Hmm, I wanted to ramble on on this but have to get to work....last week, my 9 neurons were all tied up in a knot and I was getting really cranky...so I took Sunday off. I rented an economy car, but all they had was a red Mustang convertible so I took it for $25. I styled over the Santa Ynez Mountains and then up Paradise Road...crossed the first ford (water over the road, not the car), and went to upper Oso Canyon...and hiked up to the top of Little Pine Mountain....ny favorite Santa Barbara back-country hike. It is just under 1000 m vertical...and gets steeper near the top. You cross the Little Pine fault and a belt of subduction-related Franciscan Complex. Little is know about the activity on this fault zone....but it does uplift mountains over 2000 m in elevation (San Rafael Mts)...and these are soft shale on top...Even though I am 15 years older and maybe 20 lbs (I mean 8 kg) heavier...I cruised up easier than I ever had before..I guess 50 miles of roller blading to work the week before helped...I was ready for another 1000 m....nice view of snow on Reyes Peak and Mt Pinos...and across the top of the Santa Ynez Mts to the northern Channel island. The flowers were pretty Oz-like...mostly lupine, some poppys, other yellow flowers...and locally solid flowers. I had a nice picnic ...but my bottle of red wine was Trader's Joe brand.....not as bad as some Elvis wibe I had a few months ago...but I should have shelled out for some Firestone. Anyway, after drinking the whole bottle my knees did not hurt at all on the way down. Nice private swimming hole with waterfall Jacuzzi. Then, another swim in Santa Ynez River.
Chris