Santa Barbara has some amazing back country. A 1.5 hour drive can get you to the middle of nowhere.
I did a 10 mile round trip hike today: Portrero Trial to Hurricane Deck, rated as steep, rugged, remote. Sounds perfect. It was much more taxing than what I did in Yosemite.
To get to the trailhead, I had to take Happy Canyon Road. Last year, Daughter said that Happy Canyon Road was not so happy since it’s very circuitous and she gets car sick. But she wasn’t on this adventure so I didn’t have to worry about a sick kid. Happy Canyon road starts out quite beautiful, traveling through farms and pastures. But it devolves into a dirt road and recent landslides which kept me on high alert.
It was a spectacular day weather-wise. It was still chilly in the morning when I headed out on the trail, frost still crackling underfoot in the grass. I kept scampering into the patches of sun on the trail to warm up. By noon, I was down to my shorts and sports top. I would have thought that the recent rain would have brought water to the creeks but there was no water! The ground was thirsty! The foliage was very winter, seed pods, leaves, scrub. The trail went through the Zaca fire area and it was good to see so much thriving.
The view from Hurricane Deck was beautiful. There’s always a sense of accomplishment when you reach the top.
