What do you think?
Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara: 82 Great Hikes
Santa Barbara is a captivating, inviting community that is located in a beautiful, natural setting along the Pacific coast. The temperate climate and refreshing ocean breezes, very similar to the Mediterranean, have distinguished this area as "the jewel of the American Riviera." The landscape around the city includes mountainous terrain, preserved forests and wilderness areas, and stretches of undeveloped coast, allowing this scenic area to have miles of quiet, secluded hiking trails.
Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara is a comprehensive guide to 82 day hikes within a 50-mile radius of the city. The hikes include an excellent cross section of scenery and difficulty level, ranging from coastal beach walks to steep canyon climbs. Highlights include oceanside bluffs; beaches; tide pools; wetland preserves; sculpted gorges; rock outcroppings with caves; numerous waterfalls and secluded pools in mossy canyons; mountain ridge trails; historical sites; and stunning overlooks of wide mountain valleys, towns, and the Pacific Ocean. All hikes can be completed within a day (although map sources and references are included for extending the hike).
Each hike includes its own map, accurate driving and hiking directions, and a quick overview of distance/time/elevation. The summaries allow the hiker to choose a trail appropriate to their ability and desire. This 184-page book is a comprehensive hiker's guide to the area around Santa Barbara.
Companion hiking guides, also by Stone, include Day Hikes on the California Central Coast, Day Hikes Around San Luis Obispo County , and Day Hikes Around Ventura County.
Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara is a comprehensive guide to 82 day hikes within a 50-mile radius of the city. The hikes include an excellent cross section of scenery and difficulty level, ranging from coastal beach walks to steep canyon climbs. Highlights include oceanside bluffs; beaches; tide pools; wetland preserves; sculpted gorges; rock outcroppings with caves; numerous waterfalls and secluded pools in mossy canyons; mountain ridge trails; historical sites; and stunning overlooks of wide mountain valleys, towns, and the Pacific Ocean. All hikes can be completed within a day (although map sources and references are included for extending the hike).
Each hike includes its own map, accurate driving and hiking directions, and a quick overview of distance/time/elevation. The summaries allow the hiker to choose a trail appropriate to their ability and desire. This 184-page book is a comprehensive hiker's guide to the area around Santa Barbara.
Companion hiking guides, also by Stone, include Day Hikes on the California Central Coast, Day Hikes Around San Luis Obispo County , and Day Hikes Around Ventura County.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2013
Fantastically helpful book for getting your hike on within Santa Barbara County, California in the U.S. of A.
Santa Barbara is a naturally gorgeous spot on this here Earth. Its proximity to the ocean and its "Mediterranean" climate keeps the temperatures on an even keel and moisture levels up, so it has an almost year-round growing season.
If you get the chance to visit it, try to fit in a hike or two, if that's your thing. The city is wedged between the ocean and a sweep of high rocky hills that reach to near mountain heights.
Hikes in these hills will take you along streams and waterfalls...
To hilltop vistas overlooking the sea or through patches of dense vegetation sometimes burnt away by drought to bare-faced rocks and ledges.
Wildlife, though not overly abundant, is occasionally found upon trails with expressive names like Rattlesnake Canyon, Lion Canyon and Loon Point (You can find real "animals" on Inspiration Point Trail, if ya know what I mean...HEYOOO!). California may be the new kid on the block, but there's history to be found in the Chumash Indians' Painted Cave or Knapp's Castle.
Not every hike in Robert Stone's Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara, 2nd: 82 Great Hikes is a winner. One of them lasts all of five minutes and there's nothing much to see. Hardly great, I'd say. However, I've completed about a dozen of them and can vouch for the quality of at least a few. Rattlesnake Canyon is a local hiker's favorite.
A personal favorite of mine was the one in Toro Canyon Park. It was near my house, only took about 20-30 minutes on a loop trail, and had a gazebo at the top from which you could view all the avocado orchards upon the undulating hills. Often a heavy mist would creep through in the mornings and on warm afternoons hawks would ride the thermals up in whirling circles.
Stone's directions are mostly solid, only occasionally confusing here and there. The simple, b&w line-drawn maps aren't perfect, but of course trails change their shape over time, so the author can't be entirely held to blame. On the whole though, Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara served me well over numerous successful and highly enjoyable hikes.
Here's a video I put together of a few of the hikes I took which you can find in this book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5AMFt...
Santa Barbara is a naturally gorgeous spot on this here Earth. Its proximity to the ocean and its "Mediterranean" climate keeps the temperatures on an even keel and moisture levels up, so it has an almost year-round growing season.
If you get the chance to visit it, try to fit in a hike or two, if that's your thing. The city is wedged between the ocean and a sweep of high rocky hills that reach to near mountain heights.
Hikes in these hills will take you along streams and waterfalls...
To hilltop vistas overlooking the sea or through patches of dense vegetation sometimes burnt away by drought to bare-faced rocks and ledges.
Wildlife, though not overly abundant, is occasionally found upon trails with expressive names like Rattlesnake Canyon, Lion Canyon and Loon Point (You can find real "animals" on Inspiration Point Trail, if ya know what I mean...HEYOOO!). California may be the new kid on the block, but there's history to be found in the Chumash Indians' Painted Cave or Knapp's Castle.
Not every hike in Robert Stone's Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara, 2nd: 82 Great Hikes is a winner. One of them lasts all of five minutes and there's nothing much to see. Hardly great, I'd say. However, I've completed about a dozen of them and can vouch for the quality of at least a few. Rattlesnake Canyon is a local hiker's favorite.
A personal favorite of mine was the one in Toro Canyon Park. It was near my house, only took about 20-30 minutes on a loop trail, and had a gazebo at the top from which you could view all the avocado orchards upon the undulating hills. Often a heavy mist would creep through in the mornings and on warm afternoons hawks would ride the thermals up in whirling circles.
Stone's directions are mostly solid, only occasionally confusing here and there. The simple, b&w line-drawn maps aren't perfect, but of course trails change their shape over time, so the author can't be entirely held to blame. On the whole though, Day Hikes Around Santa Barbara served me well over numerous successful and highly enjoyable hikes.
Here's a video I put together of a few of the hikes I took which you can find in this book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5AMFt...
March 15, 2013
Robert Stone's series of "Day Hikes" are so incredibly useful. The hike difficulty ratings and the trail descriptions are on target. I especially appreciate his guides for trails where there is little to no online information for a trail or at least inconsistent. That was specifically the case for Santa Barbara trails. I wanted to know more about the trails that would near the a campsite around the Redrock/Lake Cachuma area. Although there are a few websites about the hiking trails they did not provide useful maps for those not familiar with the area. But I found exactly what I needed in this book. I highly recommend this series for new and seasoned hikers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews