I visited the Ellwood Bluffs (aka Santa Barbara Shores Park) almost a year ago, in late September 2025. I kept returning to these intensely beautiful cliffs above the sea at that time since my partner of 58 years had broken both her ankles at a yoga retreat (yes), and we couldn’t maneuver a wheelchair about in our since-renovated Westside bungalow.

One of Santa Barbara’s greatest allures is the nearby availability of enticing nature preserves and gorgeous parks — these aren’t those “savage wildernesses” described in my last column, but they offer scintillating chances to roam about outdoors.

It was Yogi Berra who succinctly stated, “This is déjà vu all over again,” and medical problems struck us this September, too. Sure enough, I resorted to Santa Barbara Shores again because access is easy (4.1.1.), the paths are mostly level and plenty of obvious trail choices spread out before hikers.  

In short, at the end of July, the dreaded “widow-maker” hammered my heart, and my  “lateral anterior descending” pulmonary artery was suddenly 70% obstructed by a blood clot. Skipping the ambulance (NOT recommended), my beloved partner drove swiftly to Cottage Hospital and there Dr. Mike Shenoda and his highly skilled cardiac team repaired the blockage and installed two stents. Six weeks later, I’m making easy hikes to Elings Park and the aforementioned Ellwood Bluffs. Hence this jubilant and celebratory column!

I met hiking pal Wild Pete at the Santa Barbara Shores parking lot at 7 a.m. on Sept. 3, trying to beat the amazing heat and humidity we’ve enjoyed lately. We set out cautiously, and there are many attractive trail choices — readers will make their own decisions at this point. Generally I tend to wend my way out toward the gleaming blue ocean.

At this early hour, there are still a few joggers and enthusiastic bicyclists bouncing around. At times, one can spot white herons and various other fowl, and once years ago, I spotted a condor. Serious and important restoration work continues on a 5.4-acre section here, led by the Wildfire Resilience Collaborative of Santa Barbara County. We noticed the removal of invasive non-native plants and the addition of some native understory species.  

There are a few trails leading right down onto the strand below, so you might check your tide calendar if you hope to break on through to the other side and prance about on the beach, or even plunge in for a swim. The ocean waters are warmer now than in a very long time.

Swiveling back inland, the hikers see the looming Santa Ynez Mountains in their dark blue glory.

There is significant evidence that natural beauty and appreciation of the vault of sky above aids in healing, especially both the emotional and the physical heart. T.S. Eliot wrote about a human’s profound need to push outside and look about with all the senses at high alert in “East Coker”:

Old men ought to be explorers
Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity.

If you go to the Ellwood Bluffs, I recommend you leave all of your tech impedimenta behind, or at least mute the phone and stow it away in your fanny pack (along with your watch if you wear one). Photography, ambling, taking time to sit and sketch a bit, “moving” around and perhaps singing, and even chortling amid extraordinary beauty — all highly recommended!

4.1.1.

To reach the Ellwood Bluffs/Santa Barbara Shores Park, drive Highway 101 north to the Winchester Canyon exit; proceed straight ahead and turn left over the highway and turn left again on Hollister at the golf course. In about a mile, you encounter the stoplight at the Ellwood School (left), but then turn right into the ample parking lot for Santa Barbara Shores.

I am incredibly grateful to Drs. Shenoda and Aragon as well at the terrific Structural Heart Clinic at Cottage Hospital. And hey, watch out for your cholesterol numbers: I arrogantly ignored my high LDL-C number and paid a big bill for it — or, my insurance company “paid a high bill,” and then I paid in some suffering. I am on the road to full recovery and am back out in the field, On The Trail, as you see in this column.