It’s not surprising to find Santa Barbara beaches and local trails packed with users. In an average year, more than 200,000 use the front-country trails and a million or more the jewels of the Santa Barbara area — beach parks such as those in Carpinteria, Montecito, Santa Barbara and Goleta.
What is surprising is how many are defying the basic “stay at home” principles put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 19 (just two weeks ago) and are heading out to the beaches and trails in numbers that could impact our ability to keep the community safe and lead to the wholesale closure of all of them.
Beaches and Trails Currently Open
Despite the governor’s order, which allows the public to walk dogs and go for a walk or hike as long as 6 feet of distance is maintained between people, the trailheads are crammed with vehicles and beach access points with scores of cars.
The reasons are pretty simple: The beach parking lots are open, the trails are within minutes of town and, after two weeks of being cooped up, people want to get out.
“This is a really stressful time,” one of the Santa Barbara-area trail leaders told me. “Everyone’s got lots of free time, the boredom is starting to creep in and the urge to get out is pushing people outdoors.”
But getting out is one thing; doing so in numbers even larger than on pre-coronavirus days is another. A quick check of several of the more popular trails indicates that hundreds of people are using the trails — 13 vehicles at the Jesusita trailhead, 35 at Tunnel, 30-plus at Cold Springs and another 35 at Hot Springs.
The beach areas are equally crowded with cars lining both sides of the Butterfly Beach access point, hundreds more parked along Cabrillo Boulevard, and the main and overflow parking areas at Hendry’s Beach completely full.
A Serious Safety Concern?
While businesses and schools were being closed after the March 19 order, ironically at the start of the crisis, both the state and local levels were encouraging people to get outdoors as a healthy part of their home confinement regime.
As a result, use of local outdoor spaces has increased to the point where the use of the trails and beaches may make keeping the proper distancing difficult to do.
In a Facebook post dated March 24, the Santa Barbara County Trails Council began to caution that “with so many people at home, the most popular trails in our area have been overwhelmed. The whole idea of social distancing is not being fully practiced as it should.”
As a result, the SBCTC is now urging trail users to comply with social distancing guidelines so that not all parks and open spaces in Santa Barbara County end up being ordered to close during these difficult times.
Closing Beaches, Trails and Open Spaces?
As the numbers begin to increase, the county’s outdoor spaces are becoming overcrowded to the point where their use may impact community health, leading many in the community to question whether use of some or all of these areas should be restricted or closed entirely.
A canvas of nearby counties and state park responses to the coronavirus outbreak indicates that increased use of parks, beaches and trails are already leading most to limit public access to them, either by closing parking areas, parks and campgrounds and in some cases closing trails as well.
» Santa Barbara County Parks — Jalama and Cachuma closed to overnight camping. All county parks and beaches are open for day use, and all trails are open.
» Santa Barbara City Parks & Recreation — All playgrounds and recreation areas where people might gather are closed. Most parks are open as are Ledbetter and East and West Beaches.
» City of Goleta — All trails, beaches and open space areas appear to be open.
» Los Padres National Forest — All developed recreation sites are closed, including campgrounds and day use areas. All trails remain open.
» California State Parks — Currently, county state parks are all closed to vehicular access. Each remains open for locals who wish to walk, hike and bike (in parks with bike trails) in the park, provided they practice social/physical distancing of 6 feet or more.
» San Luis Obispo County Parks — Parking lots are closed at all SLO county parks and beaches. All campgrounds are closed. Trails are still open, but physical distancing requirements for all trails and parks will be strictly enforced.
» Ventura County Parks — All day use parks and county campgrounds are closed. Trails remain open.
» Los Angeles County Parks — All multiuse trails within the L.A. County system are closed. Parks remain open and may be used for walking, jogging or other leisure time activities for individuals or families as long as social distancing is practice.
» Los Angeles County Beaches — All beach parking lots are closed along with all bike paths, restrooms and access ways.
Monitoring the Situation
The message from Los Angeles County seems clear: The influx of visitors on their multiuse trails, natural areas and beaches has made it difficult, and in some areas impossible, to maintain social distancing critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19.
The question is, should Santa Barbara adopt similar measures? Given the increased numbers on local beaches and front-country trails, closures may be coming our way as well.
Like his other agency partners, County Parks Superintendent Jeff Lindgren is monitoring use here along with what is being done in nearby counties and cities. But any decision won’t be his alone given the multijurisdictional challenges. Without a coordinated response that includes the cities of Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Goleta and possibly along with California State Parks and the Los Padres National Forest, the results of any closures may be mixed at best.
Before any decision is made, Lindgren is looking for guidance from the Santa Barbara County Health Department: “We’ll follow any guidelines we receive from Health, should they feel action should be taken.”
But Lindgren also cautioned that any decision to close parks, parking areas or trails may be more complicated than it appears. For one, most of the agencies are being stressed as personnel are out because of the virus.
Solutions such as closing parking lots can also create its own headaches. Lindgren pointed out that Arroyo Burro and Rincon as examples where closing parking lots has led to people crowding into the nearby neighborhoods, and in the case of Rincon County Park, led to people parking on the freeway offramp and other illegal areas.
State Parks has had its own issues. While El Capitan, Refugio and Gaviota State Parks are open, closing the parking lots has led to similar situations, with dozens of vehicles parked along on- and off-ramps and other locations that are creating safety concerns.
Health Department Directives
Like Superintendent Lindgren, city and county agencies are looking for guidance from the Santa Barbara Public Health Department, which has the authority to recommend guidelines for beaches, parks and trails and, if needed, order closures of some or all of these.
Currently, Health Department employees are monitoring the parks and beaches to gauge the level of compliance with the stay-at-home guidelines but has yet to recommend any action.
“We’re concerned about the lack of social distancing on the beaches and the trails,” Doug Metz, deputy director of County Public Health, told me in a phone conversation Friday afternoon. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of discipline regarding social distancing, and often the crowds are making that difficult to do even if you wanted to.”
“The need to take action is something that is on our radar, and if there isn’t a change in behavior, action may be needed soon.”
What You Can Do to Make a Difference
Metz cautioned that the primary issue isn’t use of these outdoor spaces but the lack of social distancing that is creating a health issue. Whether closures will occur may hinge on what those monitoring use of our outdoor spaces witness this weekend.
Santa Barbara County Second District Supervisor Gregg Hart is encouraging those who feel the need to get out to explore their neighborhoods first, noting that way too many are heading out to a few of the most popular locations.
“There’s a tension here,” Hart noted. “We want people to get outside, but we also want them to do it responsibly. That means going out only with members of your own household, looking for an alternate spot when your first choice is too crowded and practicing safe physical distancing at all times.”
What You Can Do to Keep Our Open Spaces Open
Saturday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times warned that the next two weeks could be the most challenging we’ve faced thus far and that “keeping the increase in coronavirus cases manageable hinges on whether people stay home as directed.”
Should you feel the need to get out for a hike or walk or a visit one of our local beaches, keeping physical distancing is the single most critical thing you can do to protect yourself and those around you. The inability to do so will almost certainly lead to the closure of parking areas at those locations at a minimum and lead to total closures of all outdoor spaces.
» 1. Walk your own neighborhood. No driving is required, and it’s the best way to minimize crowding out in the community.
» 2. Keep visits with more than one person to members of your own household only. No hikes with friends or neighbors.
» 3. Wear a mask if there is any potential for contact with others. There are plenty of online sites with patterns for you to create your own. Craft Passion has patterns for all sizes, from young kids to men and women sizes.
» 4. Practice the five-car rule. “If you see more than five cars when you reach a trailhead, find another trail,” my friend Ellie Mora preaches to everyone she knows, “or come back at another time.”
» 5. Avoid the out-and-back trails like those in the front country. Narrow trails like these are relatively narrow and create constant potential for close contact. They also bring the potential for spreading the virus into the nearby neighborhoods.
» 6. Choose areas where there are networks of trails and multiple parking locations that allow users to disperse out easily. Examples are open space areas such as Ellwood, Lake Los Carneros, Elings, Parma and the Douglas Preserve. Keep the five-car rule in mind everywhere.
» 7. Don’t hang out at the beach. Leave beach umbrellas, chairs and other items at home. The goal is to provide an opportunity for a beach walk, not an afternoon on the sand.
» 8. Keep your visits short (an hour or so) to allow others to have the same type of experience.
» 9. Keep pets on a leash at all times, even in areas designated for off-leash activity, to minimize interaction.
» 10. Above all, set an example. Show others that you care about their health by practicing social distancing at all times.
— Noozhawk outdoors writer Ray Ford can be reached at rford@noozhawk.com. Click here for his website, SBoutdoors.com. Follow him on Twitter: @riveray. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook. The opinions expressed are his own.