After learning that the beloved Tunnel Trail had recently reopened, I decided to try hiking one of my favorite frontcountry paths leading through the picturesque Mission Crags formation and on to the junction with the Tunnel Connector Trail that drops into Rattlesnake Canyon. There are three confusing trail options along the way.

Utilizing two vehicles, wild Pete and I made this challenging shuttle hike after parking at the top of Tunnel Road at 7:30 a.m. on a weekday in mid-December.

Southern California Edison had made some violations and errors and had spent four months to repair the access road, the damaged culverts and bridges, and to shore up hillsides. They call it the Mission Canyon Stream Restoration Project.

Wearing jackets and gloves in the cool, we hiked up the Tunnel Trail on the freshly landscaped and cleared first mile until reaching the expansive road split (Y) with the huge map display board.

Just imagine that you’re hiking to Inspiration Point and take the left road in the Y … but only for a few hundred feet. The tricky part here is to detect where the semi-concealed single-track Tunnel Trail breaks off into the thick chaparral and brush.

Study the photo of wild Pete standing in the road near the offshoot trail, then look to the left for the obscure pole indicating the Tunnel Trail.

In the next photograph, we can see the hidden pole more clearly, with the sign obscured by growth at the top.

Push right into the brush here and begin a sharp ascent on the true Tunnel Trail. Eventually, it leads straight on up to East Camino Cielo Road (4.5 miles one way), but we were not planning for that effort this day.

After that first easy mile on the renovated road, the ascent becomes brutal and suitable only for brash hikers desperately in need of a workout high above town. Once we shifted onto the single-track trail in the chaparral, the heavy breathing commenced. I love this sort of scuffling, and grinding, and it became immediately clear that few hikers choose to take on this trek.

Some of it qualifies as “off-trail,” and we met just one other hiker and a single (daring) mountain biker. The trail on rock is so narrow that I was very pleased the mountain biker (no e-biker he!) sounded his bells as he barreled through, and I could therefore scramble out of his torrid way.

After 20 minutes or so, this path recrosses the circling road (technically the Mission Canyon Catway Road), but in this second tricky spot you can detect another semi-concealed trail just across the Catway Road. This offshoot is marked in pink on the excellent Ray Ford frontcountry map – “off-trail scrambling” (4.1.1).

It was crucial that we had started early since there is a 90-minute uphill grind after leaving the Y, and the path becomes even steeper in places. Two short sections involved crawling up about 10 feet on the rocky path (not a trail!), and the usually helpful hiking poles here became hindrances.

However, this septuagenarian struggled on and remembered to slow down even more and enjoy the show. In my high school football team workouts, the Marine-style coaches would scream, “Hurts so good!” Indeed.

Inspiring views all around lifted the spirits while the sweat poured down, and I frequently sipped water while absorbing the outrageous blazing beauty all around.

Gazing out to sea, we noted a thick white marine layer above the city as well as the dominating dark silhouette of Santa Cruz Island across the channel. I could pick out 2,430-foot Mount Diablo, which I have clambered up twice with Crane Country Day School students.

Peering east, the symmetrical 3,260-foot summit of Arlington Peak crowded the blue sky, but we could not see Cathedral Peak farther east.

We continued to clamber higher. Another way to envision this long day hike is that we were walking along the eastern side of Mission Canyon in the coastal portion of the Santa Ynez Mountains. We pushed on for a long while until we lost sight of the fog-bound ocean and began to notice the luxuriant holly-leaf cherry bushes and bright toyon berries.

After almost four miles, we happily halted in the shade at the junction of Tunnel Trail and the steep Tunnel Connector Trail leading 2.5 more miles down Rattlesnake Canyon. There, we had previously stashed a second vehicle next to the Skofield Park parking area at Las Canoas Road and the Stanwood Bridge. This junction is the third tricky trail turn on the hike. At this sign, called “Trail Forks” in my photograph, their Las Canoas Road 2.5 means Rattlesnake Canyon at Skofield Park.

At one time, this huge canyon paralleling Mission Canyon had been termed Las Canoas.

This Tunnel Connector Trail dropping from Tunnel Trail proper brings weary hikers into Rattlesnake Canyon’s riparian watercourse and bucolic splendor. The creek continues to gush strongly after last winter’s heavy precipitation.

If you need a bit more exercise, continue for about 12 minutes on the main Tunnel Trail until you strike grand Mission Falls at 2,650 feet, then scramble out onto the dry stone ramparts.

I warn readers that this 6.4-mile jaunt demands a full effort and does fall into the moderate-to-strenuous category. I would not tackle it in summer heat or in wet conditions (very slippery then), and I would not do it the first time without a guide.  

Wild Pete and I toted plenty of water, wore heavy long-sleeved shirts and long trousers (thick brush in several places), heavy boots, gloves, big hats, extra gear, a medical kit — the whole nine yards. We had a cellphone, and communication was excellent since we were always on the front side of the mountain.  

This one will wear you out and cleanse your monkey mind. I found it strenuous, demanding and completely exhilarating.

4.1.1.

Drive up Foothill Road (Highway 192), and then turn north on Mission Canyon Road toward the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Turn left on Tunnel Road and drive to the end. Park on the right side within the clear white line. Please do be thoughtful about the neighbors here, some of whom are irked by thoughtless visitors. Hike straight up the road to the barred gate shown in the second photo.

The best map is Ray Ford’s “A Hiker’s Guide to the Santa Barbara Front Country” (2009), and he does mark Mission Crags.