Moments in Dirt and Ink

Sketches seem to be getting a little bit spotty the last couple of months... Sketching in watercolor at Shoreline Park.  Some days the mountains are more attractive to the eye than the sea. The current entry point to the old Montecito Hot Springs Club . A bit of an attempt at fantasy from the reality of fog shrouded hills . Additionally, there were watercolors painted at Forbush Flat on an overnight .

Los Padres National Forest Map link. (This is day 2. Day 1 is here .) I watched far too much of the moon's arc across the sky but somehow woke up refreshed anyway. A little bit of breakfast and drying out the bivy that seems to have been able to breath sufficiently in the Sierras but not in the Santa Ynez and other Los Padres mountain ranges got me started on my day. The wispy clouds were replaced by puffy affairs as the chance of rain climbed from minute to tiny. I settled into some more painting. The large oak tree seems to be the first thing to get the sun in this part of the meadow.

Los Padres National Forest Map link. I have put together a backpacking quilt to replace my sleeping bag that refuses to be warm enough when the water starts to freeze and so need a place to test it. Where that can be now that it's properly spring, I'm not sure. Of nearby places, Forbush occurs to me simply because I've crossed a bit of frost on the trail close above it in the late morning. I believe the water there is reliable and maybe the fruit trees are blooming. It did occur to me that going to a place hoping for freezing nighttime temperatures and blooming fruit trees may be mutually exclusive goals. As a testament to which I thought would probably lose, I couldn't actually bring myself to throw in anything other than my jacket and gloves to ward off the evening cool. I didn't even really notice as I sorted the long johns and fleece into the unneeded pile. A minute chance of rain did get me to throw in the rain gear, but that was probably extreme h...

Santa Barbara front country Map link. Hot Springs Canyon has been a private parcel of land where we were not, strictly speaking, allowed to visit. The land has hosted a hotel and clubs that utilized the supposedly healing waters that well up hot and stinky from the ground. However, late last March, the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County picked it up with the intention of passing it on to the Los Padres National Forest which surrounds it. Now the public may access the land under all the usual rules for parks in the front country while the details of the transfer are still being worked out. I chose an approach to the canyon starting off at nearby San Ysidro although it does have its own trail head. This route offers a nice loop and a couple extra little hikes at the end if I'm feeling I haven't hiked far enough yet. I found a parking spot and started up the well marked trail along the property lines. Traveling along the side of Park Lane to get to the mountains. ...

Santa Barbara front country Map link. It was feeling like time to revisit Tangerine Falls and the rain the night before was, at times, quite heavy. With the last of the storm's rain still to fall, I headed for the Cold Spring trail head to see what I could see. Even as dry as it has been this winter, with the land sucking up any water that falls on it, I was hopeful that the waterfall would be impressive the day after a night of heavy rain. I parked the car in the lot with the rest of the people lazier about finding a parking spot than walking a hundred yards, skipped the first trail head that climbs missing the stream entirely, and started up the second, signed, trail head. Hikers may start on the west side of the stream as well, joining this trail in about 1/8 of a mile. The trail head for all things up the Cold Spring drainage. Mileages under the falling paper sign are for destinations up the east fork trail and marked as meters, but they mean miles. This year...