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YRE 876 "Santa Barbara Year Round 10K Walk"
Santa Barbara is not a national heritage walk or a state capitol walk. So what am I doing here? One word: Patch! So many west coast walks offer no awards. I usually make up for it by buying patches or hatpin souvenirs elsewhere -- which is especially easy at national parks. But the folks at the Central Coast Peregrine Pathfinders offer patches for all their YREs. If I'd had time I would have done all five of their walks, but I didn't, so Santa Barbara had to do. Besides, it was a convenient stop over point between Tucson and Sacramento.
As it happened, this is a lovely walk, a quintessential California beach town walk. Most of the route is along the ocean, including a long stroll down a long pier. The day was, naturally, gorgeous and not too warm. The soothing ambience was good because by this portion of my trip I was awfully sore and needed all the help I could get.
Santa Barbara, with its surrounding hills, is one beautiful spot on Earth, no doubt explaining the extravagant housing prices. My walk along the beach ended when the route curved inward and went through a wetlands reserve, which was equally stunning. This was an out-and-back route so I got to see the same terrain again on my way back to the start point. I didn't mind at all.
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