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Black Bear
I was lounging around camp in midafternoon boiling the billy. Had me a relaxation station set up in the shade of a tree, an air mattress propped up against a boulder as a makeshift recliner, and a long...
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Mono Narrows, The Old Oak Dies
The upper Santa Ynez River valley. Upper Santa Ynez River Looking up lower Mono Creek near the Santa Ynez River confluence. “During the month of November the trail in Little Caliente and Mono canyons...
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Calochortus Fimbriatus, Rare Wildflower
Calochortus fimbriatus, the late-flowered Mariposa lily, is in bloom at the moment in the Santa Ynez Mountains. A patch of the flowers thrives in the droughty dryness and summertime heat on a south...
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Fish Falls, Santa Ynez Mountains
The large emerald pool below Fish Falls might be the best summertime swimming hole on the frontside of the Santa Ynez Mountains in Santa Barbara County. It’s deep enough to dive into from the top of...
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Lower Lion Canyon, Sierra Madre Mountains
Squaring off with the sun in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains in 96 degree heat. I like to see it for myself. When looking at a map of the forest I want to know what each particular...
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Hiking Every Season In All Conditions
Bryan route finding off-trail in Sespe Wilderness. “I came to know that country, not in the way a traveler knows the landmarks he sees in the distance, but more truly and intimately, in every season,...
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Chumash Rock Art, a Pool of Water and a Chipmunk
A Chumash pictograph with inset showing a recreation of the design. A seasonal creek flows by this Indian rock art site in Santa Barbara County and there is a spring not far from the paintings. When...
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Barger Canyon Arch
Looking through Barger Arch toward Santa Barbara. A coast live oak tree obscured for most of my life this frontside feature of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Arroyo Burro Trail, which cuts the mountainside...
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Wilder Than I Thought
I stood daydreaming with my back to the river when a loud slap broke from behind me, the sound of something smacking the surface of the water. It was pushing toward 100 degrees and I had just climbed...
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Hunting Desert Bighorn Sheep
A preserved desert bighorn sheep in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. “. . .the most modern hunters, the men who sally forth with rapid cameras instead of repeating express rifles, who press...
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Hericium Hunt: Days Late and Feet Short
A hericium or “Lion’s Mane” mushroom growing on an oak tree, circled in red. With the first rain of the season some weeks ago the countdown had begun until the opening harvest of mushroom season. One...
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Piedra Blanca Creek West, Descent From Pine Mountain Lodge Camp
A smidgeon of Piedra Blanca. “Civilization has a relatively precarious hold on us and there is an undoubted attraction in a life of absolute freedom once it has been tasted. The ‘call o’ the wild’ is...
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Fight With a Condor: Experience of a Forest Ranger in Santa Barbara County...
Although the forest ranger mentioned in the newspaper article below is Joseph Montgomery, I wonder if it may actually have been a brief about Josiah T. Montgomery, for whom Montgomery Potrero atop the...
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Lost Hikers and Search and Rescue
A winter scene in the Santa Ynez Mountains, Los Padres National Forest. “No, I can’t say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.” “I wouldn’t give a tinker’s damn for a man who isn’t...
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Fritillaria Ojaiensis, Rare Wildflower
A single Fritillaria ojaiensis growing along Fremont Trail in the Santa Ynez Mountains. This photo is from early spring 2014. This variety of lily is endemic to California. It’s listed by the...
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Rattlesnake Falls, San Rafael Wilderness
DavidStillman.com standing beside Rattlesnake Falls deep in the Santa Barbara backcountry on a recent backpacking trip, the creek a tributary of the Wild and Scenic Sisquoc River.
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Wildcrafted Salad
Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliatum) growing in profusion along a shady bank of Alder Creek in the Santa Ynez Mountains of Santa Barbara County. Skills Are Weightless “You have to travel light. . ....
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The Politics of Rock Art
Santa Barbara County vintage making use of Chumash pictograph motifs. When one takes an interest in actively seeking out and visiting Chumash rock art paintings they soon learn that there is an...
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The Los Padres Box Of Chocolates
Humboldt lily growing in Los Padres National Forest. “Sometimes I feel so uninspired Sometimes I feel like giving up Sometimes I feel so very tired Sometimes I feel like I’ve had enough” —Steve...
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Flight of the Condor, Rare Santa Barbara Roost
A condor over Sespe Wilderness in December, 2013. (Return to Whiteacre Peak Or Day of the Condor) Earlier this month I stood on a ridge along Arroyo Burro Trail gazing from afar into the rocky mouth of...
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