Hiking & Backpacking Santa Barbara & Ventura: A Complete Guide to the Trails of the Southern Los Padres National Forest

Named for the Spanish padres who established a network of missions along California's southern and central coasts, the Los Padres National Forest is the second-largest National Forest in the state, encompassing approximately 1,950,000 acres -- nearly half of which is federally-designated wilderness.

Hiking and Backpacking Santa Barbara and Ventura fills a huge gap in coverage of this great hiking and backpacking destination, leading the reader through the varied terrain of the forest's southern districts, from the fern-clad grottoes of the Santa Barbara frontcountry to the sweeping vistas and granite-clad ridges of the Chumash Wilderness.

No other guide covers the region in such detail, and not since Dennis Gagnon's near-legendary guides in the 70s and 80s has the Santa Barbara (and Ventura) backcountry been given the guidebook treatment ... but this book goes even further. Every official trail (and many use trails) in the Santa Barbara, Ojai, and Mt. Pi os districts are covered here, including those in the southern San Rafael Wilderness, Dick Smith Wilderness, Matilija Wilderness, Sespe Wilderness, Chumash Wilderness, the Santa Ynez Recreation Area, Rose Valley, the Santa Barbara and Montecito frontcountry, the Ojai frontcountry, and the Santa Paula/Fillmore frontcountry.

Bitten by the trail bug the moment his parents strapped a little Kelty frame pack to his six-year-old shoulders and led him across a stretch of the El Dorado National Forest, Craig R. Carey grew up hiking and backpacking the trails of the southern Los Padres (with ＂side-trips＂ across the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand).

An active scout leader and rugby follower, Craig holds a BA in History from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His work has appeared in Wilderness New Zealand, Islands, Hooked on the Outdoors, Rugby, The Green, and New Zealand Adventure.