With no definitive destination and no set path this was a free day of wandering the forest. I love these types of trips and need to allocate room for them more often in my busy schedule. You go where the wind takes you, you see whatever you see, you get lost, you find yourself. Life's stresses melt away.
I will admit the day was not a hundred percent without reason, we did have a loose agenda, locate Rock Art if possible. Basically our plan consisted of if you run into a good looking formation that meets the criteria make sure you check it over. Funnily enough the first site we checked, BINGO found one right out the gate.
As Eric stated "this site was not standing the test of time" There was a fire ring directly underneath it. I wish people would STOP having campfires next to Pictograph sites.
I had the pleasure of spending the day with a great team David, Jason and Tom. I call them the Rock Art bloodhounds. They have a nose for sniffing out sights. They are good guys who really enjoy documenting pictographs and who care deeply about the preservation of the historical works left behind by the Chumash.
When I'm out on the trail I don't always like being the leader and the one with all the plans. What's rad about these dudes is they do as much if not more research than myself. They are experienced and knowledgeable. While up one particular drainage we decided to break off into teams, heading cross country in different directions for hours on end. We brought along some hand held radios to stay in contact about our findings and direction of travel. Having that extra layer of communication was awesome, at any time off the cuff we could alter the path and still wind up reclocationg with each other miles from where we started. This kind of off trail adventure is just not possible without capable people who can read maps and understand topography. We were firing on all cylinders, I was having a blast.
This above site was one I knew about prior just hadn't had a chance to visit it before this trip. One of our last stops on the way out of a long loop.
Without being to specific as the title indicates we were cruising the fringes of the Chumash Wilderness which consists of most of the high country in Ventura county. Established in 1992 as part of the Los Padres Condor range and river protection act the Wilderness area totals a little over 38,000 acres. The land was sacred to the Chumash and considered to be the center of their universe. Most of higher terrain is much more navigable than the very brushy lower elevation areas of the Los Padres. The smell of pine and the cooler crisp air is a treat. Definitely one of the favorite places to roam.
We put down over 10 miles on the day, the weather was perfect and most tributaries still flowing. I can't think of a better time than now to get out there and get you some of what the Los Padres is serving.
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