Hikers Guide
What Will Be the Fate of Santa Barbara County’s Large Coastal Ranches?
Three giant ranches cover most of the land between Vandenberg Air Force Base and Gaviota State Park, roughly 20 miles of the California coast. Rancho San Julian, inland from the coast along Highway 1, is owned by heirs of Jose Noriega, the original Spanish land grantee in the early 1800s. It’s still used for cattle…
Read MoreVandenberg Air Force Base as Nature Preserve
Vandenberg Air Force Base, established in 1958 when it absorbed the older Camp Cook (founded 1941), occupies 98,500 acres (154 square miles) along the central California coast in northern Santa Barbara County. With 35 miles of wild shoreline, Vandenberg qualifies as one of the most important large parcels of property on the California coast. Vandenberg…
Read MoreThrough-Hiking the CCT
If you’re contemplating a long distance hike along the California Coastal Trail, you need to consider many things and do a lot of planning to prepare for your trip. If you plan to hike the entire CCT in one continuous trek, your planning and preparations must be particularly detailed. Coastwalk’s 1996 “Whole Hike” took 96…
Read MoreThe Native Californians: Here Before History Began
Before contact with white civilization, the abundant natural resources of California supported one of the highest population densities in North America. Most estimates place the California native population around 250,000, some argue two or three times that, about 10% of the native U.S. population. Like today’s pattern, the highest concentration of people lived on or…
Read MoreThe Amazing Nipomo Dunes
The vast Nipomo Dunes sprawl over 18 square miles between Pismo Beach and Point Sal. They form the largest undeveloped coastal dune ecosystem in California, and the second largest, after the Oregon Dunes, on the west coast. Most of the dunes have been preserved by the efforts of the Nature Conservancy, with help from the…
Read MoreOil Sure Can Make a Mess of the Coast
In 1969 the Santa Barbara oil spill occurred when an offshore oil well blew out, dumping 4.2 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific. Beaches turned black and were littered with dead birds. No waves rose from the black shiny water. It was eight months before anyone could use the beach again. This isolated…
Read MoreThe Battle for Diablo Canyon
Forty thousand people gathered in June 1979 to protest the construction of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant. Governor Jerry Brown addressed the huge crowd in a rousing speech at this largest event to question whether a nuclear plant should be allowed to operate on an earthquake fault. PG&E eventually won the war when the…
Read MoreThe Volcanic Peaks of San Luis Obispo County
Morro Rock rises 576 feet like a sentinel above the Coastal Trail and the mouth of Morro Bay, visible for miles on a clear day. In 1542 Cabrillo named the rock “El Moro’ (the Moor) for its dark countenance. But when Portola camped nearby in 1769, he noted the presence of”a rounded morro” (promontory) at…
Read MoreWill the Hearst Corporation Get Its Way with the San Luis Obispo Coast?
The Hearst Corporation still owns 77,000 acres along the coast in northern San Luis Obispo County despite their donation of Hearst Castle to state parks in 1958. While the Hearsts have been praised for keeping this land in a natural state, this has not always been their intention. In the 1 960s the Hearst Corporation…
Read MoreThe Elephant Seals of Piedras Blancas
Largest of the world’s seals, the elephant seal’s name derives from the male’s huge size, up to 22 feet long and three tons in weight, and long drooping nose, or proboscis. The females weigh up to 2000 pounds and grow to 12 feet long. By 1868 the scientific community thought the northern elephant seal was…
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