DMS Hike Club Classics!
(1998 - 1999)

March Birding

March was a tough month for Hike Club because of weather, illness, and conferences. Marc's Wednesday birding elective became Hike Club for the birds! Here are some pictures from our forays to Lake Cachuma, Nojoqui Falls, and Gaviota Beach.

March 19, 1999

We went to the top of Figeroa Mountain to play in the last remains of the great snow storm on March 15 that even dumped snow on the Middle School. Marc has an album of snow pictures from his house.

March 4, 1999

We went to Tyler's house near where Santa Rosa Creek meets the Santa Ynez River. We tried to follow a map to some caves with fossils and Chumash artifacts. We got lost, but we still had a great time exploring! Tyler's dogs came with us.

11 February 1999

We got a late start from school, so we did a short hike in the woodland up Tequepis Canyon looking for mushrooms. We found a few small chanterelles and cooked them up at school the next day!

4 February 1999

Rain was threatening, so we sought shelter. We hiked to a little-known cave near the second crossing in Paradise. What an amazing place! Surely this is the only live limestone cave within hundreds of miles. This must be an important Chumash site. There were mushrooms! The second picture shows Corey and Tyler holding amanita gemmata. At the mouth of the cave, we found the remains of a sharp-shinned hawk that must have hit the rock wall. It's not just us humans who screw up!

28 January 1999

Snow! We went to Ranger Peak along Figeroa Mountain Road and found enough snow to slide on. Adam tried to eat his skim board. He survived.

21 January 1999

We hiked to Las Cruces Hot Springs. The warm pool was an amazing milky turquoise color when we got there, but we soon turned it to mud!

14 January 1999

We went to Surf Beach at the mouth of the Santa Ynez River past Lompoc. There was a minus tide, and Adam and Patch went skim boarding. What a gorgeous beach!

7 January 1999

We hiked to Knapp's Castle, a mile or so off of East Camino Cielo on top of the Santa Ynez Mountains. This is the ruin of a mansion that was once owned by opera singer Lotte Lehman, but was destroyed by a wildfire in the 1930s. It's the best view of the Santa Barbara backcountry!

17 December 1998

We went to Treebeard's house on San Marcos Pass for a holiday party. We even took a (short) hike to the top of his rock wall!

10 December 1998

We went part way down the trail to the Finger Rock on the south slope of Ranger Peak on Figeroa Mountain Road. This area burned a few years ago and is recovering. We were looking for mushrooms, but all we found was some cortinarius and a dead man's foot. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we were feeling lazy.

12 Nov 1998

We went to Lizard Mouth on West Camino Cielo to explore the caves and climb on the rocks. I guess I wore out my Olympus 320L digital camera by taking 3000 pictures last summer! I had to send it in to fix the cover switch, and just got it back.

1 Oct 1998

By popular demand, we went back to the Second Crossing at Paradise to jump off the rope swing and the rocks. It's getting cold! Not quite BLP (that's Hike Club lingo), but getting close, at least grapes! This might be our last swimming hole trip unless the weather changes.

24 Sep 1998

We hiked to Red Rock past the end of Paradise Road. It was a cool, cloudy day, and we found that the swimming hole had partially filled in with gravel during last year's floods. We still managed some good jumps. We'll keep getting wet as long as the weather allows!

17 Sep 1998

The first 1998-9 DMS Hike Club went to the swimming hole at the Second Crossing at Paradise. We had a great time on the rope swing and the good jumps from the rocks. Yahoo!

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Marc took these photos with his Olympus 320L digital camera.
Contact Marc if you would like a full size (1024x768) copy of any photo.