Songs of the Wilderness

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. When the act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964, it set aside 9.1 million acres of land in 54 areas that became designated wilderness.

The act also created a way for additional federal land to be set aside as wilderness and permanently protected from development. Today there are over 750 designated wilderness areas within the United States, representing about 5% of the total land area of the United States.

In the southern Los Padres National Forest, there are eight designated wilderness areas spread out over San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Of these, the first to be protected was San Rafael Wilderness in Santa Barbara County.

Part of the meadow at Horseshoe Bend

San Rafael Wilderness encompasses close to 200,000 acres, including much of the San Rafael Mountains, Manzana Creek, Hurricane Deck, and the upper Sisquoc River.

One of the easier places to visit San Rafael Wilderness is from the trailheads near Nira Campground, along Manzana Creek. The creek originates along the backside of San Rafael Mountain and travels roughly 20 miles downstream to the confluence with Sisquoc River.

Near Nira, one can find trailheads that lead both upstream and downstream along the creek. The hike downstream includes four trail camps that one can visit.

To get to the trailhead from Santa Barbara, take State Route 154 over San Marcos Pass, and continue past Lake Cachuma to Armour Ranch Road, on your right.

From Armour Ranch Road, turn right onto Happy Canyon Road. Happy Canyon Road leads through ranch land before climbing out of the valley and arriving at Cachuma Saddle. At Cachuma Saddle, Happy Canyon Road meets Figueroa Mountain Road, becoming Sunset Valley Road, and continues down the backside of the San Rafael Mountains.

Map courtesy Maps.com

Sunset Valley Road passes Davy Brown Campground and, about a mile later, arrives at Manzana Creek and the trailhead for the section of Manzana Trail that leads downstream towards Manzana Schoolhouse. About a half mile past the trailhead, Sunset Valley Road ends at Nira Campground.

Camping can be found at Davy Brown, which has 13 campsites, and at Nira, which has 11 campsites. Both campgrounds are on a first come, first serve basis and require an adventure pass to camp there.

Parking for the hike downstream can be found at the trailhead; the parking area is large enough for horse trailers. The trail is in generally good shape and suitable for horseback riding.

From the parking area, the trail crosses Davy Brown Creek and enters San Rafael Wilderness.

Scenery along Manzana Trail

Manzana Trail then rides above Manzana Creek for the first 1.25 miles before dropping back down to the creek, and arriving at Potrero Camp. The camp has two sites both along the creek. The camp takes its name from the nearby Potrero Trail, which leads up to Hurricane Deck.

Past Potrero Camp, Manzana Trail follows the creek the rest of the way down to Manzana Schoolhouse, crossing the creek more than 30 times and providing ample opportunity to get to know the different plants that thrive along this riparian corridor.

At about the 2.75-mile mark, the trail arrives at Coldwater Camp. The camp has two sites and takes its name from the pools just upstream from the camp that typically have water in them, even in the fall and during drier years such as this one.

In contrast with the hike upstream from Nira, the hike downstream includes more open, grassy areas as the canyon widens on its way down towards Sisquoc River.

At about the 4.5-mile mark, the trail arrives at Horseshoe Bend. Here, one can find three campsites in the long meadow to the right off of the main trail. The camp takes its name from the horseshoe-shaped meadow that may have been formed by the creek before it worked its way through the nearby sandstone formation, where the creek passes today.

About a half-mile below Horseshoe Bend the trail arrives at an unpaved ranch road that traces the boundary between San Rafael Wilderness and a private inholding within the National Forest. Please respect private property at all times.

The inholding is part of what was once the Davis Homestead and is a remnant from the late 1800s, when there were roughly 200 settlers living along the upper Sisquoc River and its tributaries.

Manzana Schoolhouse

These settlers were drawn to the area with the promise of land under the Homestead Act. That act, which passed in 1862, provides an interesting perspective on how our perceptions of the land have changed over time. Within the Homestead Act was the stipulation that in order to acquire land under the act, one needed to “prove up” their claim by building a home, making improvements to the land, and farming it for a minimum of five years.

In many ways the act was a reflection of a cultural value articulated in the late 17th century by English philosopher John Locke, who felt that nature on its own provided little value to society, and that it’s the labor we expend in the creation of goods that gives those goods their value. And by extension the labor expended on the land is not only what gives it value, but is the basis of ownership, because that labor belongs to us. In other words, for the land to have value it must be developed.

By the mid-18th century and new perspective began to emerge through the writings of Henry David Thoreau and later John Muir, who held that the land had an intrinsic value beyond the development of its resources. Through his writings and activism, Muir gave a voice to the perspective that what was needed was less development, and that the intangible benefits of nature need to be valued and preserved.

This shift is reflected in the words of the Wilderness Act itself, which states, “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

A horny toad lizard enjoys the sun along Manzana Creek

In this regard, San Rafael Wilderness, with its homesteads sites, Chumash cultural sites and undeveloped wilderness, offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the various approaches to land use and the different relationships we can have with the land.

Continuing downstream along Manzana Creek, at about the 6.25-mile mark, Manzana Trail arrives at the junction with Sulphur Spring Trail, which leads to the top of the San Rafael Mountains.

A half mile further downstream, Manzana Trail arrives at the site of Dabney Cabin. The cabin was constructed from nearby alder trees and creek rock, and served as a fishing retreat for the Dabney Family. Currently, there is flowing water at the site, and it is one of the few places along Manzana Creek where one can find water during the drier times of the year.

At about the 8.5-mile mark, the trail arrives at Manzana Schoolhouse Camp. The camp has six sites under the oaks, next to the creek. On the mesa, above the confluence of Manzana Creek and Sisquoc River, is the one room schoolhouse that served the early settlers of the area from 1895-1902.

Each of the campsites along Manzana Creek has a picnic table and either a metal fire ring or grated stove. In the springtime, when the creek is fully flowing, water can be found at all of the camps.

Castle Rock frames seasonally dry Manzana Creek

From Manzana Schoolhouse one can journey still further into the San Rafael Wilderness along Sisquoc River Trial.

Regardless of how far you go you’ll get to see some of what makes San Rafael Wilderness a unique area within our local backcountry.

This article originally appeared in section A of the October 27th, 2014 edition of Santa Barbara News-Press.

Water Report: currently, the are a series of standing pools just upstream from Coldwater. Water is flowing at the Dabney Cabin site, i.e. water is flowing in the creek two crossing above and two crossing below the cabin.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. The act created a way for federal land to be permanently protected from development.

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act into law on September 3, 1964, he commented, “If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”

In its wild state, the land can provide an unbroken connection back to the beginning of time. The native plants and animals, even the rocks and mountains have paths that lead from where they are now back through time to the mystery of creation.

Time spent on the land and in nature can serve as a powerful touchstone for reconnecting with our own origins and our own place in the larger world around us.

San Rafael Mountain and the headwaters of Manzana Creek are seen from Big Cone Spruce Trail

In the words of author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner, “Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed…We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”

When the Wilderness Act was signed it set aside 9.1 million acres as designated wilderness, a total area less than that of Vermont and New Hampshire. The act also created a process for designating additional federal lands as wilderness. In the 50 years since the passage of the act, close to 110 million acres of land have been set aside as protected wilderness, an area larger than California.

In our local area, San Rafael Wilderness was the first land to be protected under the act. When it was formed in 1968, it encompassed 149,170 acres of our local backcountry. In 1992, an additional 48,210 acres were added.

If the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act introduced in Congress earlier this year by Representative Lois Capps is passed, all eight of the wilderness areas in the southern Los Padres National Forest would see an increase in size, including an additional 41,000 acres for San Rafael Wilderness.

One of the easier places to visit San Rafael Wilderness is near Nira Campground along Manzana Creek. The creek flows some 20 miles from its headwaters near San Rafael Mountain down to its confluence with Sisquoc River. And the trailheads near Nira Campground provide a good jumping off point for hikes that lead both upstream and downstream along the creek.

Map courtesy Maps.com

To get to Nira from Santa Barbara, take State Route 154 north over San Marcos Pass and continue past Cachuma Lake to Armour Ranch Road, on your right.

From Armour Ranch Road, turn right onto Happy Canyon Road. Happy Canyon Road leads through ranch land before climbing out of the valley and arriving at Cachuma Saddle. Here, Happy Canyon Road meets Figueroa Mountain Road and becomes Sunset Valley Road, which ends at Nira Campground. The drive is about 1.5 hours from Santa Barbara.

Nira Campground was built in 1937 and takes its name from NIRA, National Industrial Recovery Act. The campground has 11 campsites, each with a fire ring and picnic table. All of the camps are on a first come first serve basis, and an adventure pass is required to camp there.

The hike upstream from Nira, starting along Manzana Trail provides for a variety of hiking and backpacking opportunities. Along Manzana Creek there are six different camps that one can visit. Manzana Trail is in generally good condition and is suitable for horseback riding as well.

Parking for the hike upstream is found at the campground, and the parking area is large enough for horse trailers.

Manzana Creek supports a rich corridor of riparian plants that threads its way through the surrounding chaparral. Along the creek one can find bay laurel, willow, sycamore, and alder. And along the trail, coast live oak, gray pines and even juniper.

Some flowing water can still be found in Manzana Creek

At the 1-mile mark, the trail arrives at Lost Valley Camp. The camp is located near the beginning of Lost Valley Trail, which leads to the top of Hurricane Deck.

The trail then climbs above the creek, and continues through chaparral before returning down to the creek and arriving at Fish Camp. The camp is about 2.5 miles from Nira and is located just above the confluence of Fish Creek and Manzana Creek. In the springtime a swim hole can be found just below the confluence.

Past Fish Camp, the canyon widens, and after crossing the creek, the trail continues above the creek before returning back down to the creek, and arrive at Ray’s Camp. The camp is about 4.5 miles from Nira and is named for local author and trail advocate Raymond Ford.

From Ray’s Camp, the trail continues upstream another mile and arrives at Manzana Camp. And at the about the 7-mile mark, the trail arrives at Manzana Narrows Camp, which has four campsites.

Each of the campsites along Manzana Trail above Nira has a metal fire ring, and in most cases a picnic table.

In the spring when the creek is flowing all of the camps along Manzana Creek have access to water. In the summer and fall, and during drier years, the creek becomes intermittent. Currently the only water along Manzana Trail, above Nira, is between Manzana Camp and Manzana Narrows, with flowing water just below Manzana Narrows Camp.

Scenery along Manzana Trail between Manzana and Manzana Narrows Camp

Continuing upstream from Manzana Narrows, Manzana Trail arrives a quarter mile later at the intersection with White Ledge and Big Cone Spruce Trails. To the left, White Ledge Trail climbs out of Manzana Creek drainage and leads over towards Sisquoc River and South Fork Station. To the right, Big Cone Spruce Trail continues upstream along Manzana Creek towards Big Cone Spruce Camp.

Both the trail and camp take their name from the big cone spruce that grow along the canyon. The trail is more overgrown than Manzana Trail, but is still followable. Currently there is water flowing intermittently in the creek, and near the camp.

At about the 9.25-mile mark from Nira, the trail arrives at Big Cone Spruce Camp. The camp has two sites, each with a grated stove and picnic table. The first site is fairly easy to find and located near a spring. To reach the second site, continue a short way upstream along Big Cone Spruce Trail and look for a side trail on your left that leads to the camp.

Scenery along Big Cone Spruce Trail

Just past the turnoff to the second campsite, Big Cone Spruce Trail crosses the creek one last time, before starting its 1.25-mile climb towards to the top of the San Rafael Mountains and McKinley Fire Road. The trail quickly leaves the shady confines of the canyon and continues through the more exposed chaparral. The trail is steep, but does offer views to the east of San Rafael Mountain and the headwaters of Manzana Creek, and to the north, views of Hurricane Deck and Sierra Madre Mountains.

At the top of trail is a picnic table that has been placed there for the benefit of weary travelers. To the east, less than a mile further along McKinley Fire Road is McKinley Spring Camp where one can find reliable water.

Regardless of how far you hike you’ll have a chance to explore Santa Barbara’s first wilderness area.

This article originally appeared in section A of the October 20th, 2014 edition of Santa Barbara News-Press. Manzana Creek, Part 2 will cover the rest of Manzana Trail down to Manzana Schoolhouse.

Water Report: currently, upstream from Nira along the trail one doesn’t find water until about halfway between Manzana Camp and Manzana Narrows, and then intermittent pools and flows. Standing water only at the Narrows, but good water just below camp. Water in two of the crossings towards Big Cone Spruce, but only standing water at the crossing at Big Cone Spruce Camp #1. The spring is flowing at the camp and lots of evidence of bear activity at the muddy, wet hillside where the springs is located. Water in the creek just past Big Cone Spruce Camp #2.