Old Stage Coach Routes

Landscape view from Stage Coach Road

My neighbor Steve and I went looking for Slippery Rock on the old San Marcos Pass stagecoach road. It’s on a steep sandstone ridge. We both hike the trail that leads towards slippery rock but we usually turn off for a viewpoint and head home for our exercise. The rest of the trail leaves the high point and this time we dipped back away from the vista above Goleta and headed towards the mountain. We immediately disappeared into the chaparral as the chamise and sage closed in behind us.

Aromatic black sage and the occasional pitcher sage scented the air and my cargo pants as they brushed through the foliage. I stepped carefully around the red leaves of the poison oak hoping to avoid a case of trail rash. Next stop on the trail was a small opening the kids in the neighborhood call the Menehune gardens as the mosses and ferns grow so small, leaving a small opening among the surrounding oaks and chaparral. I knew the trail continued, but where? I stepped through the wild giant rye and saw only a large boulder. After finding no other leads I stepped up on the boulder and located the next lead through the brush. The trail meandered over the ridges and through arroyos including one with running water and a pair of dippers slipping treats from the water in the dark shadows under the sycamores.

Fossilized Oyster Bed in Outcroop

Old Stage Coach Road 

Fossils

For a mile we wended tightly around individual sages, and larger toyons and searched for barren ground that might be the trail. Some leads dead ended and several turns required intuition about the right direction to search. We turned onto the stagecoach road with its wider bed evident, though the brush covers the majority of the width. Instead of the crash and burn grade of the previous section, this was more gentle and easier to follow. We stopped to examine large outcroppings bearing oysters from fossilized seabeds exposed throughout the Santa Ynez range. The large sandstone formation at about 1200 feet elevation looked familiar and I turned left towards the section that seemed headed downhill towards Fairview Avenue in Goleta, the head for the mountain road.

Interesting Grooves

I have been to Slippery Rock a couple times in the distant past so I was surprised when we arrived, so little of the chiseled artifacts were left. There had been deep gouges where steel rimmed wheels bit deep into the sandstone leaving a reverse railway deep in the rock. I saw an edge along one side and some of the chiseled, horizontal grooves used by the horses to grip on the slippery rock. Even those marks were much diminished by erosion or were covered by debris carried in the decades with el niño rains.

After I wrote this, I sat and tried to better recall what I’d seen in the past on my two visits to Slippery Rock.

This can't be right, I thought.

Horizontal Grooves for Equine Traction on Sandstone

I convinced myself of my logic when we were there on the old road, but now I thought how deeply those ruts were etched in the stone, that surely would last out the next century. I brought to mind old photos from 30 years ago. I imagined a long, fruitless search of our house when I decided an Internet search might be more efficient for producing images of what it had been.

I found photos from Jack Elliott’s blog (http://yankeebarbareno.com/2012/09/05/slippery-rock-stagecoach-road-19th-century/) that show a different place than where we were and another by John Wiley (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jw4pix/5217501222/in/photostream/lightbox/) that shows the area from the air. I saw we were one ridge from the Slippery Rock site. How frustrating to be so close and miss the goal after a difficult journey pushing through chaparral. It was also embarrassing that I mistook quite a different area for the one I knew from years ago.

Although only two miles each way, the rugged trail trips through mature deer weed and mustard tangles, and much steep terrain overgrown on an indefinite trail. Way finding required to stay course was considerable until we located the old road with its broader shoulders over half way to the site. It seems a bit daunting to run back to look at the actual site even though it will add but a thousand feet to the trip.

What did we see if not the Slippery Rock? Probably an alternate road with enough handiwork to fool me to think we were at the site I was seeking. Too many years had passed and though it seemed strange the marks had been erased, I thought it possible.

More of the Eroded Road

In Walker Thompkins book, Stagecoach Days, I learned sections of the stagecoach roads on San Marcos Pass were readily abandoned when better alternative were found or when conflict with property owners escalated to intolerable levels. There are several old roads hidden in the brush that were used one time or another. The section of road we explored was likely one of those alternate routes from the early days in the 1860s that proved too difficult with the steep and soft approach coming up to firmer rock where we found the smaller quantity of artifacts than at Slippery Rock.

Looking for Clues

Our return to the trailhead was more difficult, going uphill as the day warmed. We located better routes that make for more sure footing and we broke through the brush with more confidence, as we were certain of the trail and could use our boot prints for reassurance. Even so, our speed was a paltry 1.3 MPH according to my GPS calculator and my shirt was drenched despite the temperature being less than 70°F.

Will I return to see the real Slipper Rock? It seems imperative to save my reputation. Now I have to convince someone new to go along. My neighbor has had enough and the reward is too meager.

And finally, a couple of backyard beauties that are sorta natives.

Coyote Mint

Pink Buckwheat