Gaviota Wind Caves
Gaviota State Park
Map link.The local chapter of the Sierra Club was offering a hike to the Gaviota Wind Caves, but with a twist. They were planning to hit some extra caves on a cross country route. I decided to go. We total five hikers as we arrive in Gaviota to find it cooler than expected. A light breeze makes the day even more comfortable for a little walking. We start off heading up the Beach to Backcountry trail to the wind caves along it. Robert, who is leading, says this is the opposite direction from how he usually does it. Most of the rest of us agree that it will be doubly new to us this way, since we have not done it.
We stop at the viewpoint at the top of the hill to look over the ridge on the far side. It is pock marked with the caves we will be visiting later. I cannot see much trail around them, but there is a spot below them with a well established tread. We turn back and start climbing again over the natural concrete. We take a moment at the first cave, the only one actually along the trail, and then start climbing again as the trail starts braiding. We end up on the wrong one that passes by close under the front caves before purposely taking the wrong one up to the top.
Having come as far as most the crowd will get today, we turn down the trail that gets most directly back to Beach to Backcountry and take it up further to the next hard rock layer ridge.
At the ridge, there is no distinct trail down, but it is more open than my last loop through this side of the park. Down a little way, the trail becomes better defined. Sometimes there are even multiple well defined trails.
At one point, Robert tries hard to lose our confidence in him as a guide as he pokes his way down three different possible routes trying to decide which we should go through. They all look like they do not require the breast stroke to get through, so they all surpass my rather low standards for a cross country route.
It is a while before we get down to the caves we are aiming at. The rest start to pass the first cave quickly, but I want to go in and they follow. It is the start of poking our way into any cave we can fit into and checking out the rest at least a little.
This line of caves is much longer, but none are quite as big as the higher set near the trail. Only the very lowest ones are decorated by the previous passage of teenagers.
Eventually, it is time to make our way down the last little bit. Since people generally come up here from below, there is an easily followed path from here.
Once down in the canyon, the only danger is poison oak. There is plenty of it under the shade of the oaks. There is a last little bit of a hill before we arrive at the paved road. It has the first Mariposa lily I have seen this year. There is a family coming down the hill from the trail along an even better established track. They mean to be going to the wind caves, but missed the turn. I have to wonder how many will end up making this same mistake today.
*photo album*
©2015 Valerie Norton
Posted 9 March 2015
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