Moments in Dirt and Ink

The outdoor sketches for the month: The water seeping from the bank into Tule Creek . Sunset from Forbush Flat down Gidney Canyon. Looking at the potreros from the top of Hildreth Peak . The water curtain at the bottom of West Falls hides a few plants. One more waterfall in Matilija . One from along the beach-side park.

Los Padres National Forest Map link. Matilija sucked in a lion's share of the rain from the one storm of the year and that was probably the time to see it, except that high water and rock slides can be dangerous. The danger subsides over the next few days. It is now weeks later and well past time to go and see it as the flow will just keep dwindling until next year. There are a few cars along the side at the end of the road, guys on bikes with a dog headed in, and a woman getting let through the gate by a truck marked Rocky Mountain as I arrive. She asks why they would have the key, and I am wondering the same thing. The kid in the truck seems to think he can go in whenever he wants, but I expect there would be consequences if he did. Once the activity quiets, a pair of quail rush along the road. There seems to be lots of traffic today. Through the first ranch, most of the activity is in the aviary. There is a truck with government plates parked at Murietta which say...

Los Padres National Forest Map link. It is surprising how few people have heard of Hildreth Peak considering its name graces the 7.5' quad directly north of the Carpinteria quad. It is also one of the shorter peaks on the Hundred Peaks List that the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club maintains. I decided to try to do it in a big loop, or really a dropped lollipop of a route using the Sierra Club's route 1 and the old jeepway. When the road was closed to Big Caliente last month, doing this loop did not add many miles to the climb, but I was feeling suspicious that I would meet a mountain lion on the route then. It can be easy to yield to unfounded suspicions when there are so many other hikes to try. With the suspicion fading and the temperatures threatening to go high soon, I decided it was time. I am not really feeling it is the day for a very long hike, but having gotten fixated on trying the old road, that is what I will try. The valley is a lake of cloud that i...

Los Padres National Forest Locate the trailhead. There is a chance of a lunar eclipse every six months, and many of them are total, so it is not all that special an occurrence. It is not like a solar eclipse where only a thin segment will be able to see it since anyone who can see the moon can see the shadow of the earth moving across it. This one seemed well enough timed and I am not sure I have ever watched a total lunar eclipse. I know I watched a partial one once, but not total. The partial was not so interesting as it really just puts a new line across the old moon that usually has a line across it. The local area has had too much marine layer building up to trust the night sky to be clear, but just the other side of the mountains should be fine. Forbush Flat is always a nice spot with a wide open space and should have water on the ground rather than in the air. The early evening drive up Gibraltar is nice, so long as I discount the two vehicles attempting head on coll...

Los Padres National Forest Locate the trailhead. I think Tule Creek first came to my attention while perusing my father's 1967 Los Padres visitor map, which may be falling apart at the seams, but is still bright and clear between the folds. I knew of it and had even checked the area for parking by the time I noticed it was included in Craig Carey's guidebook. I had not actually hiked it since it appears on very few other maps. The state of the trail is given as "passable to difficult". Still, inclusion in the guide is more than can be said for Gato Trail, which should run south from Camino Cielo near Broadcast Peak and currently does so for no more than 40 feet, from what I can ascertain from internet searches having not even seen it while walking past . The plan is to take Tule Creek up to Dry Lakes Ridge, then finish that trail to the west, and maybe even climb north on Ortega a little way before turning around and retracing my steps. Clouds appear to be...

Santa Barbara front country Map link. Robert Bernstein invited me on a hike up Mission Ridge, which is a crest of rock along a strike canyon between Mission Canyon and Rattlesnake. I have done this hike in the dark with the Wednesday conditioning hike the local Sierra Club hosts (but open to all), and thought it would be nice to see it in the day. The Wednesday group hikes it from Rattlesnake using the use trail up to the Edison catway, then loops around the back of the ridge to the junction and back down. Robert prefers to take Tunnel Trail to get more views out toward the ocean. It is probably a little shorter hike this way and there is less travel on use trails although the main event of the hike is still crazy use trail. First, we have to find a parking spot at the Tunnel Trailhead. This is particularly difficult a little after 11AM, even on a weekday. The day is beautiful and there is one paraglider off over Gibraltar Road as we start. We see many people on the trail...