Los Padres NF, Silver Peak Wilderness

July 2006

July was a very hot month throughout much of the country, including Santa Barbara. One day a couple of friends called me up and wanted to go out hiking. All of the backcountry down here was easily over 100 degrees and exposed, which didn't sit too well with them. After looking through the weather reports, I saw that it was nice and in the 70s along the central coast, so we hopped in the car and sped on up past Hearst Castle and into the beautiful central coastline.

I had been to the area a bit before, but I'd never been to the Silver Peak Wilderness area. We hiked up the Spruce Creek trail starting from one of those many hairpin turns on the 1 right next to a waterfall. The trail wove on up the side of the canyon, climbing up into the coastal mountains. Great views of the Pacific and the coast were featured on every ridge, the offshore fog still touching against the water. Eventually the trail wound up leading to a wonderful backcountry campground admist the shade of trees right next to a creek. Even with all the lack of rain the creek was still running with its little waterfalls. Some of the pools even had tiny fish in them! Someday I'll have to get back to spend some relaxing time there and explore more of yet another gorgeous hidden little wilderness area I never knew was there.

The Photographs

The pictures were taken with my Minolta system. I started with a roll of Kodachrome PKR 64 and finished up with a roll of Scala 200. I hadn't shot Scala in a while and had forgotten how nice the silvery hue really can be!

Click "Next" in the upper right to begin.