The Journey of a Root (1907) and Plant Intelligence
- Santa Barbara County Morels
Lunar Phase

Tag Archives: Santa Barbara
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
The Lost Treasure of San Roque Canyon (1895)
“There were three Santa Barbara boys who started aviation careers with their kite-flying. They were the Loughead brothers, Victor, Malcolm, and Allan, whose mother, Flora Haines Loughead, was a writer for the Independent, one of Santa Barbara’s three newspapers at … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, History, Los Padres National Forest, Newspapers, Reading, San Roque Canyon, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Travel, Treasure, Writing
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2 Comments
The Wondrous Orange-Bellied Newt
California orange bellied newt (Taricha torosa). One of the great indicators of seasonal change in the Santa Ynez Range of Santa Barbara is the arrival of orange bellied newts to mountain streams. They don’t always live in water. Newts spend … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged California Newt, Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Outdoors, Pics, Salamander, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Wildlife
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9 Comments



