From Fire To Flower In Rattlesnake Canyon

On May 5th two years ago, during an unusual heat spell, a small wildfire was lit in the dry hills above Santa Barbara. Fanned by "sundowner winds", it quickly grew to consume 8,733 acres, destroying 80 homes and injuring several of the valiant firefighters who fought to keep the wall of flames from decimating our historic town. There was one terrifying night when the entire town north of State Street was blocked off by the fire department and it looked like they were going to lose the battle. (read about it here) Miraculously, the wind shifted and our town was saved. But, the charred remains of people's lives and our wilderness areas have taken a long time to heal.

Deer Weed

I had the opportunity to see the miracle of Nature's regeneration on a hike with a docent from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. (calendar) Our docent, Carol, was a physician before retiring; she combined her science background with a passion for plants and volunteers to share her knowledge. As she pointed out the various plants along the hike, reciting both their common and Latin names, I thought to myself that she was a great example of why we should honor older women as the keeper of wisdom. Also in our group was a survivor of the wildfire, Nancy, who lost her home to the Jesusita conflagration and has been living in their barn while planning the rebuilding of their house. Another multi-faceted woman, she rescues wildlife in addition to her career in dental hygiene and was able to give us the human perspective on the impact of the Jesusita fire. She said that though she would never want to go through such a traumatic event again, she found some positives in the process of rebuilding that underscored the recognition that what is important in life are friends and family, not possessions.

Along our route, we could see the blackened branches of trees and shrubs reaching twisted arms to the sky--in the center the green foliage of new growth, a testament to the resilience of the native chaparral. Chaparral is an biome of dwarf trees growing in a drought-prone environment. Carol explained the name chaparral comes from the Spanish word "chaparro" meaning "short and stubby" because the trees and shrubs are lower than a forest. Chaparral plants have small, hard leaves to retain moisture, such as coastal live oak or yucca, or they have tough, water-retaining outer skins, such as cacti, or they have adapted to low moisture conditions by producing smaller leaves with smaller pores so moisture is not lost. It's amazing to see plants, especially flowers, growing out of ground that looks bone dry.

Historic Wagon Road

Among the many things I learned on the hike: Deer Weed changes color when it is fertilized; Rattlesnake Canyon is thus named because its windy shape--not due to a quantity of snakes; the trail was maintained for years by a wealthy New York transplant named Ray Skofield--whose son donated the land for the nearby Skofield Park; part of the trail follows the old wagon road (this photo)--though it's difficult to imagine an old-fashioned wagon making its way up such a steep and rocky course; and that the creek was part of the extensive waterworks developed by Spanish missionaries using conscripted Chumash labor.

Indian Dam

It's difficult to see in this photo (taken with my iphone and overexposed in the sunny area) but this is Indian Dam, built in 1807. You can barely see the rocks of the dam on the left of the waterfall  which is spilling through a gap in the dam. The Spanish built the gravity-propelled aqueduct system to water their crops, vineyards and orchards and supply the Mission with potable water. The creek from Rattlesnake Canyon merged with Mission Canyon and the water was funneled with an aquaduct to storage near the Mission grounds. One can walk around the park adjacent to the old Mission and see the ruins of the aqueduct, a mill, tanning vats, a jail and water storage facilities.

Being an unrepentant foodie, I  shocked the rest of the group by nibbling on elderberries we found along our hike which tasted tannic and not very sweet, the rye grass, sheep sorrel, and Indian lettuce (not recommended due to its fuzziness). I came home and made a beautiful salad with many things from my garden and wanted to share this photo.