DAY 84: CARPINTERIA BLUFFS AND HARBOR SEALS LOOP TO RINCOLN BEACH

DAY 84: CARPINTERIA BLUFFS AND HARBOR SEALS LOOP TO RINCOLN BEACH

Date: Sunday February 6, 2011

Miles: 5.0

Elevation Gain:  75 Feet

Time: 2.5 Hours

Difficulty: Easy, fun for kids but leave the dog at home.  Good for cross country running

Reward: Harbor Seals birthing their babies from December to May
Description: Visit the Harbor Seal Sanctuary.  When you are done, walk along the beach and loop back along the train tracks.

Where: Carpinteria, CA

Directions: From the 101 Freeway in Ventura, drive North toward Santa Barbara.  Exit on Bailard Road in Carpinteria and turn left toward the beach.  The road ends at the parking lot for the bluffs.

Take the trail toward the Ocean

Turn right at the fence

Cross the train tracks and go right, the lookout will be on the left.

Pelicans often hang out on the beach and will take the leftovers from the vultures eating dead seals.  The seals congregate at this sanctuary because it's protected.  I was informed that a small dog ran down the hill yesterday and all of the seals scattered into the ocean.  The seals did not return for over 18 hours because they are skittish by nature.  A baby seal was born that day and did not survive the excitement.  I'm told that the owners of the dog are being prosecuted.  

  Two-day old baby with his mom

After awhile, we turned around and then went down to the beach.

You are not allowed to walk the beach to the protected area.

 A Sand Castle of a Dog?

 Looking back on the beach walk

 Dinner!

 On the 1.5 mile stretch, at least one person did not abide to this posting!

 We hiked to Rincoln Beach and turned left in the parking lot.

There is an upper trail; hop the gate and head back.

 The trail will merge with the train track.

For the most part you won't have to trek on the track; unless you want to :)

 A local resident

The tracks and side trail lead back to the crossing that we made two hours earlier.  On day 40, I took Ayden to this spot and saw the same heroin in the above picture.  This was during the time that I was not uploading pictures to the blog http://calihike.blogspot.com/2010/12/day-40-carpinteria-bluffs.html.  I did post pictures on Facebook and this bird does appear in my December video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWcS2kgaC9k  

Rather than heading back to the car, we took the fine dirt trail to the right.  This path lasted about a half mile to the Lois Sidenberg Coastal Overlook.

 

We then completed the course by rounding the fine dirt trail around two baseball fields.  This leads out to the parking lot and we called it a day.  The path did continue forward but Ayden and I did walk the latter portion of the path on day 40.  Remember, it only makes since to explore this region from December to May because the beach isn't closed off during that time and the seals refuse to hang out with humans.  In my opinion, this beach should be permanently closed!  

**MY 84 DAY SUMMARY:  289.25 Miles  +44,550 Feet**