2018/4/28 MeetUp & LPTR ride Hope Ranch and More Mesa

A beautiful sunny Saturday and a big turnout for a trail ride, 19 equestrians from the Horse & Mule Trail Riders of the 805 MeetUp and Los Padres Trail Riders gathered at a private home to begin our adventure.

We rode for 2 hours and went 5.35 miles, a scenic stroll through the open space of More Mesa and then alongside some of the great estates of Hope Ranch.
Afterwards we had a wonderful luncheon catered by a generous hostess, and left with enthusiasm to ride together again soon.

Every trail ride starts with a cheerful meet and greet.

Old pals on new horses, former members of clubs eager to rejoin and once again ride in good company.

Many of these women rode these trails as wild teenagers together, so there was lots to catch up on now that they are retired ladies of a certain age!

The trail began with a hill, so up up we went to start our ride with a work-out for Tobe Mule and his companions.

Hope Ranch is an unincorporated suburb of Santa Barbara, set out as an equestrian community of estates on the coastline.

It has 27 miles of riding trails, mostly access passageways between the property borders. 10% of the property owners are owners of equines.

Directly adjacent to Hope ranch is More Mesa, 300 acres of coastal bluff mesa consisting of open grassland and oak woodlands preserved from development and giving the community access to valuable animal habitat and miles of informal trails.

The spring flowers are tiny, but a careful observer can see them in the grassland. This is the best possible time to ride here, before the summer heat begins to turn it into dry pale weeds.

The trails are "informal" and fairly well maintained, but a mule or horse needs to keep a sharp eye where they are stepping to avoid the ground squirrel holes.

Wild nasturtiums cover the shade underneath the oaks as we turn to follow a path alongside a drainage creek. The sounds of bird song fill the air, trilling and chirping in the branches above.

Dappled light is a nice rest for the eyes after the bright glare of the Mesa sun.

This massive oak snapped in half could have blocked the trail, but fortunately it fell in such a way as to allow careful passage through.

Out of the woodland, we doubled back on an access road at the Mesa's edge.

And once again the caravan of 19 riders went up and over the Mesa trails.

The islands are obscured by maritime haze on the horizon out to sea. But we have the pleasure of strolling across a natural grassland at the slow and steady pace of equine travel.

Then we returned to Hope Ranch, for a tour past some of the massive estates that look like hotels. They are bound by the community covenant to maintain trails alongside the roads, so that equines may pass safely without fear of the drivers of very expensive sports cars.
In most places it is effective. Not all.

At this seaside property Tobe was absolutely riveted by the sight of a pony and a donkey. How the other half lives!

Then finally we descended back toward the home of our lunch hostess, where we feasted and almost immediately the wind picked up to fulfill the "wind advisory" warning .... we got off the trail just in time.

How very fortunate we all are to be able to spend a day in perfect weather in good company on safe trails and well behaved steeds...... something few have access to. Gratitude is in order.

"Gratitude is a sign of noble souls"

Aesop

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More Mesa 7-3-11

A ride on More Mesa, on the Western edge of Santa Barbara, on a large undeveloped area surrounded by housing and above the ocean.
Length: 4.8 miles
Duration: 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy. Side-by-side and single file, rolling hills with gradual climbs, ranch roads.
Altitude gain: 140 ft
Grade: I


View More Mesa 7-3-11 in a larger map

This ride starts with parking on a busy residential street, where people whiz by at high speed, oblivious, too busy with their interior dialogues to notice that a real animal is standing on the gravel turnout. Tobe keeps a wary eye on the street while tied up to the trailer, so I prefer to bring him already tacked up and ready to go so that we spend as little time as possible in this vulnerable position.

 But as soon as we get on the trail, we can travel back in time to dirt roads and rural quiet.

 I suspect this was at one time a farm, and these open roads are the service roads, but now only hikers and riders venture into this overgrown area. It parallels an irrigation canal, and the water drainage creates a cool and shady forest.

 This giant tree fell a year or so ago, and rather than remove it an alternate trail has been established in the embankment above, going up and over the roots. It effectively blocks any motorized vehicle access.

 Coming out of the canal-side path we ascend into the bright summer sunlight, burning the grasses to hay.

 Unexpectedly this tiny patch of multicolored poppies appeared blooming profusely on the side of the trail.

 There appears to be very little trail maintenance being done, and this downhill slope has a rutted erosion trail and the worn trail alongside.

Once up onto the Mesa, the view out across it to the sea is lovely and the onshore breeze heavenly. On a day when nearby cities in Southern California are experiencing triple-digit temperatures, we are in 74 degree comfort.

 I don't doubt that Tobe enjoys the view, but I acknowledge that for him this represents more an endless buffet of tasty grasses.

 Some sections of it have been recently mowed down, in particular this path that leads straight out to the beach access point. The continued public access to this beach has been in contention for many years, but for the time being it is still free, only requiring a long walk and then a climb down a steep cliff.

 But since we have nowhere in particular to be, and the beach is not our goal, we stroll the buffet.

 Coming out all the way around the field we walk along the cliff edge, looking over a sea filled with fog and the cooling marine layer. The offshore islands are invisible, small price to pay for the lovely lower temperature.

 This access to the beach leads to steep steps, not possible even for a very clever mule to climb. Since it is known as a premier nude beach, we give a skeptical eye to all the people we see arriving, wondering who is coming to strip and swim and who to ogle.

 Back up to the Mesa, quiet and still, choosing a crossroads to carry us back to the start point.

 Large swaths of the grass seem to have been knocked down, in somewhat random pattern.

 But once back down on the forest trail there is no maintenance being done, and the oak trees show evidence of years of deadfall branches shed below them.

 The poison oak is profuse, doesn't bother me in my leather chinks and Tobe even eats it. But slowly and surely is chokes out all the other undergrowth.

 And many parts of the trail have branches that are closing in on the trail. I have my trusty Felco clippers in hand and constantly snip off what I can as I ride, doing my bit to keep the trails open. But these trails clearly need a once-a-year visit by men with big trimming tools to take off whole branches.

In fact, we hit a total dead end when we discovered that a trail we tried to follow back to the parking area has been completely lost to willows. Tobe was thrashing his way through the underbrush until finally there simply was no more trail ahead to be discerned and he stopped. I announced that we were turning around and to my horror the other riders told me Tobe had a bee crawling on his face. I was once bucked off him when he was stung, so it was with infinite care that I brushed the insect away before it could do any damage, and we retraced our tracks and went home by another route. Could have been a rodeo! But not today!