Roland Sturm: February 2021 Bikepacking in Santa Barbara Backcountry

This February, Europe and most of the US experienced an unusually cold month with some brutal storms. Even in Texas, not exactly a cold place at any time, some people died from hypothermia in their homes. In Southern California, however, temperatures were pleasant. Not one drop of rain yet in February either (and only 1 week left in February). Well, soon it'll be wildfires and heatwaves.

My last bikepacking trip in the Los Padres was in April 2020 and that week was too hot and water was already hard to find (one night was filtering from a stale pond). So now's the time to go out! And even though I have ridden through the Santa Barbara Backcountry many times on the Tour de Los Padres, I actually don't know it well because then it was at the end of a multi-day ride and I was ready to get home and didn't linger.

The best way into the backcountry is going up Romero road (which despite its name is a lovely trail), always fun although it is heavily used (in this case, maybe you pass somebody every 15 minutes or so, lots of dog walkers). It is a steady climb, but not very hard, a bit more than 1 1/2 hours with a loaded bike. The bottom 1/3 is somewhat steeper, the top 1/3 a bit rockier (mostly loose rocks that keep falling on the trail), the middle 1/3 is easy.

Romero Canyon Road, it is narrower than the name suggests, but wider and flatter than Romero Trail.

a bit rockier in the top 1/3

On top and now down into the backcountry

From Romero saddle, it drops down into the Santa Ynez valley. Santa Ynez is one of the largest rivers in the Central Coast, 150km long, supplies the water for Santa Barbara, Montecito, and other towns. Yet can dry out completely in the summer - or to my surprise even in February in this upper part.

I didn't see anybody for 24 hours after Romero saddle. That is probably different if the gates are open and cars are allowed on the Romero-Camuesa dirt road again. But now that area is closed with several gates, at least one of them is newer. The first one is at Romero saddle. Motorcycles could get through the top gate and down for a mile or so into into the Divide Peak OHV area. But there weren't any and past the Divide Peak turnoff, there was a tighter gate (you have to climb over it) and no motorized traffic beyond it. From here on it is quiet and empty.

Turnoff to the single track into Blue Canyon,
but I continue on the road, will get there later

I went down the road and turned towards Ojai first, along the Murietta-Juncal road. It is best done on a bicycle rather than hiking because it is a dirt road - very easy riding, tedious hiking. Jameson Lake is not really a lake (there are none around here), but a reservoir and inaccessible/fenced off. It is the first of several reservoirs on the Santa Ynez river (Gibraltar Reservoir and Lake Cachuma are the other two). I took a small side trip towards Alder camp and there was some flowing water, but I just stayed at the bottom. The trail towards Alder Camp (Franklin Canyon Trail) would only be good for hiking, not biking, but even hiking doesn't look that promising as it is very overgrown and also has poison oak. Anyway, staying on the road so far avoids scrapes, ticks, or poison oak - I'll collect those later. The views of Jameson Lake and canyon are nice, especially when crossing over Murietta Divide (I turned around there, didn't continue to Ojai).

Jameson Lake (showing clearly that this is the water supply for the coastal towns)

After getting back to the intersection of Romero-Camuesa and Juncal roads and a little uphill again, I turn right into Blue Canyon. It starts as a nice single track trail:

Beginning of Blue Canyon

But the trail quickly deteriorates: Overgrown, washouts, poison oak. Only a few miles before it meets the Romero trail coming from above, but those miles were slow and not fun and I was getting tired. Also collected all the scrapes and poison oak needed for a trip (no ticks, or maybe they got scraped off by the brush).

In Blue Canyon

Once it meets Romero, the trail is fine again. There are also a few nice campgrounds, even with fire rings, benches, and a shovel (to extinguish the fire). Those aren't marked on any maps I have. Now it was getting late in the afternoon.

One of the campsites I did not know about

I continued until Cottam camp and stayed there. Surprisingly, it was surrounded by flowing water and usually there is no water. And just as surprising, the big river around there where I usually find water (Santa Ynez) was completely dry.

In the morning, I connected back to the dirt road (5N33), past Mono Camp, and took a bath at Little Caliente Hot Springs. If 5N33 is open to cars again, there will be more people, but maybe that area stays closed for good. It has been 2 or 3 years already.

Then I took the dirt road back, very easy ride (unlike Blue Canyon the day before). I had filled up water before leaving camp. The hot springs are not a good place to get water (unless you love the sulphur taste) and the Santa Ynez River was dry (I've never seen it dry before). I suspected that the reservoir was holding back the flow. Strangely, as I get to the intersection of Juncal and Romero-Camuesa again (still below the reservoir), there was water in the Santa Ynez (yet further downstream the river bed was dry). Then up to the saddle and back down Romero to the car.