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Published: June 30th 2014
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Santa Barbara is known for hits wonderful climate but sometimes, especially in June, the heat from inland draws the mist in from the sea and creates a blanket of fog above the town. This is know as June Gloom.
Thanks to Tom and his guide book we'd spent a lovely few days exploring beauty spots on the other side of the mountain range and had planned a walk right down the other side one day but woke up to the June Gloom, the mountain range had completely disappeared . We debated whether to go or not but as our time here is quickly running out we decided to go anyway.
As we set off driving up Gibraltar road that takes you to the road that winds along the ridge we were surrounded by cloud and mist, peaks appeared then disappeared as fast as we climbed ever higher. Then all of a sudden we had a cloudless blue sky above us but looking down there was a sea of mist billowing up where it made contact with the mountains. A magical sight! It had been quite cool when we set off but now the temperature was already in the mid
seventies and was steadily rising. This truly is a wilderness above the clouds.
We drove along the road that followed the ridge and were able to look across the valley on one side to the far off inland mountain range and to the mist bathing the coastline on the other side, it felt like being on top of the world. We parked the car and set off along our chosen trail to Fourbush campsite. No we weren't camping but the path sounded interesting. In front of us was a long range of barren, rocky mountains towering up to the sky but along the path wild flowers grew on either side of us. Butterflies fluttered past and humming birds came to drink nectar from the wild orchids. The walk to the campsite took about an hour and a half, now this would have been true wild camping, the only faciilties were a picnic table a fire pit and a spade. ( I'll leave it to your imagination as to what the spade was for). All water had to be carried in by yourself. Although it was beautiful here I was glad I'd be going home to a bed tonight!!
We spent a while wandering around on the trails that led away from here and came across the San Ynez fault line, a distinct deep crack in the ground. Despite being around 4,000 feet up we came across large sea shell fossils in the rocks, intriguing!
Once back at the car we looked back down to the coastline and were pleased to see the fog had cleared. Now I could look forward to a nice dip in the pool back at Sharon's place.
We now have only a few days left here and still a list of 'jobs' to do, not to mention spending time playing with Kyla and Jake as much as we can as we're not sure how long it will be before we can return to see them. I guess that means the end of our galavanting. For a while anyway!
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Love that backcountry!
How great that you visited SB's wonderful backcountry and not just the beaches! I lived for years at the top of the pass on Stagecoach Road and also Paradise Canyon and love the spots you visited. Fab photo of you two on Lizard's Mouth!