Camptastic Times at Refugio State Beach

The Adventure Brigade was gathered. Dave at the front of the van on his usual precipice presiding over his kingdom of the interior. Sam navigating and DJing in the copilot seat. Me driving (and sometimes praying we’d make it up some hills).

Our trip to the Santa Barbara hot springs began better than my recent trips. Sam and I had planned this as a romantic getaway. “To the getaway van, Safari Sam!” We departed LA with a full tank of gas, a motorcycle, camp gear and high energy. We stopped for dinner at the Los Angeles famous Neptune’s Net. It was definitely not like I remembered it. Prices were reasonable and we enjoyed a beer while having calamari, fries and scallops to a live guitar blues player. Sunset made the whole scene surreal and we were off to a great start! The sun went down as we pulled out of the parking lot.

Arriving in Santa Barbara, we exited the freeway and began the now slow paced climb up Gibraltar road past the multi-million dollar homes we wouldn’t want to have (they are so far away from everything that if you forget milk, it’s a big deal). Cruising along East Camino Cielo, we had gorgeous views of downtown Santa Barbara from the ridge. We stopped at the water tower next to multiple empty cars. It was actually pretty creepy seeing so many cars with nobody in them. We at least expected to hear giggles or some giggity actions! I felt let down. =)

Sam practiced some photos of the downtown lights, but then focused her attention to the dark. She took a long exposure photo of some trees with the area lighting of Ventura/Los Angeles lighting up the sky in orange and purple and a few stars. While it may not sound exciting, check out the photo! 

Yea…she was jumping up and down she was so excited!

We cruised down to the dirt road of the hot springs and began our descent. The first thing we noticed was how smooth the road was! It became apparent that a grader had recently run the road. I wasn’t going to complain in the Westy! That is until we came to the ROAD CLOSED gate halfway down the trail….

Apparently we should have called to check road conditions before driving all the way up the mountain! I found out Monday that the road was closed due to two foot deep ruts from all the rain they got the last week! Part of wanting to head up was because of the rain making the rivers and the dam flow heavily! Oh well, in true Adventure Brigade spirit, we weren’t going to stop now! Another car creeped up to where we were examining an area map. A couple guys got out and I called out to them asking if they knew what was going on. Nope. One was kind of drunk which was semi entertaining. We showed them on the map where we were and how this was the only driveable road in which was now blocked. They decided to camp on the road past the sign for the night…I wonder if the Ranger found them?

Continuing on, we backtracked East Camino Cielo and decided to take it all the way to the 154 highway to head over to Los Osos campsites near Lake Cachuma. I had been there once before and we had the map so off we went! It was now about 10:45pm. At about 11:45am, we reached highway 154. Thinking about it now, that road is SO windy that it would probably….no definitely faster to go back to the freeway and head north to the 154 highway and go up.

We drove to the end of the road leading to Los Osos up until we reached the river crossing. ROAD CLOSED. “ARE FREAKING KIDDING US?!?!?!” I groaned and Sam kept the enthusiasm up. We had passed a few campgrounds on the way in so let’s head back to those. We popped into the day use area and found another vanagon camping there but decided to keep moving. The parking lot turned into a maze and around in circles we went. Dim 1986 headlights didn’t help, hahahaha. I’ll bet that van guy thought we were nuts or drunk!

Pulling into Paradise campground, it was NOT paradise. Someone had pulled in 5 minutes before us and had literally gotten the LAST SPOT! WTF! The campground host approached us, seemingly unhappy.

Me: “Hi there, are there any sites left?”

Host: “You guys might want to be careful.”

Me: “What?”

Host: “People driving around at night are scaring some people up here…”

Me: “Uhhh, OK. Any spots left?”

Host: “You shoulda been here 5 minutes ago. That guy right there got the last spot. You guys should be careful driving around here at night.”

OK, so we don’t know what this guy’s weird deal was, but he had obviously been in the woods too long OR there were some psychos staying at the campground with guns or something…it was just weird. We bailed and headed back out to the 154. The host had said there was primitive camping about 12 miles up the road at Figueroa. We headed north and eventually came up on the intersection which would then actually begin the 12 miles in. Considering our luck, we decided it would be best to head back to Lake Cachuma Recreation Area. We cruised back and at 2:00am pulled into the campground. We simply parked in the parking lot, popped the top, had a snack and went to bed.

Saturday, 9am

We awoke to blue skies. Groggily we closed up the van and cruised out of the parking lot before someone wanted to make us pay for a night’s stay. We didn’t use a campsite, a fire ring or even the bathroom so we felt it was okay to move on. We decided to try Refugio State Beach north of Isla Vista. Arriving on site, the host was super nice. He circled two open spots on the map and let us go check them out. Spot #2 was tucked in a corner near the railroad tracks behind monstrous 40foot RVs running generators. No thanks.

Spot #20 was the second row back from the closest to the beach. It was on the end so we only had 1 neighbor. Nice. We bolted back to the host and paid our dues. It had taken us from 5:30pm on Friday night to find a suitable weekend campsite and although we wanted something more remote, we couldn’t have asked for a better location. We sizzled up some bacon and had delicious Kodiak flapjacks which Sam’s mom, Vickie, had sent back with us from our last visit. 

The mist hadn’t begun yet. It was cloudy and the campground was wet, so we unloaded the moto, attached the awning and set ourselves up for weather just in case. Good thing because shortly thereafter it began to mist heavily drenching everything. We were comfortable under the awning in our chairs, but we realized that these sites didn’t have barbecues! We had a tri tip to bbq, dangit! We explored the campsites and walked the mini trail loops of the cliffs. We watched some surfers do their thing and played on railroad tracks. 

Getting back to camp, it was moto time!

We geared up and knew we were going to get wet. Correction, since I’m up front, I’M getting wet and Sam stayed dry…but I had a happy Sam and we cruised into Isla Vista to get a mini bbq from Target. We ended up with one of those notebook grills from BBQ Pro. Let me just say that it’s pretty sweet! We stopped and had enormous sushi rolls in IV before heading back to basecamp. The weather was warmer and dry in IV, but we returned to wetter colder weather at camp. No fear! We busted out the Mr. Heater in the van and in 5 minutes, Sam was toasty inside as I played with the new bbq toy.

 The misting let up and we jumped back on the motorcycle and jammed up the road behind Refugio campsites into the canyon. Sam got great photos!

 

Of course it was now the late afternoon….it was, for all intensive purposes, raining…we had beer. So the keys got put away and the fun began! Bob Marley, Dirty Heads and Van Halen drowned out the noise of generators from the RVers. Tri tip soon seared over hot coals on our new nifty grill while bacon macaroni and cheese boiled to perfection inside the van. For those of you who think cooking in the van isn’t great, I disagree. It’s the most convenient thing ever! Washing dishes inside – phenomenal. What makes it work are the size of your dishes. If everything is small enough (standard paper plate sized plastic dishes) it all fits neatly in the sink. 

Full of tri tip and mac…..and beer, we lit the fire pit. By now it was quiet hours and we enjoyed the sounds of crackling wood, waves crashing in the distance and the general quiet of nature. Peaceful.

Sunday 9:30am

I awoke in the van to vibrant blue skies, however at that moment in time it was DEFINITELY too bright (if ya know what I mean). Gathering myself, I courageously went back to bed. Sam was in no better shape. It was definitely destined to be a slow morning. A few cups of coffee, bacon and flapjacks cured everything and we began planning our day by not making a plan.

I don’t know what those RVers are doing inside their campers, but many of them ran a generator ALL DAY. Wtf…I had two house batteries and lasted all weekend without starting the van once. One guy had a generator to power a coffee maker and a crock pot. I had a French press and pot/stove. Oh well.

The sun blasted from the sky and we walked the beach. Sam took photos…probably up to 250 at this point as I strolled along enjoying watching her develop her new hobby. Dave was a lazy and stayed in the van. Around the noon checkout time, we threw everything haphazardly in the van and moved to the beach parking lot. The day wasn’t over and we didn’t want to come home! We set up our chairs on the beach with a beer, cheese, bread, salami and some chips for lunch. Not bad for vacation!

After thoroughly baking (I am the color of Dave now and trying to drown in Aloe), we picked up our beach picnic and began hiking the other side of the beach we hadn’t explored. 

 On the way, someone’s kid came up to their parents:

“The girls are gone.”

Parent: “What?!?”

“Their bikes are at the campground but I don’t know where they are!”

Then the word kidnap was used…A small panic, but the parents stayed calm and I think had the same idea that went through my head. This idea ended up being true. The two little girls had ditched their bikes and walked down the beach out of site. Needless to say, the father was politely upset with them, but handled it all very well.

Sam got great photos, we found beach caverns and caves and even some small tidepools! 

Returning to the van, we sadly reorganized and prepped for the drive home. Of course, not before some delicious Freeb!rd’s nachos in Isla Vista. Best nachos in Santa Barbara and so far anywhere else. Nachos were followed up by bin candy and a leisure drive home.

-          The Adventure Brigade

Garrett, Sam and Crazy Dave the lobster

--