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Otter Point, Gaviota Coast
A cellphone snapshot from shore. I combed the beach for over an hour before sitting to rest in the hook of the arroyo mouth. The narrow, deep drainage chute cuts the shalestone sheets underlying the...
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Parks Management Co’s Selective Fee Enforcement
A valley of mixed woods, Condor National Forest, Santa Barbara County. RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters....
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Fire Poppy, Baron Ranch Corridor
Fire poppies blooming along Baron Ranch Corridor. An extraordinary flush of canyon sunflowers now covers many places likely to hold fire poppies. The curvaceous winding slopes under thickening oak...
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Sea Cave Sanctuary
A wisp of Santa Cruz Island floats on the horizon in Channel Islands National Park. The excerpt below details an island sea cave in neighboring Ventura County, not the cave above on the mainland coast...
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Chief Matilija’s Poppy
We grew up hearing about Chief Matilija and his group of warriors who tried to fight off the ever-present armies. In the myth, the story goes on to tell of Chief Matilija’s daughter, Amatil, who was...
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Fitzgerald’s Fit: Man Leads Work Crew To Wreck Montecito Hot Springs
Who’s watching? Tell me, who’s watching? Who’s watching me? — Rockwell, Somebody’s Watching Me Brian D. Fitzgerald from 999 Hot Springs Lane was caught in Los Padres National Forest leading a work...
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Dissecting Docherty: Eagle Demo & the Hot Springs Wrecking Crew
Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the men missed seeing this sign. Somebody’s not telling the truth. In response to the previous post, Fitzgerald’s Fit: Man Leads Work Crew To Wreck Montecito...
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Red-tailed Hawk Fledgling, Hot Springs Canyon Trail
A sycamore tree with a hawk nest as seen from the trail/public easement/private asphalt drive, just above the cement Arizona-style vehicle crossing, along Hot Springs Canyon Trail. The tall tree...
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Wild Strawberries, Santa Ynez Mountains
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest, the wild mountain strawberries ripened. Strawberries and poison oak. Santa Barbara strawberries. The sweet depth of flavor is among the richest, if only but a bit.
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Mandalas Through the Looking Glass
I lay simmering in a scalding hot puddle beneath a gurgling pipe, heart fluttering, riding a rocket of euphoria fueled by endorphins, winter’s slanted morning light illuminating Condor National Forest...
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The Economy of Direction and Sharing of Secret Places
Clouds over the Santa Ynez Mountains, December 14, 2024. Akin to the asperitas clouds of November, 2023. “Rumours circulate about entry points which might give access to unseen spaces. Secrets are...
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Red Horny Toad
Out for a walk with Larrold. An unremarkable lesser ridge among the rumpled hills. Chapparal, pine, gravel and grit. Then a flash of tiny red life running cumbersome from the fringe of the trail....
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Skinny-Dipper Detained, Cuffed and Cited at Montecito Hot Springs
ADIDAS: All Day I Dream About Soaking. “Absolutely insane. I’m blown away. Complete apathy on so many forest issues, yet this is what they decide to enforce? Bullshit.” –Anonymous, Montecito resident...
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Barefoot Prints In Volcanic Ash, Hawaii (1790)
Western slope of Mauna Loa (13,100′). The old trail of footprints lies somewhere beneath the cloud cover. A few months after arriving in Hawai‘i, Perkins was in the Kona area of the Big Island...
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Hollyleaf Cherries Golden Morph
Tafoni on a slab of exposed bedrock beside the golden cherry bush. It recalls the mind warp rock n’ roll nightmare of Rich Kids on LSD and the bubbles on their Reactivate album cover. “Of all our...
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Santa Barbara County Morels
Morel growing under a coast live oak tree with California poppies. (April 2025) Related Post: March is For Morels
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The Journey of a Root (1907) and Plant Intelligence
Los Angeles Herald, February 24, 1907. The Journey Of A Root From Santa Barbara, California, there comes a story of a most interesting freak of vegetable life, which is strictly vouched for. Through a...
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The Intelligence of Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata)
Wild tobacco growing in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Santa Barbara County. (Fall 2024) If we define intelligence as an ability to perceive, understand and respond effectively to environmental stimuli,...
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Hat Tip to the Selfless Samaritans In Service to Others
Pope Francis died this morning, Easter Monday. An incredible date for such a man to pass on. The extraordinary event called to mind the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the second and third...
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Mark of Conquest; Benchmark and Mortar
United States Coast & Geodetic Survey benchmark (1872) on a Chumash mortar stone, Santa Barbara County. “The reverence attached to the artifacts of history is a thing men feel. One could even say...
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