I was reading the sports section of the OC Register the other day at work, as I always do to make time go by faster, and I happened to catch a write-up on the back page about the San Ysidro hiking trail up near Santa Barbara. From the description and pictures, I knew I had to go. Luckily for me, I was given a sweet three day weekend so I thought it might be fun to camp out somewhere up in Santa Barbara and see what the county had to offer since I had never been before. Apparently I wasn't the only one with the same idea because every single campground from LA to Santa Barbara was totally booked, so Morgan and I decided to go up for just the day.
The trail was a relatively easy hike and it was nothing short of beautiful thanks to the perfect weather and awesome scenery. Plenty of green plants and crystal clear water along the entire trail. Butterflies and dragonflies seemed to follow us around wherever we went. Other than a lizard with half a tail, we didn't really see any other wild life. We stopped about 10 minutes into our hike after finding a nice big rock to eat our sandwiches on near the moving stream. About an hour later, we found a small waterfall and natural pool off the trail and I took the opportunity to take a much-needed dip. It was painfully cold but refreshing to say the least. Although we ran into some other hikers and bikers along the way, I would say that it was a peaceful and quiet hike for the most part.
Surprisingly, one day was enough time to get a lot of things done although that's not to say that I wouldn't like to go back again. We hiked, took a nap on the beach, walked through a sidewalk boutique and picked up some good grub at The Endless Summer Bar Cafe in Santa Barbara Harbor. The Baja Chicken Sandwich and the Calamari was delicious.
Here are some pictures from the hike and harbor.
Tags: Santa Barbara, San Ysidro, Hiking, Nature, Fun
