In an effort to get out of Isla Vista for the insanely over-rated Halloween weekend I decided to go backpacking. After work on Friday afternoon I was dropped off at upper oso campground. I was initially apprehensive about leaving all my friends to fend for themselves with the out of towners who seem to have no respect for people's belongings. But that fear quickly abated into elation at how gorgeous the mountains behind Santa Barbara are. The sun was setting rather quickly and I was only able to make it 1 mile into the trail and camped at 19 oaks for the night. There are two well established campsites here and I opted for the one further from the trail and with less overhead cover. A quick inspection of the site found it to be in good shape with a food goodies left from whomever was there last. A bit of rope, frayed and dry as a bone made perfect tinder for starting a fire. I juggled keeping the fire alive and cooking rice for dinner while I listened to the creatures change shifts for the night. Birds gave way to crickets, ants retreated while moths came out in force, and finally the sun sank and the moon rose, lighting the surrounding hills with an eerie gray hue. With no artificial lighting, its amazing how quickly the body adapts to the natural flow of night and day. I was pretty tired soon after the sun set. I gathered up enough wood to last a couple more hours while I slept next to the fire in my bivy. Now, it should be noted that the weather report warned of thunderstorms and rain for the night. In my hubris frame of mind I disregarded this report and slept under the stars, counting 3 shooting stars before finally nodding off to the sound of crickets and the crackling fire. Some time in the middle of the night (didn't have a way to tell time) my dreams were interrupted by rain falling on my face. "Alright," I thought, "time to move into some place where this isn't going to get the sleeping bag soaked and ruin the rest of the weekend by sleeping in a cold wet bag." I scuttled under the picnic table at the campsite and covered my gear with the ground tarp, securing it down with rocks. The picnic table provided little shelter, however, as the wind picked up to near 30mph gusts, whipping the tarp off of my gear and making an awful racket, urging me out of my bag to replace the rocks and pray for daylight. This process repeated itself 3 or 4 times throughout the night before the rain finally gave up sometime near dawn. Lightning flashing intermittently coupled with the wet and wild antics of the wind and rain made for few hours of sleep without interruption.
I was awake before the sun crept over the hills and on my way out of there without bothering to eat, I just wanted to get some miles under my shoes before being rained out again. Luckily, the clouds broke and the fog rolled in, making it a cool day with no views to speak of. Climbing up to the junction with happy hollow camp wasn't as bad as I remembered it to be, and the decision was quickly made to continue on to Santa Cruz camp for lunch before returning to Happy Hollow for the night. The trail was incredibly overgrown and slippy with mud. Overgrown plants had yet to be warmed by the sunlight in this steep canyon and every drop of water accumulated during last nights storm was duly transferred to my clothes. The first mile of the trail past the junction was rough though, after that it was smooth sailing and fast hiking along a mellow decline all the way to Santa Cruz. Lunch there consisted of tuna fish from a bag I scrounged from the cabinets. By now the fog had cleared and I had a clear view of the city of Santa Ynez. I decided to quickly return to a camping spot closer to my extraction point so tomorrow I wouldn't be late for my ride. The walk back to the junction seemed to fly by, as now I knew where the hell I was headed. Happy Hollow had some nice new growth since the last time I was there. The grasses are returning after a devastating fire a few years ago. Learning from last nights mistake, I made an A frame out of some branches and the picnic table here, and set my gear and bivy underneath the protective cover. Making a fire was out of the question, everything was still soaked through. I was in my bag before the sun went down.
I awoke again in the middle of the night multiple times just waiting for the sun to make its presence known. Finally the gray light of dawn spread across the hollow, and I was surprised to find frost all over the ground around my sleeping bag. My socks and shoes were absolutely freezing, and I walked up and out of the hollow without packing to find some sun to defrost myself. I ran into a mother deer and her two fawns scavenging for breakfast in the grass at the top of the hill. I wonder if I am the first person those baby deer had ever seen. I stood at the top of that hill trying to take in the beauty of my surroundings and warm my frozen feet. Finally I figured it was time to get out of there and back to cars and centralized heating systems before I was late to work. I packed up and flew down the mountain at breakneck speeds, putting my surgically repaired knee through some tests to see how it would hold up. It was fine and handled everything in stride, despite trying my best to find a situation to garnish caution in the future. I ran into some day hikers near the bottom who were surprised to find a 21 year old kid wandering in the mountains on this weekend. They were glad not every one of my generation has lost faith in what is really important .Horses and hikers with dogs even closer to the bottom let me know i had to be really close to the parking lots. I really am glad to see people getting out of their houses on a Sunday morning to enjoy the beauty of their own backyards.
In an effort to get out of Isla Vista for the insanely over-rated Halloween weekend I decided to go backpacking. After work on Friday afternoon I was dropped off at upper oso campground. I was initially apprehensive about leaving all my friends to fend for themselves with the out of towners who seem to have no respect for people's belongings. But that fear quickly abated into elation at how gorgeous the mountains behind Santa Barbara are. The sun was setting rather quickly and I was only able to make it 1 mile into the trail and camped at 19 oaks for the night. There are two well established campsites here and I opted for the one further from the trail and with less overhead cover. A quick inspection of the site found it to be in good shape with a food goodies left from whomever was there last. A bit of rope, frayed and dry as a bone made perfect tinder for starting a fire. I juggled keeping the fire alive and cooking rice for dinner while I listened to the creatures change shifts for the night. Birds gave way to crickets, ants retreated while moths came out in force, and finally the sun sank and the moon rose, lighting the surrounding hills with an eerie gray hue. With no artificial lighting, its amazing how quickly the body adapts to the natural flow of night and day. I was pretty tired soon after the sun set. I gathered up enough wood to last a couple more hours while I slept next to the fire in my bivy. Now, it should be noted that the weather report warned of thunderstorms and rain for the night. In my hubris frame of mind I disregarded this report and slept under the stars, counting 3 shooting stars before finally nodding off to the sound of crickets and the crackling fire. Some time in the middle of the night (didn't have a way to tell time) my dreams were interrupted by rain falling on my face. "Alright," I thought, "time to move into some place where this isn't going to get the sleeping bag soaked and ruin the rest of the weekend by sleeping in a cold wet bag." I scuttled under the picnic table at the campsite and covered my gear with the ground tarp, securing it down with rocks. The picnic table provided little shelter, however, as the wind picked up to near 30mph gusts, whipping the tarp off of my gear and making an awful racket, urging me out of my bag to replace the rocks and pray for daylight. This process repeated itself 3 or 4 times throughout the night before the rain finally gave up sometime near dawn. Lightning flashing intermittently coupled with the wet and wild antics of the wind and rain made for few hours of sleep without interruption. 
I awoke again in the middle of the night multiple times just waiting for the sun to make its presence known. Finally the gray light of dawn spread across the hollow, and I was surprised to find frost all over the ground around my sleeping bag. My socks and shoes were absolutely freezing, and I walked up and out of the hollow without packing to find some sun to defrost myself. I ran into a mother deer and her two fawns scavenging for breakfast in the grass at the top of the hill. I wonder if I am the first person those baby deer had ever seen. I stood at the top of that hill trying to take in the beauty of my surroundings and warm my frozen feet. Finally I figured it was time to get out of there and back to cars and centralized heating systems before I was late to work. I packed up and flew down the mountain at breakneck speeds, putting my surgically repaired knee through some tests to see how it would hold up. It was fine and handled everything in stride, despite trying my best to find a situation to garnish caution in the future. I ran into some day hikers near the bottom who were surprised to find a 21 year old kid wandering in the mountains on this weekend. They were glad not every one of my generation has lost faith in what is really important .Horses and hikers with dogs even closer to the bottom let me know i had to be really close to the parking lots. I really am glad to see people getting out of their houses on a Sunday morning to enjoy the beauty of their own backyards. 
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