New posts soon.

I will soon be adding more content in the form of smaller concise posts. I have had this block in my mind regarding trailblogs as I’ve had a larger work load than I’m used to. I am gaining tracking and I feel with the extra light in the day in summer and the gorgeous weather in SoCAL I have to start posting more.

Also, I’ve been working on other blogs and projects that will soon see the light of day. They have to do with nature and sustainability and similar concepts to trailblogs but not enough to share here.

Bottom line I need to get hiking, and so do you!

Matilija Canyon Overnighter: Late October

Short video I cut together of an overnighter with a friend. I was impressed with the quality of my first video.

Thanks for watching!

Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

This here’s the backcountry beans and sausage mix suitable for making soup or stew. (Lentils with Bavarian Bratwurst, Porcini Mushrooms and Mixed Vegetables)

“An army marches on its stomach.”

—Napoleon Bonaparte

Trail food serves a dual purpose for me when backpacking. Its primary value is utilitarian; to provide nourishment and fuel for hiking. Its secondary value is psychological; to provide an appetizing, delicious meal to look forward to after a long hard day of strenuous physical activity. Good food boosts morale while filling the belly.

To this end I prefer to prepare my own food at home. In doing so I am able to create meals that are healthier, tastier, less expensive and less bulky compared to the typical store-bought highly processed, sodium overloaded prepackaged meal pouches. I also don’t care to poor boiling water into a plastic pouch, a material known to leach toxic chemicals into food under…

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I love this historial account of camping in the later 1800s!

Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

A man by the name of John R. G. Hassard wrote the following narrative of his “camping expedition of sixty-eight days” in the Ventura County backcountry of California. As an aside, Ventura County was created on January 1, 1873 and was split from and taken out of Santa Barbara County.

“In these pages,” writes Hassard, “I propose telling how we lived without hardship on a remote mountain, hunting, fishing, exploring wild places, and idling in the shade of the pines.”

The story was published in March 1887 in The Century, a popular quarterly publication of the time. The black and white drawings accompanied the story as originally published. I have added color photos of some of the places mentioned.

“There was a flavor of adventure in those expeditions into the dark and lonely woods, with the suppers of bacon and freshly caught trout and the late lingering over the…

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Great information on scourge the of the forest!

Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

A blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) questing with legs reaching as it waits for a host to pass by. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Hikers beware. According to the latest April 2012 issue of Veterinary Practice News, we may be in for an unusually abundant tick season and therefore a greater chance at contracting some hideous tick-borne disease.

“An unseasonably warm U.S. winter not only has meant non-stop tick-sightings, it could mean a boom in the parasite population this spring—or sooner, parasitologists say. This correlates with a higher prevalence of tick-borne diseases in dogs and humans.”

Ticks, the parasitic scourge of the forest. I wonder how many ticks I’ve plucked from my skin and swept from my clothing through the years. Loads. While walking trails I’m constantly feeling my beltline for these detestable vermin, where they routinely accumulate. Once in awhile, I’ll spot them clung…

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Great post about the Eagles of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands.

Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

In 2010, thanks to restoration efforts and years of hard work and patience by conservationists, a record 15 bald eaglets hatched on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. This milestone event included two chicks on Santa Rosa Island which was the first time in 60 years this was known to have happened.

Last year 14 chicks hatched on the islands including the first eaglet born on Anacapa Island in 63 years.

For 2012, the breeding season on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands is proceeding as follows:

Two Harbors nest on Catalina Island: Feb. 19: Laid first egg, Feb. 22: Laid second egg

West End nest on Catalina: Feb. 18: Laid first egg, Feb. 22: Laid second egg, Feb. 26: Laid third egg

Sauces nest on Santa Cruz Island: March 2: First egg laid, March 6: Second egg laid

Pelican Harbor nest on Santa Cruz Island: March 6: First Egg Laid

There…

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Indian Cave

Awesome post! I would love to find this spot someday.

Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

This cave is located in Ventura County. It sits overlooking a gushing perennial spring in otherwise very dry landscape. There are numerous bedrock mortars in the cave and around the immediate area. There are traces of soot on its walls from the campfires of those that once made use of the natural shelter, but if it was at one time painted there does not appear to remain any traces of that art. It is within sight of a residential neighborhood, and as such has been subject to the whims of the young and careless, and just southward of a trail named in the honor of those who once frequented the area.

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Backpacking Horn Canyon Trail: To The Pines

This gallery contains 16 photos.

Backpacking Horn Canyon Trail: To The Pines Click here for more pictures, specs, and directions.    My girlfriend and I ready to go.  We’re smiling now…

Great post on a huge day hike in the San Rafael Wilderness.

Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure

The circuit I hiked noted on Bing imagery.

I woke early and hit the super slab driving up over the Santa Ynez Mountains, across the Santa Ynez Valley and over Figueroa Mountain to the lower Manzana Creek trailhead in the San Rafael Wilderness. In preparation for getting my arse kicked out on the trail by this suicyco mutha***** I’m soon to do some hiking with, I spent eight hours, plus an hour lunch break, hiking over 21 miles of trail and no less than 4500 feet in combined elevation gain and loss.

Despite the length, the loop is a relatively easy walk as most of the trail is fairly flat apart from the climb up Potrero Canyon to Hurricane Deck and back down to Manzana Creek at its confluence with the Sisquoc River.

As the morning waned the sky cleared to pure blue but with cool winter temperatures. I hiked…

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Southern California Bass Fishing

Lake Casitas

Take the 33 North from the highway 101.  When you come to the end of the freeway part take the last exit which is for Casitas Pass Road.  Follow it until you come to a bridge on the right, turn right there.  This should take you by The Corner Store, where you can get some fishing baits, live and artificial alike.  From there keep going along the road and you should run into the lake entrance itself.

This is the main cove that I fish.  I’ll stay here for many reasons, mainly because there is a lot of diversity in this area that offers many different types of fishing.

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