I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. – James Taylor
Along The 101
It was the most violent rain in 200 years, following the biggest wildfire in state history, on the heels of the most dehydrating and devastating drought in modern county history. The Thomas Fire left the top few inches of the front-country slopes baked and seared into a fine, crumbly powder. The sustained heat cooked the chaparral, coaxing from it a waxy liquid that oozed onto the soil and functioned like a sheet of glass. The rains struck with biblical fury. Six-tenths of an inch in five minutes. Imagine a downhill demolition derby with 10,000 John Deere tractors dive-bombing Montecito, disking the hillsides as they go. – Dr. Ed Keller, professor of geology, UCSB.
Whoa. Nothing like a geologist to put the recent natural disaster in California’s Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties into perspective. Before Hannah and I came to Carpinteria on the Pacific coast for the month of February, I’d been reading about the Thomas Fire and the deadly mud and debris flows in nearby Montecito.
Let me back up and set the scene.
In December of 2017, wildfires blasted the vegetation (mostly very dry brush from years of drought) on the mountainsides above Ventura, Ojai, Carpinteria, Montecito, and Santa Barbara. Two of our favorite hiking canyons, San Ysidro and Romero, were closed since the trees of these steep ravines were burned to the roots. The fire was so intense it burned the organic matter in the soil, leaving pulverized dust, providing no stability for a firm trail foundation.
Montecito Mud and Debris
And then it got worse. On January 9, 2018 heavy rain fell on these hillsides into these same canyons causing mud and debris flows that washed away and knocked houses off their foundations; it sent car size boulders onto the main north/south highgway (The 101), closing it in both directions for nearly two weeks.
As the clean-up continues, our hiking options have narrowed, but we do have an old reliable hike – a mellow cliff walk from Goleta Beach State Park along the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Alas, this area, far from the fires and mud flows, has been compromised as well. Let me explain.
Montecito Mud comes to Goleta Beach. UCSB buildings in the background. Cliff trail in the distance.
Driving 20 miles north from our VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) condo in Carpinteria, we wonder if we will even have access to the parking lot at Goleta Beach State Park. Over the last month, dump truck after dump truck (100 loads per day) bring the mud (not debris) from the January mudslides. Though examined for non-mud materials, there is enough bacteria in the mud that swimming and surfing is currently not allowed in the area.
Cliff walk harborside near UCSB
Once the pungent, tree-burned, dark mud is dumped on the beach and pushed out into the low tide areas by bull dozers, the high tides start to work their magic. Within 24 hours, the tide has washed the mud out to sea, leaving the sandy elements of the muddy soil to replenish the beach itself.
It turns out we are able to park at Goleta Beach, though we and the rest of the public are barred by yellow police tape from walking within 400’ of the mud dumping zone. Taking to the UCSB bike trail towards campus, we skirt the beach and head for the fenced off cliff trail on the edge of campus. As expected, there are no surfers off the UCSB point as we weave by the marine technology lab.
Cliff walk facing the Pacific Ocean
Climbing stairs to the vista above the Pacific, we see school kids who have come for a nature field trip. Just two are listening to the guide, and the rest act middle school bored, so wanting to check their phones. Passing to their inland side, I appreciate that leading field trips with middle schoolers is in my distant past. When I retired from 41 years of teaching seven years ago, I never looked back. Greener pastures, hikable trails, and pickleball courts awaited. Previously we have come to these bluffs on weekends, so it is not surprising to see fewer walkers, students or visitors on the trail. Click here for our 2016 cliff hike and here for our 2017 hike.
Bomber at the Pacific
Returning by way of the lagoon and then through campus, we see that UCSB students are living the dream, sitting on the student union lawn facing the Pacific in shorts soaking in the sun. By the way, tuition and fees in 2017-2018 for California residents are $14,409, for out-of-staters it’s $42,423. Room and board for each of the 24,000+ students is $16, 218. At this highly competitive public university, the high school GPA averages are roughly 4.10 (they take a slew of AP classes, I’m guessing) and SATs are 600-750.
At the change of classes near 1P, kids on cruisers (one speed bikes) and skate boards, male and female, glide to class on specially marked trails to separate them from the walkers.
Mud comes to the Carpinteria Beach
Returning to Carpinteria for an evening walk on the beach, we see the same pungent dark mud that we saw earlier at Goleta Beach State Park. Within 100’ of the mud spread, we start to smell a pungent, burnt wood odor; it is overpowering. Whereas, in Goleta Beach there are no domiciles within a half mile of the dumping, here in Carpinteria the oceanfront condos have the nasty mud lapping near their walls. To quote the kids, gag me with a spoon. Check out the video below of the dumping process.
Heading for our condo, we find the town roads are covered with the sheen of dark red mud. Street sweepers go up and down the streets constantly keeping the dust down and sweeping up the surface mud.
Swimming and surfing here at the Carpinteria Beach is also verboten and will stay so for more than a month. Like others, we occasionally walk the beach mornings and evenings, but we do not mess with the bacteria-infested mud. All is not perfect in paradise. But it is still paradise.
over60hiker 