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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
- Indian Head Test Pattern (1939)
- On Adventure
- Eating Poison Oak
- About
- The Day Hell Hit Santa Barbara; Third Hottest Temperature Ever Recorded on Earth
- Lower Lion Canyon, Sierra Madre Mountains
- The Bandit of Ballarat
- Fossil Falls, A Glacial Relic of the Pleistocene
- 48 Pound White Seabass
- The Mighty Chia Seed, Cuyama Badlands
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: Wilderness
Smithy’s Pool
The Santa Ynez River was once hailed as “the most productive of all the little steelhead rivers of the south” in California. (Native Steelhead of Yore) Sitting in the public library some twenty years ago or more I stumbled upon … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Hiking, Hiking (2), iPhoneography, Landscape, Los Padres National Forest, Nature, Outdoors, Pics, Santa Barbara, Wilderness
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3 Comments
The Mighty Chanterelle and the Gnarly Oak
Santa Barbara County Chanterelle “In an oak forest alone, more than a hundred different species of fungi may be present in different parts of the roots of the same tree. From the oak’s point of view, this is a very … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Backpacking, Foraging, Hiking, Hiking (2), Los Padres National Forest, Mushrooms, Nature, Outdoors, Santa Barbara, Wilderness
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5 Comments
Wild Oyster Mushrooms and Reading the Nuances of Nature
Oysters on a standing dead cottonwood tree in the Santa Ynez Mountains. You can see where the deceased tree’s canopy had filled in the now empty sky above, the other trees wrapping around it. “The hunter-gatherer lives on what is … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Los Padres National Forest, Mushrooms, Nature, Oyster Mushrooms, Wild Edibles, Wildcraft, Wilderness, Writing
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11 Comments
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













