The Jesusita Trail is one of the very few Santa Barbara County frontcountry hikes that starts with a bit of downhill before ascending since most frontcountry trails rise up sharply from the get-go.
This seven-mile trek starts at Santa Barbara’s Cater Water Treatment Plant at 1150 San Roque Road above Foothill Road, and hiking ends at the top of Tunnel Road (car shuttle needed; see 4-1-1 below).
Another variation is to hike the three miles to Inspiration Point and then return the same way.
When I moved to Santa Barbara in the fall of 1966, the local foothills and interior canyons immediately lured me onward and outward. California hikers seeking wilderness head east and north, and shouldn’t follow Horace Greeley’s “Go West Young Man” 1865 dictum.
Counter-intuitively, the postmodern hiker searches east for more wilderness, more open sky and space, and for increasingly intense encounters with raw nature.
These encounters and incidents — like the road-killed bobcat on a local lane — include fields of springflowers in late bloom, fragrant ceanothus, the acoustic melodies of freely flowing water in San Roque Creek, and redtail hawks soaring along the ridge above.
Various well-watered creeks flow down to the sea here in Santa Barbara, and they’ve eroded into deep canyons like Rattlesnake, Romero, Cold Spring and San Roque (where the Jesusita Trail runs). The Santa Ynez Mountains slope down steeply to the strand, creating a magnificent landscape and intoxicating vistas.
With my back to the steaming beaches, I trudge merrily along the Jesusita Trail into San Roque Canyon seeking deep time and relative solitude.
After the trailhead, the path begins by descending steeply, crossing the almost-dry creekbed, and then ascends a bit until at 0.7 mile there is the well-signed Arroyo Burro Trail going straight ahead. However, you should stay right and head up the remnants of the old road aiming for Inspiration Point via the Moreno Ranch property.
This hike will challenge you, but since the halfway point is Santa Barbara’s famous Inspiration Point (1,800 feet), one is drawn along to this high point. It’s a beautiful hike starting in the shade provided by riparian environs and ends up joining an old road into mixed chaparral on a level ridge with close views of Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Channel.
In late May, there was enough marine layer that I could only see clearly inland and above to 3,200-foot Arlington Peak. The usual “inspiring” seascapes sadly were blocked by the May gray mists.
The hike is steep at times with an approximate 1,200-foot elevation gain, so in our approaching heat of summer, it’s essential to head out early (we were hiking at 6:30 a.m.), carry ample water and a wide-brim hat, and go with experienced hikers. The second half of the journey takes the Tunnel Trail back down and ends at the top of Tunnel Road (where your second car has been pre-parked).
On May 14, on what became the second half of my trek at the end of May, a 17-year-old San Marcos High School student unfortunately died from heat exposure hiking the Tunnel Trail. This very sad story reminds us that, unlike Jesusita, much of the Tunnel (return) Trail lacks overhead cover and can heat up quickly.
I’ve often introduced the local hiking term adjacentcy, my own neologism, to highlight a new situation in our encroaching Anthropocene with so many people crammed into cities and frantic to get away from town (which is what all these On The Trail columns advise).
Today, we face situations where (fairly) raw nature runs right up against the urban interface. Bears and mountain lions are now our near neighbors. Yet, sometimes we rush out into the hills from our towns and plan to get a couple of hours of hiking in, then return quickly to “town” and resume our urban lives.
But 21st century-nearby nature can be just as ruthless as the one 19th century poet Alfred Lord Tennyson described as “red in tooth and claw” — despite all of the supposed advances of Western civilization (4-1-1).
Example: When I’m planning a backpacking trek, I use a special list, I confer with hiking buddies, we go over our safety procedures, and we figure out who is carrying what emergency gear and the amount of water needed. Whenever we’re volunteering for a Partners in Preservation activity under the U.S. Forest Service aegis, we have to carry a satellite phone and make regular call-ins at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
But what about times we’re just civilians zooming up to Rattlesnake Canyon after work, or to the Cold Spring or Jesusita trails? I check my list anyway, consider the time of day and local weather conditions, and plan to tote water. On this late May morning, cool and foggy, I brought along two liters of water plus energy snacks, as well as the usual medical kit, windbreaker and gloves.
While on the early Jesusita phase of this trek, please respect the private landowners, e.g. at Moreno Ranch, whose properties hikers legally pass through. The trail is well-marked and there are mountain bikers, so remain alert. You’re also likely to meet others near Inspiration Point.
4-1-1
» Directions: Since this is a shuttle hike, park your first vehicle at the top of Tunnel Road (parking is limited there!). Return to Foothill Road/Highway 192 and drive back toward Santa Barbara, and after Mission Canyon you will see the San Roque Road stoplight. Turn right. Drive less than a mile to the entrance of well-marked Jesusita Trail next to Lauro Reservoir (Cater Water Treatment Plant, 1150 San Roque Road). There is alternate parking at Stevens Park, 258 Canon Drive; add one mile to your round-trip if you do this.
» Map: Ray Ford’s A Hiker’s Guide to the Santa Barbara Front Country; Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam, Canto 56” includes the oft-quoted lines, “Nature is a world of strife and conflict and violence — ‘red in tooth and claw’ …”
— Dan McCaslin is the author of Stone Anchors in Antiquity and has written extensively about the local backcountry. His latest book, Autobiography in the Anthropocene, is available at Lulu.com. He serves as an archaeological site steward for the U.S. Forest Service in Los Padres National Forest. He welcomes reader ideas for future Noozhawk columns, and can be reached at cazmania3@gmail.com. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
