Los Padres Nat'l Forest - Santa Ynez River & Snyder Trail

[billie_morini]

Roxy Ridgeback and I made our annual post-winter water level in the Santa Ynez River. The area we visit in the Santa Ynez Mountains within the Los Padres National Forest. Wikipedia says the Santa Ynez River is is 92 miles (148 km) long, flows east to west through the Santa Ynez Valley, and reaches the Pacific Ocean at Surf, California (near Vandenberg Air Force Base and the City of Lompoc). Much of the year, the river bed is dry. In many areas, the river is a "losing stream channel." This means water seeps through and below the bed rather than coursing downstream. This year, the water level was exceptional. The water quality is very high. It's clear, cool, and relatively pure.

The first photo is looking upstream (East). The second photo is looking downstream (West).

[billie_morini]

Here's a couple more photos downstream of the first photo location.

[billie_morini]

We backtracked to the southern trail head for the Snyder Trail. We set out to find Spring wildflowers. This is the best blooming year in Central and Southern California in about 10 years.

[billie_morini]

More wildflowers...

[billie_morini]

Still more wildflowers...

[billie_morini]

One more wildflower before some majestic mountain shots. Don't know why it displays sideways.

[billie_morini]

A few views of the surrounding mountains. Roxy had a blast and so did I!

[jaffa1949]

Steep hillside!

[BoMan]

It's great to see the landscape so green!

[surf patrol]

Beautiful countryside