Bob Burd's Trip Reports

Toro Canyon Ridge Sat, Jun 12, 2021		Story	Photos / Slideshow	Map	GPX

Continued...

Another Bike-N-Ride in Santa Barbara County. Toro Canyon Park is located in the foothills between Summerland and Carpinteria, managed by the county. A trail leads to Toro Canyon Ridge (PB has it named as Toro Ridge, but Toro Canyon Ridge seems more common), with insufficient prominence to qualify on LoJ, but still a nice little summit. Toro Canyon road leads from SR192 into the park and is horribly steep on a bike, at least for us old guys. I was weaving back and forth across the road to lessen the gradient, waiting to get run over by a passing vehicle. Where the road tops out, just before dropping to the park entrance, there is a marked trailhead for Toro Canyon Ridge. I left my bike locked to a tree here and hiked the 2/3mi trail to the top. A very high-end home lies above the trail, built atop the ridge at the unnamed benchmark at Pt. 1,126ft. The view bench is found just east of this home and the highpoint of the ridge a little further among some rocks. Views overlook Carpinteria in all it's industrial greenhouse charm. The Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands, too. Nice views of the Santa Ynez Mtns to the north. Overall, a pretty nice little outing.