At the end of May, a team of volunteers from AppFolio—a property management software company headquartered in Goleta—joined us on a cleanup hike at “the Playground” in the Santa Ynez Mountains just north of town. We had quite the snake- and wildflower-filled adventure!
Upon arriving to the popular climbing area in the Los Padres National Forest, the team started their descent into the maze-like boulderfield. Nearly immediately we heard that unmistakable sound—a rattlesnake was nearby.
The group had just received a safety talk in part about what to do when encountering a rattlesnake without being able to see it: they stopped and located the snake before safely retreating to give it plenty of space. This particular Southern Pacific rattlesnake was enjoying some shade in a coast live oak overhanging a boulder.
Luckily, the snake gave us plenty of warning and we were able to safely move past it. From there the team focused on cleaning up microtrash around the area. They even made it to the long slot canyon sometimes called “the Narrows” by visitors! Along the way, volunteers were able to see a variety of wildflowers: chamise, sticky monkeyflower, blue dicks, peak rush-rose, yerba santa, bush poppy, sticky snapdragon, pitcher sage, black sage, dudleya, and deerweed.
Naturally, the team encountered the same rattlesnake on the way back. It had moved right onto the trail, but the snake casually slithered off into the chaparral to let us pass. A large, easygoing gopher snake watched us patiently just a few feet away as well.
We’re excited to report that after finishing up, we only found approximately 20 pounds of microtrash at the site. This is much less than we found at last year’s cleanup. Thank you to all who visit the area and practice Leave No Trace ethics.
We greatly appreciate the hard work of these volunteers! Thanks to everyone who participated. And thanks to UCSB Coastal Fund for providing supplies for our cleanup efforts in the Santa Barbara Frontcountry as well as the stipend for our intern who helped with this project.
See below for more photos.
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