Arroyo Hondo Foray

Arroyo hondo

Yesterday we enjoyed a showery stroll through the 782-acre Arroyo Hondo Preserve managed by the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County. Above t is a colorful relief map of the canyon, which features impressive rock formations and many layers of geological history. It was inhabited for centuries by the  Barbareno-Chumash Native Americans and in 1827 became part of the vast Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mexican land grant given to former Santa Barbara Presidio Commandant Jose Francisco Ortega.  

ts 1842 adobe house was at various times an Ortega family residence, a stagecoach stop, and at one point a sort of pub for railroad and highway workers. The Hollister family owned it until its 2001 sale to the Land Trust. I remember going there in the 1990s with my students to interview J.J. Hollister.

Anyway, it was a beautiful morning, raining only for short intermittent stretches, and just enough to make things sparkle. We walked from the mouth of the canyon up into the mountains, a stretch called Outlaw Trail. During the days of stagecoach robberies the area was a great hide-out, offering outlaws refuge and good long views down to the road, and hence the name. Stories abound.

But my favorite part was wandering by the creek with Cornelia. Crossing on wooden boards or stepping carefully on rocks, we talked and laughed, and I had the feeling of being ten years old and in a secret and enchanted place.