Hiking to Ventura County Line

---

---

Hey Everybody,

I did something that I wanted to tell to you about. I finished hiking from my home in downtown Santa Barbara to Ventura county line. It's only about 20 miles as the crow flies, but it is 60 miles as I walked. I thought of doing a hike across the county when Grace and I were on the Camino de Santiago in Spain last year near Pamplona - see previous blog. I did this hike in 8 separate hikes and only one 3-day backpacking weekend. I have really enjoyed getting out and doing a systematic hike instead of randomly hiking places. Grace has gone with me on 3 of the hikes and has helped me by driving so that I don't have to double back. About 30 of the miles were from backtracking to where I parked the car.

I've met some interesting people like a guy who taught me how to crack a whip. Another friend of a friend lives at Jameson Lake as has lived there for 20 years. He works for the Montecito water district and told me some interesting stories about Oprah and others in Montecito. I'm going to go camp near him with friends in a couple weeks and we'll visit the lake. I saw bear tracks and turds near his home.

Since I finished hiking to Ventura county line, I'm on the way across the county to get to my alma mater's county - San Luis Obispo. I probably have another 60 miles to go as the crow flies and I will need to do some more backpacking. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape now and can't wait to keep hiking. Check out some pix.

I'll keep this one short.

Happy hiking,

Scott

---

Photos

Grace on Romero Road
Grace was skyping with her niece in Taiwan while we walked the trail.

Infested Log
I broke this log over a rock and it split cleanly because ants and maybe termites had eaten it.

My Little Friend
This little bird stayed in camp with me and ate the bugs that crawled out of the logs I broke.

Tick Bite
I woke up when this tick bit me. His saliva caused an allergic reaction. There isn't much lyme disease out here, but I'm on antibiotics anyway.

Fog rolling in
The fog was rolling over the Santa Ynez mountain range above Alder Creek Camp.

Big Bear Turds
These bear turds were about 2" in diameter. It looks like chocolate-berry ice cream.