Campbell Trail Revisited

Well, this was a mistake. The first time we hiked this abandoned trail east of Gaviota Peak on March 14 I vowed never to return conditions were so bad. This time we sort of got trapped after my grandiose project to hike down to the waterfall then up to the northern escarpment along a natural rock highway lost its allure up close and personal.

My scheme was to use Campbell Trail as access to the creek in the valley then follow this downstream till we could cut through to the fabulous stone slab near the falls. I imagined the creek as a pleasant open path through the brush but in reality the bed may have been open but the brush overhung so much both sides it was no better than flailing through the usual congealed chamise / manzanita / ceanothus chaparral characteristic of the area. A most effective barrier to human progress.

So here we were with significant skin in the game after tunneling through the remnants of Campbell Trail with two options: (i) reverse back out or (ii) forge on to explore more around the eastern end. We decided to press on with faint hope of sighting the alleged Chumash sites then pressing on to the beacon beaming secret code from Beacon Hill. We pressed on.

Chel was a good sport enduring this hike from hell crawling through choke points and fighting past clinging, scratchy brush ever inch of the way. Well, there were a few nice open spots but not enough to erase the pain. This time I remembered the proper exit at the eastern trailhead and we reconnected with the ridge road by 10:00 am. Fog blanketed both the ocean and Valley sides and was steadily rising with a nice cool breeze.

Now we tromped on to Beacon Hill but could not locate any trail to the summit a mere 60' above where the USGS topo indicated an alien transponder site. At least we got a nice view of the Overlook rocks we explored in Spring. Oh well, time to head back on weary legs riding the ridge roller coaster.