Hike Along The Carpinteria Bluffs Trail

This trail runs along the bluffs of Carpinteria State Beach and also goes inland just a bit and follows the coastal railroad tracks. The views from the bluffs are beautiful and there is a spot where you can watch the seals come ashore and sun themselves. The day we were there was mostly overcast all day, so the seals did not come ashore.

If you are traveling either northbound or southbound on Highway 101 along the California Coast, take the for Bailard Avenue exit in Carpinteria. After exiting the freeway, head west. The first street you intersect, after less than a block, is Carpinteria Ave. You can see at the intersection a parking area straight ahead. Park here. The hike begins here. There is a bronze relief plaque of the ocean here, and some baseball fields.

We entered the trail from the other side on Linden Avenue at the entrance of the Carpinteria State Beach campground. We hiked 3.5 miles, but if you walk from one end of the trail to the other, it is 3 miles, so a round trip would be 6 miles.

The trail can sometimes be hard to find, but if you ask other hikers, they will tell you where to continue.

View at the start of the trail

My friend Linda on the trail

One of the views from the bluffs

Linda, Me & my brother Keith

Keith on the trail

The trail actually comes down to the beach at one point

Great view from the bluff trail

Where the trail runs along the tracks

A fork in the trail will take you down to the beach

Another view from the bluffs

Near the seal rookery, I zoomed in on this little guy

Another great view from the trail

Heading back toward where we started

We walked along the beach to get back to the car

The blue line shows the path of our hike

Rice Canyon Hike - 09/21/2011

My good friend Linda and I hiked Rice Canyon this morning. Linda had never been there before but I had hiked this trail back in October 2008. The first thing we came across was a young deer buck getting a drink of water. We took his picture and then he scampered away. The trail is a nice easy trail with several stream crossings and a lot of shade. The stream was mostly dry because it is still hot here and we have not had a good rain for several months. The trail is an "in and out". Just before you get to the end of the trail it starts to climb and you come out on a flat plateau where you have some great views of the canyon.

Rice Canyon is in the Santa Clarita Valley of Southern California near the city of Santa Clarita. It is just off Interstate 5 on The Old Road. There is also another trail there called "East Canyon Trail". It is a little longer and a little more strenuous than the Rice Canyon Trail.

 Linda

 Linda and Me

 Linda

Linda and Me

Where The Heck Is The Trail?

This morning, my friend Linda and I decided to hike a trail that neither of us had ever hiked before. I went online and found other hikers who had been in Elsmere Canyon and asked them exactly how to get to this trail and a couple of people sent me directions and then instructed me on "how to find the trail" from the trail head. We followed the instructions and at first it appeared that we had found the trail and off we went through the canyon, through a few oak groves and across dry creek beds, but then the trail suddenly ended. I had read that the trail went 7 miles in and we had only gone in about 1 mile, so we figured we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way. We found some fire roads that were very steep, but we had not been out hiking for so long that we were not really in shape to climb those steep hills. We finally just gave up and turned around and headed back to the car. We still got a pretty good workout though.

Linda following me up the trail

A small oak grove

Linda and me