RangerDanger
New Member
There is a little bit of heaven in the Santa Barbara backcountry.
It's a rough drive getting there. The 101 to Highway 33, then as right on East Camino Cielo Rd. The trip includes driving along a narrow road on a ridge with an almost sheer drop of over a mile. Breathtaking views--the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands to the west, and to the east mountain range after mountain range. Then a winding dirt road that leads to a beautiful valley.
Further driving down a washboard-gutted road, and then finally, after a 3.5 hour drive from L.A., the prize:
Agua Caliente, a hot springs tucked away in a side canyon.
The water more or less oozes from the side of a hill into an existing stream.
Years ago people constructed a catch basin and a pipe that leads into a concrete tub they also built. The tub is approx. 8' x 10' and 4' deep. There is a drain on the side of the tub nearest the stream so the tub can occasionally be completely emptied. On the inlet there is a faucet where the waterflow into the tank can be controlled. That's important because the water temp of the water entering the tub is a bit hotter--108F--than is comfortable for most folks. So the idea is that once the tub is full the inlet can be adjusted to just a trickle, enough to keep the temp "just right". The overflow leads back down to the stream bed. At the end of the faucet there is a sock to keep sediment from getting into the tub.
Nudity is not allowed as far as the law goes, and their used to be signs stating so, but the signs were always getting ripped up/destroyed. The real policy is whatever the people in ther tub agree upon. Everyone's usually naked but have swim suits handy in case someone who's not okay with group public nudity shows up.
I was in the tub with some friends once when a van pulls up and geting out was a typical family--mom and dad, son, daughter, even grandma. So we took out swimsuits that were on the side of the tub and put them on.
The family comes dowen to the tub and they all--mom, dad, son, daughter. grandma--strip down naked and get in.
I always visit in the wintertime. In the huge valley there are 2 campgrounds and a summercamp/ranger station, and I've been told that in the summer there is a line of people waiting to go in, as well as noisy smelly dirt bikes kicking up dust constanly passing by.
On one visit we watched a pair of hawks bringing their young food. We couldn't see the baby hawks, but we did get to see the parents bring in a variety of food--snakes and small rodents--all while sitting in a hot tub high on top-rate ganja as well as other various off-topic drugs.
I was there one day eeryone in the tub was naked and there was a BEAUTIFUL woman--about 20 years old--in the tub. She had walked there from where she was camped, about 5 miles away. We told her if she waited for about 15 minutes we'd give her a ride back her a ride back to her campground. She declined, and I really don't blame her for not wanting to get into a van with 3 guys. We passed her on our way out and she was hiking back naked, except for boots and a daypack.
Once me and a few friends were there and a car pulls up and 6 college students get out--3 girls and 3 guys. It's around dusk. A guy comes over and asks "are you people naked?" Jeez if the can can't tell does it really matter?
But anyway we say yes and he asks us to put swimsuits on and the girls remained in the car until we did so.
Then these people get in--fully dressed! Most people in this situation would strip down to their underwear, but not these lame-o's. They just took off their shoes and socks and got it. I wonder if it ever dawnwd on these people that everyone is naked under their clothes?
Anyway, me and my friend Rick were visiting the weekend of the 14th, 15th and 16th of Jan 1994. Except for eating and sleeping we spent most of the time in the tub.
Sunday it's time to leave for home, and we're still in the valley when the brakes in my van go out.
We stopped at the campground that's right at the bottom of the long drive up the mountain. The master brake cyclinder went out so I had NO brakes.
There was no way to call out, plus a tow truck would've cost a fortune. And once the trip uphill to the ridge and the drive along the ridge there was the long downhill drive back down to nearly sea level.
We didn't need the brakes on the way up. And I was able to negotiate most of the ridge, but then there came a time when we could go no further without brakes. So we parked and hitched a ride to the nearest phone, called ther auto club and they came out, picked up up and then we rode along to the van. They hooked the van up and towed it and us to the parking lot of a closed garage parking lot, next to the 101.
We had planned to spend the night in the van, and the next morning contact the garage about getting the van fixed.
So we're sitting there. It's about 10 p.m. We're bored, it's cold and we're bummed.
Rick says "how many times do we have to stop between here and your house?"
I think about it. We were right next to the freeway onramp. The freeway off ramp we had to use near home was the kind that merged onto surface streets--no need to stop. And most of the rest of the way (Soto Street) was thru an industrial area. Few stop lights and I knew that by downshifting we could "time" the lights. I knew there would be almost no traffic that late on a winter Sunday night.
So I answered "if I do it just right, we won't have to stop until we get to my house."
Rick says "Let's go for it."
So we did.
We were lucky there were no accidents or any other reason to stop. We drove 100 miles with absolutely NO brakes. There were a couple of times I had to turn the engine off to slow us down, but we finally arrived home approx. 1 a.m.
Exausted we went to sleep right away. I planned to drive Rick home in my other car later on.
I remember the date quite clearly because at 4:30 Mon. morning--3.5 hours after we got home--the Northridge earthquake struck.
I even made up a song about it, sung to the tune of John Denver's Thank God I'm A Country Boy:
"Well I got me a van but I ain't got no brakies
And we're stuck on a mountain and things are getting shaky,
Got back in town just in time for an earthquakey
Thank God for the Auto Club."
P.S. My friend's cousin is convinced he caused the quake. He had just gotten home, hung over and broke after a weekend of partying while his wife sat home with the kids. When he got home at 4:29 a.m. Mon. his wife was understandably majorly pissed.
He made up some sort of bullshit story about how he got standed in a remote area. His wife wasn't buying it.
He said "Honey, if I'm lying may God give you a sign." A second later the earthqauke hit.
P.P.S. My friend Nicole was staying overnight at her boyfriends house--perched on a hillside about 10 miles from the epicenter--and they were having sex when the earthquake hit. For a few monents she thought she was having the most intense climax she's ever had, until things started falling off the shelves and the house started creaking. She and her boyfriend made it outside with 1 blanket between them.
P.P.P.S. There is an area were for REAL nature lovers. You can sit in the mud in the stream bed and soak in the hot water that spills out of the catch basin. But I don't like to sit in the mud naked.
Anyway, if you live in SoCal, plan a trip there. Go in the winter. There are many opportunities for hiking/backpacking. And consider making a side trip to The Painted Indian Cave, located coincidentaly enough off of Painted Indian Cave Road. Go in the middle of the day so you can get a good view into the fenced-off cave to view the 1,000-year old paintings.
Enjoy!
It's a rough drive getting there. The 101 to Highway 33, then as right on East Camino Cielo Rd. The trip includes driving along a narrow road on a ridge with an almost sheer drop of over a mile. Breathtaking views--the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands to the west, and to the east mountain range after mountain range. Then a winding dirt road that leads to a beautiful valley.
Further driving down a washboard-gutted road, and then finally, after a 3.5 hour drive from L.A., the prize:
Agua Caliente, a hot springs tucked away in a side canyon.
The water more or less oozes from the side of a hill into an existing stream.
Years ago people constructed a catch basin and a pipe that leads into a concrete tub they also built. The tub is approx. 8' x 10' and 4' deep. There is a drain on the side of the tub nearest the stream so the tub can occasionally be completely emptied. On the inlet there is a faucet where the waterflow into the tank can be controlled. That's important because the water temp of the water entering the tub is a bit hotter--108F--than is comfortable for most folks. So the idea is that once the tub is full the inlet can be adjusted to just a trickle, enough to keep the temp "just right". The overflow leads back down to the stream bed. At the end of the faucet there is a sock to keep sediment from getting into the tub.
Nudity is not allowed as far as the law goes, and their used to be signs stating so, but the signs were always getting ripped up/destroyed. The real policy is whatever the people in ther tub agree upon. Everyone's usually naked but have swim suits handy in case someone who's not okay with group public nudity shows up.
I was in the tub with some friends once when a van pulls up and geting out was a typical family--mom and dad, son, daughter, even grandma. So we took out swimsuits that were on the side of the tub and put them on.
The family comes dowen to the tub and they all--mom, dad, son, daughter. grandma--strip down naked and get in.
I always visit in the wintertime. In the huge valley there are 2 campgrounds and a summercamp/ranger station, and I've been told that in the summer there is a line of people waiting to go in, as well as noisy smelly dirt bikes kicking up dust constanly passing by.
On one visit we watched a pair of hawks bringing their young food. We couldn't see the baby hawks, but we did get to see the parents bring in a variety of food--snakes and small rodents--all while sitting in a hot tub high on top-rate ganja as well as other various off-topic drugs.
I was there one day eeryone in the tub was naked and there was a BEAUTIFUL woman--about 20 years old--in the tub. She had walked there from where she was camped, about 5 miles away. We told her if she waited for about 15 minutes we'd give her a ride back her a ride back to her campground. She declined, and I really don't blame her for not wanting to get into a van with 3 guys. We passed her on our way out and she was hiking back naked, except for boots and a daypack.
Once me and a few friends were there and a car pulls up and 6 college students get out--3 girls and 3 guys. It's around dusk. A guy comes over and asks "are you people naked?" Jeez if the can can't tell does it really matter?
But anyway we say yes and he asks us to put swimsuits on and the girls remained in the car until we did so.
Then these people get in--fully dressed! Most people in this situation would strip down to their underwear, but not these lame-o's. They just took off their shoes and socks and got it. I wonder if it ever dawnwd on these people that everyone is naked under their clothes?
Anyway, me and my friend Rick were visiting the weekend of the 14th, 15th and 16th of Jan 1994. Except for eating and sleeping we spent most of the time in the tub.
Sunday it's time to leave for home, and we're still in the valley when the brakes in my van go out.
We stopped at the campground that's right at the bottom of the long drive up the mountain. The master brake cyclinder went out so I had NO brakes.
There was no way to call out, plus a tow truck would've cost a fortune. And once the trip uphill to the ridge and the drive along the ridge there was the long downhill drive back down to nearly sea level.
We didn't need the brakes on the way up. And I was able to negotiate most of the ridge, but then there came a time when we could go no further without brakes. So we parked and hitched a ride to the nearest phone, called ther auto club and they came out, picked up up and then we rode along to the van. They hooked the van up and towed it and us to the parking lot of a closed garage parking lot, next to the 101.
We had planned to spend the night in the van, and the next morning contact the garage about getting the van fixed.
So we're sitting there. It's about 10 p.m. We're bored, it's cold and we're bummed.
Rick says "how many times do we have to stop between here and your house?"
I think about it. We were right next to the freeway onramp. The freeway off ramp we had to use near home was the kind that merged onto surface streets--no need to stop. And most of the rest of the way (Soto Street) was thru an industrial area. Few stop lights and I knew that by downshifting we could "time" the lights. I knew there would be almost no traffic that late on a winter Sunday night.
So I answered "if I do it just right, we won't have to stop until we get to my house."
Rick says "Let's go for it."
So we did.
We were lucky there were no accidents or any other reason to stop. We drove 100 miles with absolutely NO brakes. There were a couple of times I had to turn the engine off to slow us down, but we finally arrived home approx. 1 a.m.
Exausted we went to sleep right away. I planned to drive Rick home in my other car later on.
I remember the date quite clearly because at 4:30 Mon. morning--3.5 hours after we got home--the Northridge earthquake struck.
I even made up a song about it, sung to the tune of John Denver's Thank God I'm A Country Boy:
"Well I got me a van but I ain't got no brakies
And we're stuck on a mountain and things are getting shaky,
Got back in town just in time for an earthquakey
Thank God for the Auto Club."
P.S. My friend's cousin is convinced he caused the quake. He had just gotten home, hung over and broke after a weekend of partying while his wife sat home with the kids. When he got home at 4:29 a.m. Mon. his wife was understandably majorly pissed.
He made up some sort of bullshit story about how he got standed in a remote area. His wife wasn't buying it.
He said "Honey, if I'm lying may God give you a sign." A second later the earthqauke hit.
P.P.S. My friend Nicole was staying overnight at her boyfriends house--perched on a hillside about 10 miles from the epicenter--and they were having sex when the earthquake hit. For a few monents she thought she was having the most intense climax she's ever had, until things started falling off the shelves and the house started creaking. She and her boyfriend made it outside with 1 blanket between them.
P.P.P.S. There is an area were for REAL nature lovers. You can sit in the mud in the stream bed and soak in the hot water that spills out of the catch basin. But I don't like to sit in the mud naked.
Anyway, if you live in SoCal, plan a trip there. Go in the winter. There are many opportunities for hiking/backpacking. And consider making a side trip to The Painted Indian Cave, located coincidentaly enough off of Painted Indian Cave Road. Go in the middle of the day so you can get a good view into the fenced-off cave to view the 1,000-year old paintings.
Enjoy!
this hot spring story reminds me of the one up into ojai, the sulphur hot spring. have you been there? we used to go all the time and bring our weed in an airtight container, usually joints. my friend would get everyone to put their hands up, to dry them out, she had a routine. we had shake them out and leave them out for about a minute. then as the joint was passing around if anyone put their hand back in the water they had to skip their turn until their hand was dry again! this was so stinky when you left you had to shower or the sulphur smell would stay in your hair, even after shampooing it 2.
Earth Child
