2020/6/14 Flag Day at Live Oak Camp

An easy stroll on a sunny Sunday, first a loop on the left around the Live Oak Campground area and then out to the right to walk along the boundary of the Rancho San Fernando Rey.

All rides begin with Tobe Mule lining himself up underneath the winch to have his saddle lowered onto his back. He has a snack and patiently waits for the straps and buckles, cinches and britchen, to all be tightened just so.

I suggested we walk up to the campground and see what sort of condition it is in now. I've been there when as many as 300 of the Back Country Horsemen were camped out there under the oak trees, and several times a year it is rented by the Lucidity Festival and the Santa Ynez Chumash Inter-Tribal Pow-Wow.
But in these pandemic times, it is empty.

As expected, it is quite unkempt.  A large oak tree has collapsed across the perimeter roadway, and many other trees are now snapped off trunks making an effort at regrowth.

With no humans around, the wildlife has returned to residence. Can you see who Tobe sees in the road ahead?

A mother deer and two fauns scampered across the road then stood still waiting to see what we would do next. Not to worry, we're just passing through.

Looking down onto the river is a pleasant scene.

And turning to look up into the mountains the chalk hill cut off stands out stark against the chaparral.

At the end of the camp area is the arena, where in bygone days the Rancho Vistadores would have their rodeos before setting off on their annual trek up to Solvang. Now most of the route they used to follow has been filled by the Lake.

The buildings stand ready, the old performance stage and the covered chow hall.

But with all the campsites vacant it was a bit desolate.

One field was inexplicably filled with what looked like blocks of sod turf.

When we had seen all there was to see, Jamie on Mosca and Noë on Woody turned around and we headed down.

We saw the camp host's mobile home at the corner of the acreage, but no sign that anyone is in residence.

Back down the road to the place where we park the rigs, back to the river level. The animals thought they were done for the day. But no.

We did let the animals play in the river a bit, then we headed off to walk the fenceline of the Rancho San Fernando Rey.

Tobe likes seeing animals in the landscape.








Even silly cows.

The fence that divides the private ranch from the county property shows the effect of intensive grazing. We wade through a sea of wild oats while the cows lie on stubble.

The animals would like to mutiny, cast off their bonds of servitude and eat their way to the horizon. But no.

Unlike the bovines contented with their cud, equines have places to go and things to see.

Jamie's Mosca will never be convinced that life is not a race she must win.

Jamie's Woody with Noë riding is not a competitive fellow, but he has a crush on the black mare and willingly follows wherever she goes.

 And then there's Tobe Mule and I, we just like to go for a walk and see what there is to see.

The end goal of this route was this plateau, from which you look across the San Marcos Golf Course at Hwy 154 snaking along. So many thousands of people drive that road every day, so few experience this landscape at the 2.2mph speed of a mule.

Then it was time to turn around and wend our way back to the starting point, have a picnic lunch, then return to civilization.

One last chance for the equines to cool off in the river, then their working day was done.

As Janis Joplin said:

"Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers"

Quite possibly time spent in nature simply being in the moment is the antidote.

#####  FIN  #####

Cachuma Lake Ride 6-30-11

A ride starting at Live Oak Campground, gateway to the Los Padres Forest lands adjacent to Lake Cachuma, fording the Santa Ynez river and exploring the canyons and valleys above the lake. Behind Santa Barbara, Southern California.
Length: 6.9 miles
Duration: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy. Side-by-side and single file, rolling hills with gradual climbs, lots of creek crossings with ankle-deep water.
Altitude gain: 980 ft
Grade: I


View Lake Cachuma 6-30-11 in a larger map

 All tacked up and ready for a ride on the Live Oak lands adjacent to Lake Cachuma. A sunny summer day, 5 horses to pal around with, and Tobe is ready.

 He smiles in anticipation.  No motorized vehicles or bicycles allowed here, no dogs, just humans and equines and lots of deer, cows, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, bobcats................ wild life!

 When we left the parking area we chose a route that took us down the Santa Ynez river, through a grass woodland dotted with oak trees that looks down onto the riverbed.

 The beautiful oaks are vibrant with deep green color and silhouetted against the grass turning sere yellow in the summer sun.

 The golf course on the other side of the river is a lush green, and tiny carts buzzing around the greens look like a child's toy model.

 The chaparral smells wonderful at this time of year, and as we brush through the white sage and artemisia sagebrush the scents envelop us.

 Coming up out of the riverbed we track along the barbed wire fence that marks the edge of the massive Rancho San Fernando Rey, home currently to a very large mixed herd of cow/calf pairs. They sensibly gather beneath the spreading branches of gigantic oaks.

 The herd contains brahmas, herefords, black angus, all nibbling at the short grass for their short lifespan in the sun.

 Today the only "wild" horses we saw were these two gentlemen swatting each others flies nose-to-tail. They are quite probably former pets abandoned on the property. Not a bad destiny.

 The sure-footed mule gazes wistfully at the near mountain ranges, where true adventure waits. But right now, today's ride is a slow amble through the landscape and that's just fine too.

 Of course, where there is a stretch of track this straight and clean, no squirrel holes, no rocks, we did enough loping to get the yearning for it out of the system. Sometimes you just need to feel the wind in your hair, and mane, and celebrate the feeling of oneness that is the centaur destiny.

 Gates separate the various parts of the property, so the cows and horses can be segregated to different areas at different seasons. They are a nice challenge to latch and unlatch from the saddle, a perfect application of the vocabulary of movement represented by learning side-passing, turning on the hindquarters and forequarters.

 And now, a first glimpse of the Lake on the Western horizon. A fork in the road, to choose the trail ahead.

 We went up a ridge to the left for a view out to the coastal ridge and the river below.

 And from that same ridge turning to view the lake.

 Looking inland the ridges of the mountain ranges stretch out into the distance. California may seem densely populated in some urban areas, but with expansive vistas like this there is little human presence.

 Until this winter's storms felled it,  this ancient patriarch stood 5 times as tall as the mere stump that is left. Blasted by fire or perhaps lightning generations ago, it stood as a hollow shell filled with bees.

 Crossing one of the streams again, cool shade and a nice poultice of cooling mud for hardy hooves.

 Taking a lunch break, the humans have a snack and the equines forage under oaks for tender grasses.

 Half of the oaks in the area are Quercus lobata, Valley Oaks. They have distinctive lobed leaves and beautiful gnarled bark.

 Just across the path was this Quercus agrifolia, the Coastal live oak. Here it is very shrubby but in the right conditions it makes a tree as large as any other oak.

 Looking down in this plain both kinds of oaks stand in the grasses, an untamed landscape that calls to mind the African veld.

 Coming back around to our starting point we look once more down on the river, and at the Live Oak campground area on the other side.

 These ancient sorting pens are presumably still used for bovine medicinal dipping.

 This curved chute is I believe one of Temple Grandin's designs.

 One last water-crossing, and what was belly-deep a month ago is just fetlock deep now.

 Splashing through the sparkling water, time to go home and be ready to return another day to this marvelous slice of history, preserved and protected from development, a magic glimpse into the landscape that is what people came to California for.