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  • Writer's picturebalzaccom
    • Sep 4, 2021
    • 1 min read

ISO Clean Air

When the Inyo National Forest cancelled all wilderness permits (and closed the forest for two weeks), our trip to Horton Lakes got tossed in the trash. And when every other National Forest in the Sierra did the same, we were up a tree.


But we were packed up, ready to go, so we turned in another direction and headed down the coast. The ostensible goal was a Chumash site of cave paintings, but we knew there was more i store. I found a campsite at Gaviota State Beach ($45 a night. Yow!) and off we went.


We stopped for lunch at Smoke Point in San Juan Bautista, and checked in to the campground in time to enjoy a walk on the beach. The next day we found the cave paintings...and then spent the morning at the Botanical Gardens in Santa Barbara. After a lunch in front of the mission, we decided to spend the rest of the day visiting some of the other missions in the area: Santa Ynez and La Purisima. Wonderful.


And after another quite evening on the beach, complete with clear skies at sunset, we headed home, stopping only to take a look at Mission San Miguel and, of course, BBQ at smoke point.


It wasn't the high Sierra, but it was clear skies and a chance to get out and see the world.


The photos from the trip are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ptvuZS1WfVsfJoSx8


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