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Calochortus Fimbriatus, Rare Wildflower
Calochortus fimbriatus, the late-flowered Mariposa lily, is in bloom at the moment in the Santa Ynez Mountains. A patch of the flowers thrives in the droughty dryness and summertime heat on a south...
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Fish Falls, Santa Ynez Mountains
The large emerald pool below Fish Falls might be the best summertime swimming hole on the frontside of the Santa Ynez Mountains in Santa Barbara County. It’s deep enough to dive into from the top of...
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Alligator Pears First Successfully Introduced To USA In Santa Barbara
Morning dew on an avocado leaf in my small backyard orchard. “. . .the avocado became definitely established [in California] through the introduction of three trees from Mexico in 1871 by Judge R. B....
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Lower Lion Canyon, Sierra Madre Mountains
Squaring off with the sun in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains in 96 degree heat. I like to see it for myself. When looking at a map of the forest I want to know what each particular...
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Hiking Every Season In All Conditions
Bryan route finding off-trail in Sespe Wilderness. “I came to know that country, not in the way a traveler knows the landmarks he sees in the distance, but more truly and intimately, in every season,...
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Chumash Rock Art, a Pool of Water and a Chipmunk
A Chumash pictograph with inset showing a recreation of the design. A seasonal creek flows by this Indian rock art site in Santa Barbara County and there is a spring not far from the paintings. When...
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Barger Canyon Arch
Looking through Barger Arch toward Santa Barbara. A coast live oak tree obscured for most of my life this frontside feature of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Arroyo Burro Trail, which cuts the mountainside...
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Gabe Surfing Sandbar, Hurricane Marie 8-27-14
Gabe Venturelli making it look easy. Good to see a friend, a Santa Barbara local, getting it like not many people do. In the middle of summer, no less. Pacific love. “Look at this shot of Sandbar...
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A Treasure Hunt For Chumash Pictographs and the Vicious Protector
A mural in Lompoc, Santa Barbara County depicting a seaside Chumash village scene. Little of what Bill said made reasonable sense. He stood on the other side of his termite infested, dry-rotted, wobbly...
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Wilder Than I Thought
I stood daydreaming with my back to the river when a loud slap broke from behind me, the sound of something smacking the surface of the water. It was pushing toward 100 degrees and I had just climbed...
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Hunting Desert Bighorn Sheep
A preserved desert bighorn sheep in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. “. . .the most modern hunters, the men who sally forth with rapid cameras instead of repeating express rifles, who press...
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Chumash Indian Mortars and the Puzzle of the Midden
We had set out to go spearfishing, but a south wind and a west swell combined to ruin conditions. We drove up the mountain from the beach and hiked down into the canyon, the creek within which drains...
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Hericium Hunt: Days Late and Feet Short
A hericium or “Lion’s Mane” mushroom growing on an oak tree, circled in red. With the first rain of the season some weeks ago the countdown had begun until the opening harvest of mushroom season. One...
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Piedra Blanca Creek West, Descent From Pine Mountain Lodge Camp
A smidgeon of Piedra Blanca. “Civilization has a relatively precarious hold on us and there is an undoubted attraction in a life of absolute freedom once it has been tasted. The ‘call o’ the wild’ is...
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Fight With a Condor: Experience of a Forest Ranger in Santa Barbara County...
Although the forest ranger mentioned in the newspaper article below is Joseph Montgomery, I wonder if it may actually have been a brief about Josiah T. Montgomery, for whom Montgomery Potrero atop the...
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Lost Hikers and Search and Rescue
A winter scene in the Santa Ynez Mountains, Los Padres National Forest. “No, I can’t say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.” “I wouldn’t give a tinker’s damn for a man who isn’t...
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A Skillet Full of Fish
A calico bass might of been the first fish I shot as a kid while spearfishing. They seemed to be the most common, best tasting game in the water at that time. Which merely means that they were largely...
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Antimony and Eagle Rest Peaks, San Emigdio Mountains
Antimony Peak I strive to not waste the time of readers with unnecessary, empty words and pointless rambling. I have never had much interest in writing “trip reports” or “trail reports.” I have done...
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Fritillaria Ojaiensis, Rare Wildflower
A single Fritillaria ojaiensis growing along Fremont Trail in the Santa Ynez Mountains. This photo is from early spring 2014. This variety of lily is endemic to California. It’s listed by the...
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Rattlesnake Falls, San Rafael Wilderness
DavidStillman.com standing beside Rattlesnake Falls deep in the Santa Barbara backcountry on a recent backpacking trip, the creek a tributary of the Wild and Scenic Sisquoc River.
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