At the tail end of August, the summer’s fiery heat dwindled as my hiking partner and I toiled up dusty Trespass Trail, which partially encircles 2,500-foot Gaviota Peak.
We were just a few miles inland, past Gaviota State Park and the Gaviota Tunnel, and as my friend and I turned to peer ocean-ward, we faced the views you can see in the photos.
At the same moment, we also felt a light onshore breeze deliciously tickling the face like powder floating down — the increased humidity and wind lowered the temperature despite the boiling cauldron of California’s desert interior.
Gaviota State Park encompasses almost 2,800 acres, and most of it sprawls inland along Highway 101.
Famous for swimming at Gaviota State Beach, my chosen hiking entrance is past the beach and the Gaviota Tunnel up at the Highway 1 turnoff to Lompoc. (See 4-1-1.)
Exactly 34 miles from my Westside Santa Barbara home, and after choosing the Highway 1 offramp, turn right almost 180 degrees and drive a few hundred yards to enter the “Hot Springs Parking” for Gaviota State Park ($2 parking fee; use envelope).
Beneath an inviting sycamore canopy you will find ample parking for at least 15 cars. You can study the large-scale topo map as the trail (road) begins, but there is only one way to start.
After trudging up the very steep road for only a few hundred yards, you have the only major route choice as the main road splits into right and left paths (still road). Signage is quite clear; on this day, we selected the right road along the Trespass Trail on Gaviota Peak’s ocean-facing southern flank.
On the sign, note how “hot springs” has been lightly effaced by irreverent hikers. This is the big joke; the springs are OK but certainly not at all hot — barely warm, in fact.
But we didn’t want to dip in the popular Gaviota Warm Springs or to summit Gaviota Peak (we have many times), so we instead ascended quite sharply up at least a mile to the second (permanently open) large gate.
The scenic vistas all around excited the imagination and extinguished conversation until my friend noted the beautiful white and red structures of intriguing Vista Del Mar School in the Mission Revival style. While one sees mostly roofs, in the distance you can pick out a stretch of Highway 1 leading to Lompoc and Vandenberg Village.
I have made it up to Gaviota Peak’s summit this direction (Trespass Trail) as well as the longer and more arduous route past the Warm Springs. Even though we began hiking rather early, at 7 a.m., we violated one of my professed summer hiking rules, which demands to “Begin Hiking Very Early” in summer’s heat.
Still, on Aug. 31, we had an onshore moist marine breeze blowing in the early morning shade, and I had to don my rain shell. Since the usual forecasts assured the heat really would explode later in the morning, I also had the usual hot weather gear ready for deployment: a long-sleeved SPF 50 shirt, a wide-brim hat, long trousers, ample water in my small fanny pack, and a map. (I’m able to stow the light rain shell in the fanny pack.)
By 8:30 a.m., the thermometer had ballooned to 75 degrees and climbed as intently as we did until we arrived at the key saddle and our turn-around spot. From this site, about 2½ miles up Trespass Trail, the trail diminishes as it goes back down and eventually enters private property and another gate (recent cow patties confused us, but no cattle).
When wanting to continue on, given a less hot day, I would choose the only uphill option (photo with two hiking sticks), which leads to Gaviota Peak with its geodetic marker and sign-in box.
We know from the Spanish Padre Juan Crespí’s 1769 journal that the Portolá Expedition passed through here near the beach, and they tried to name it “San Luis” (to honor the then-King of France), but the ubiquitous presence of sea gulls — la gaviota — led to our Gaviota State Park name today.
La Gaviota: ave palmípeda marina de unos 75 cm de longitud, plumaje muy tupido, gris o negro en la espalda y sobre las alas, y blanco en el resto del cuerpo, con el pico amarillo algo curvo en la punta; vive en las costas y se alimenta esencialmente de los peces que atrapa en el mar.
In his fascinating book, Alta California, author Nick Neely hikes to every stop and place that the Portolá Expedition explored more than 250 years ago, and they camped at or near Gaviota on Aug. 24, 1769.
Certainly, the indigenous people in the area pointed to mysterious walls of rock and scattered “whale boulders” believing that they were sacred and indeed “living” and thinking beings (sentient boulders again). I meditated near this and other “power fields” on what we today call Gaviota Peak.
This venture partway encircling Gaviota Peak is good for a hot day, but above all start early and carry lots of water. I carried four liters for this 3½-hour hike covering about 5½ miles, most of the first half very steep and strenuous.
Do check the internet for onshore wind flow, and make sure you have a partner and that others know where you are. Cell phones are a good idea, but connecting is spotty and so many hikers start out with depleted cell batteries and end up in trouble.
There are a couple of confusingly named side trails, e.g. Tunnel View Trail, but ignore them and stay on the main Trespass Trail since wandering astray is possible.
4-1-1
» Drive 34 miles from midtown Santa Barbara on Highway 101 north. Shortly after heading inland, take the Highway 1 turnoff, then turn sharply right again at the stop sign and curl back to park in the shady lot at Gaviota Hot Springs; Nick Neely, Alta California (2019).
— 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.
