I was in Santa Barbara with the family for a volleyball tournament my daughter's
high school team was competing in. My job, aside from supporting Jackie win or
lose, was as one of three drivers carting the group around to and from matches
at Santa Barbara High School. The first match was scheduled for 11a, so
they planned a leisurely breakfast at Sambos before heading over to the school.
With fine SoCal weather on tap (and already having eaten a rich dinner the
previous night), I had little interest in over-eating yet again. So after
dropping the girls off (this place has an
interesting history to it),
I turned the keys over to my wife who would
eventually drive them on to the school. I would spend the next few hours riding
around town, visiting a handful of small summits that dot the coastline around
the city, finishing up at the high school before the match started.
Dibblee Hill
Located just northwest of the harbor, this mesa is named for Thomas Dibblee
who had an elegant mansion atop it at the turn of the last century which later
became the Leadbetter Estate. Much of the topography has changed since then as
the mesa is now the site of the city college's east campus. The
sits atop what appears to be the highpoint. At least it still maintains some
modest prominence underneath all the concrete and asphalt with some
overlooking the city and surrounding mountains. A
nearby promontory named Castle Rock that was highly popular with beachgoers
back in the day was obliterated during an improvement to Shoreline Drive and
the breakwater
almost 100yrs ago.
Lavigia Hill
The cartographers got this one slightly wrong on the topo map - it should be
"La Vigia Hill" where "vigia" is spanish for lookout. Lookout Hill and La Vigia
were listed in the old
US Coast Guard Pilot,
a manual with descriptions of the coast used for maritime navigation. Today the
hill is covered in expensive and the Vic Trace Reservoir, the
highpoint being somewhere at the
(bulldozing has flattened the top, making it difficult to pinpoint).
Duncan BM
While not the highest elevation, Duncan BM is the most prominent feature within
the city limits of Santa Barbara, sporting 429ft of prominence. It lies at the
western boundary where it abuts the Hope Ranch community, an unincorporated
area in the county with ultra exclusive homes and ranches. Surprisingly, the
highpoint has not yet been fully developed, though multi-million dollar homes
are going up all around it. The top is
just north of Centinela Lane,
adjacent to a city water services building disguised as a home - the Hope Ranch
Pump. Behind this building is
some three stories tall, with
three wishbone-shaped legs forming a tripod of sorts from which a large bell
was once suspended. It was built in the 1960s to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the visit by the Portola Expedition and a mass supposedly
celebrated by Fr. Juan Crespi at the site. The bell was cut down as a prank
by students of San Marcos High School in the early 1970s and is said to be
somewhere still in Hope Ranch. The structure was fenced off at a later date and
would be mostly forgotten except that it is visible from many points within
town - some hate it, some love it, most could not care less. I found a
for the benchmark at one corner of the fence around the tower, but the
benchmark itself was nowhere to be found. Before it was fenced and largely
developed,
the site was popular with the young folk for partying and whatnot - seems
possible the benchmark was carted away as another souvenir.
More Mesa
West of Hope Ranch is a large undeveloped parcel called More Mesa, separated
from Goleta to the north by Atascadero Creek. There is much fine hiking,
secluded beachgoing and birdwatching to be found on the mesa. The highpoint of
this parcel is at the hilly east side where development of Hope Ranch went
unchecked. A large estate sits atop the highpoint at the
,
though bulldozing rendered the actual point anything but obvious. One has to
be content with driving (or in my case, riding) to the turnaround and calling
it a day.
Ortega Hill
Turns out I wasn't quite done. Between the first and second matches I had time
to ride out to Ortega Hill along the coast between the nearby towns of Montecito
and Summerland. I followed the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route along the way, past
some rather posh places like the Fess Parker, the ,
the Biltmore Santa Barbara, and others. The
along is one of the nicest you can
imagine. I parked the bike at the of Ortega Hill
where a sign indicated a trail leading upwards,
figuring this would be better than simply riding to the top via Ortega Hill Rd.
The trail, it turns out, simply circumnavigates the hill, the top being
occupied by two software companies, and Graphiq, Inc.
is, or was, somewhere under QADs large buildings. I
walked the perimeter of these buildings to check out the views. I have no idea
what it's like working for one of these firms, but they have the best outdoor
corporate lunch sites with to be found anywhere.
Continued...