Dave Weaver looks out over the Santa Barbara County backcountry from the White Rock Trail. 
The Davy Brown Trail leads down Fir Canyon to Sunset Valley. Connector trails along the way provide a number of options for hikers, trail runners or mountain bikers. 
The Zaca Catway is one of the spectacular ridge roads in Santa Barbara County, with views out over the Santa Ynez Valley on one side and the San Rafael Wilderness on the other. It’s accessible for high clearance vehicles seasonally and year-round for mountain bikers and trail runners. 
A mile down the Davy Brown Trail, the Munch Connector provides an excellent loop for all users via the East Pinery and Figueroa Mountain Road. 
For those who would like an extended bike ride, the loop down the Davy Brown Trail and back around via the OHV jeepway and Zaca Catway is a classic. 
The McKinley Jeepway leads east from Cachuma Saddle and climbs for 9 miles to McKinley Saddle, an excellent challenge for bikers or trail runners alike. Along the way, there is a nice camp spot at McKinley Springs. 
With access from either the Davy Brown Trail or the East Pinery, mountain bikers have several loop options either by returning over Ranger Peak on the Figueroa Mountain Road or by going down to the OHV jeepway and up to the Zaca Catway.
As you crest San Marcos Pass, Figueroa Mountain is the first part of the San Rafael range that comes into view.
It is roughly 25 air miles from Santa Barbara, far enough to escape much of the coastal haze that sometimes restricts views from the Santa Ynez Mountains and high enough in elevation to provide a change in the seasons.
Though an hour drive from the South Coast to Figueroa’s 4,528-foot crest, psychologically it may be one of the shortest drives you can take to get the farthest away from what is typically Santa Barbara — chaparral-covered hills that never seem to change and seasons that always seem the same.
Best of all, there’s a beautiful campground located not too far from the jeepway that leads to the top of the mountain.
A Hidden Gem
The walk to the top of Figueroa Mountain from the campground is a perfect way to cap a day on the mountain.
The temperature may hit 100 degrees or higher in the valley, but up there, the quiet breeze and higher elevation take the edge off the heat and complement the beauty of all of the tall pines perfectly.
In the fall, there’s an actual change in the seasons, especially in the deep recesses of Fir Canyon, where the willows and maples turn a vibrant yellow.
Often in January and February, there’ll be a light touch of snow and sometimes even a blanket deep enough to get out the tubes.
The campground itself is perhaps one of the best-kept secrets in Santa Barbara County. The camp roads meander through the forested hillsides and clusters of manzanita and other chaparral plants, providing both shade and a bit of privacy.
There’s also the quiet rustle of the wind and pine needles that provides a soothing background melody that quiets the soul.
I go back to that area often, sometimes for a hike on one of the many nearby trails and other times for a more extended mountain bike ride out to Zaca Peak or down the Fir Canyon Trail.
Though much of the summer is pretty warm and for the most part the creeks are dry, there is something to do, someplace to explore and someplace to get out on a trail.
The Outdoor Classroom
Any trip to the Figueroa Mountain area brings back fond memories of trips with my students to that part of the backcountry — sometimes in the spring when the poppies were in glorious bloom, at others for a hike down Fir Canyon, or in the wintertime after the first snow.
Toward evening, weather permitting, we’d try to make time for the walk up to the lookout tower on the mountaintop. The walk is a bit over 2 miles up and follows a rustic jeep road around the east side of the mountain before it curves back to the west and up to the crest.
Along the way, the view begins to appear — first of Ranger Peak, then the pointed top of Cachuma Peak, and beyond that McKinley and San Rafael mountains in the far distance.
At the mountaintop, the views are panoramic with steep hillsides on all sides. The backcountry is wide open to full view.
From the Lookout Tower located on top of the mountain, there are 360-degree views of much of Santa Barbara County.
Fantastic Views — North or South
The Santa Ynez Mountains are to the south. From that perspective, they appear as a shear mountain wall. Beyond, on a clear day, the Channel Islands shimmer on the horizon, so close it seems like you can almost reach out and touch them.
As your gaze drops to the foreground below, you look out over the Santa Ynez Valley. There are open expanses of grassland dotted with valley oaks, a land that turns green in January while the high country is filling with snow.
Above and to the west is Point Conception, a land revered by the Chumash, the place of the setting sun, where the Indians believed they would travel in the life that comes after death.
Turning north, to the right, the rugged San Rafael Wilderness comes into view, where exploration of the pristine country is by foot travel only.
If you know just where to look, you can spy Pool Rock and Condor Cave, formations that may have marked an important winter solstice site for the Chumash.
In the far distance, looming over the thin knife-blade edge of the Hurricane Deck, are the Sierra Madre Mountains, a relatively even-crested range covered in places with magnificent potreros, or meadows such as Montgomery and Pine Corral Potrero.
Turning even farther to the right, on the eastern horizon, is 6,593-foot San Rafael Mountain, whose rounded summit is somewhat inauspicious given its disk shape.
Hidden on its flanks, however, are the beautiful Mission pines, thought to have supplied the huge beams from which Franciscan fathers constructed the Santa Barbara Mission, and magnificent sandstone outcroppings.
Fir Canyon
Just across the road from the trail, leading down Fir Canyon to Davy Brown Campground, a large green outcropping of serpentine is exposed — its shiny, pointed surface marking what is the start of what I consider to be the prettiest canyon anywhere in Santa Barbara County.
The canyon is narrow, alternating between long, level sections that pass through thin-bedded layers of shale and steep plunges over boulder fields that form beautiful moss-covered waterfalls. Tall forests of big cone spruce grace the upper canyon, with bigleaf maples and oaks inhabiting the canyon bottoms.
The combination of cascading streams, deep pools, moss-covered rocks and a sense of pervading solitude provide a feeling I never tire of. In the winter, Fir Canyon takes on a different kind of color — hundreds of thousands of ladybugs migrate to the canyon from the Sierras. Thick blankets of the small insects cover downed logs, boulders, leaves, tree branches and many other surfaces.
The Davy Brown Trail was built by Edgar Davison, one of the first rangers to be stationed in the area when the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake Forest Reserve was created in 1898. A bronze memorial plaque encased in serpentine that commemorates his efforts is located down the trail near the intersection with the Munch Canyon Connector.
Davison's cabin was located a short distance into Fir Canyon, and from it he made regular patrols, watching out for careless campers who might start a forest fire, checking on grazing permits and hacking out the trail systems we use today. His district included all of Figueroa Mountain and extended throughout most of what today is the San Rafael Wilderness.
Ranger Peak
In the late 1890s, when the U.S. topographic survey team began to work in the area, they wanted to name the peak after Davison.
The shy, retiring ranger had previously named it Alice Eastwood Peak in honor of the famous San Francisco botanist who had visited him at the station on a plant-collecting trip (he also had named many of the other nearby geographical features such as Sunset Valley, Fir Canyon, the East Pinery and Figueroa Mountain) and didn’t want it named after him.
Finally, he suggested that the survey team call it Ranger Peak in honor of all rangers who had served the Forest Reserves. The name stuck.
If you have time, hike up the ridge just opposite East Pinery Road to the top of the peak. The last 100 yards are pretty steep, but once on top, you’ll discover that it is flat and open with views out over what seems like everything. It is a great place for lunch or just to relax for a few minutes. An afternoon here will be well spent.
It is also the spot from which our family scattered the ashes of my brother, Don, several years ago, and it’s a spot where I hope to join him again someday. I can’t think of a better place to spend eternity.
The Zaca Catway
The Catway is an excellent dirt road that begins a mile above the Figueroa Ranger Station. It cuts across the west flank of Figueroa Mountain and follows a prominent ridge line for eight miles to a dead end at Wildhorse overlook.
During the winter months, the Catway is often closed, given how treacherous its muddy roads can be, but when the road is dry, most vehicles will find it accessible. The drive is spectacular.
The Catway is also perfect for an extended mountain bike ride. The ridge route will provide one of the most surprising excursions to be found in Santa Barbara County. The road is smooth enough for those who like to ride only on pavement, yet primitive enough in feeling to offer a real taste of what the backcountry is all about.
For several miles, it undulates its way around the west edge of Figueroa Mountain. Then, suddenly, there’s the first of many saddles — or windows — through which you can look out and down on the San Rafael Wilderness. It is a special sight.
Around the corner, the road turns left, and from this point, follow the crest up and over a series of knolls (they are steep but not too long) that lead closer and closer to Zaca Peak and farther and farther back into time.
There are plenty of picnic spots and places to enjoy the views, and if you feel like getting off your bike for a while, hike to the Zaca Overlook, Zaca Lake or down to the Manzana to soak in the creek or experience the pioneer homesteads.
Land of Mystery
When I was doing research on Dick Smith many years ago, his good friend, Noel Young, then owner of Capra Press, a local publishing company, shared the story of a trip he did to the Figueroa Mountain lookout in the 1950s soon after moving his family from Wisconsin.
“There, he met an old man who was at the station all by himself,” Young said. “The old man began to talk about the country, telling Dick about the pioneer homesteaders, the Chumash who had once lived back here, and about the wildlife.”
“Come on over here,” the old timer invited. “Let me show you something special.”
“This was the first Dick had ever heard of this country or its wildlife,” Young explained. “The old man’s stories, the lighting and the appearance of a family of foxes lent a sense of mystery and enchantment to the moment.”
“I’ve got to get down into that country,” Dick said after a moment of staring out over the landscape. “I’ve got to see what’s out there.”
Gateway to the Backcountry
At the end of the walk with my students, we congregate near the stone wall that marks the top of Figueroa Mountain and the beginning of the wildest parts of the Santa Barbara County backcountry.
There is plenty of excited chatter as we make our way up to the top, but when we reach this point, and with the views stretched out in front of us, the voices quiet down. The contrast is so marked that words seem to fail them.
The trip up thus far has had a certain familiarity to it — campgrounds, picnic areas, pine forests and dirt roads are part of their vocabulary, whether through personal experiences or the big-screen TV.
But the view from here is something else. The mountains are vast, rugged and seemingly barren. There are no signs of what might be called civilized country.
In the quiet is the realization that most of my students have no vocabulary to express what they are seeing. The silence eventually leads to the questions. What is the name of this or that mountain? Are there creeks down there? Does anybody live down there? Is this where the bears live?
I’m stoked. I can tell the curiosity, the desire, the urge to explore has been sparked within them.
As we head back to camp, I tell them about the trails that will take them there, and one special one that is not too far away — the Davy Brown Trail.
Once Davison’s gateway into the backcountry, it is the perfect place to begin our exploration of the backcountry.
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» Forest information: As information may have changed because of the COVID-19 crisis, if you would like to learn more about Figueroa Mountain camping, hiking or mountain biking, I encourage you to contact the Santa Luca Ranger District at 805.448.6487.
» Geo-referenced map: I’ve provided a geo-referenced map of the Figueroa Mountain Region for use when you’re out there. Geo-referenced means that you can load it into your cell phone (IOS or Android) using one of several apps that will allow you to track where you are even when you don’t have cell connectivity. My favorite of these is called Paper Maps, both because it is free and is easy to use. Another is Avenza PDF that will allow you to import up to three maps before you will need to purchase a $29.99 yearly subscription. Both are available for iOS or Android phones.
— Noozhawk outdoor 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.