The Santa Barbara 4WD Club joined the festive spirit of the Goleta Old Town Holiday Parade on Saturday, December 2, 2023. The parade attracted over 1400 participants and more than 70 entrants, including floats, bands, dancers, and of course, Santa Claus.
Our club members decorated their rigs with lights, garland, and Christmas-themed inflatables, creating a dazzling display of four-wheel drive vehicles. Some of the highlights were a Jeep Wrangler with a giant snowman on the roof, a Toyota Land Cruiser with a reindeer antler and a red nose, and a Ford Bronco with a sleigh full of presents in the back.
We had a fun evening joining in the holiday parade festivities, waving to the crowd, honking our horns, and spreading cheer along the traditional route on Hollister Avenue from Orange Avenue to Kinman Avenue. We also enjoyed seeing the other entries, such as the Rockin Double RC Ranch with their horses and wagons, the YARDI SYSTEMS float with a giant snow globe, and the SUMMER SKY dance group with their colorful costumes and choreography.
The Goleta Old Town Holiday Parade is a wonderful community event that celebrates the season and brings people together. We are proud to be a part of it and look forward to participating again next year. Thank you to our member Kirk who organized our club’s participation and the Greater Goleta Santa Barbara Lions Club for organizing this event.
The Santa Barbara 4-Wheel Drive Club again showed support for the City of Santa Barbara and the 99th Annual Fiesta Parade by participating in Friday’s main parade. We had 8 of our club members volunteering to pull the 8 major sponsored floats for the parade.
The Santa Barbara Fiesta parade is considered to be one of the largest equestrian events in the country and is one of the main fun activities for the community during Fiesta week. The parade is attended by thousands of families and tourists lining the Cabrillo parade route along the beach-front.
There were ornate horse-drawn carriages as well as approximately 500 horses in this year’s event. There were also mounted law enforcement officers, dignitaries from around the state, the fiesta Grand Marshal as well as our local Fire Department participating in the parade pulling their usual shenanigans by spraying down the crowd with water at the conclusion of the parade.
A few of our club members did an impromptu trip to Pismo State Beach Oceano Campground and Ocean Dunes OHV. Here’s a summary from Sebastian who coordinated the gathering
Saturday we went early had the place mostly for ourselves, we drove around for a couple of hours having a lot of fun
Mid morning or so Jerry and Linda showed up, we spend some time at our break room (we set up the easy up), they went to get a flag and we went to get some more sand. The way over to the drive area was super foggy, but it was clear on the dunes.
Linda getting the Jeep ready for Pismo“Base Camp” in Pismo
We drove around for another couple hours or so, got stuck twice!
Couple of learned lessons: air down to 15 (we were around 18), and take the hills and loose sand with a more speed. Lucky for us Jerry has a winch. The 2nd time we used a rope and that was good enough.
Jerry got to use his winchSebastian’s Xterra found some super soft sand
We headed to more compacted once we were mobile again, another Jeepster (new 4xe) joined the group, going around having fun for his first time (with his daughter), he said he got stuck once and some quad folks pushed him out.
For some weird reason he thought we knew our way and he followed us. In any case, we drove around some more, and made our way out towards the beach, avoiding the big hills and drops.
At that point we had enough, so we went to have lunch (and Margaritas). On the way out we saw one of the state park trucks stuck into a huge hole.
The beach area was taken a lot by the high tide. Lots of people around though. On the way out, we saw more emergency vehicles (including a giant tractor, maybe to pull the truck out)
Jerry and Linda drove home after that, we went to have a siesta at the trailer, for dinner we went to a local brewery. It was a lot of fun!
We spent two nights at a campground right at the entrance of the dunes, on Sunday morning we drove to Oso Flaco Lake for a walk around, then packed up and came back to SB.
Linda getting the Jeep ready for Pismo“Base Camp” in PismoJerry got to use his winchSebastian’s Xterra found some super soft sandCelebrating a successful day at Pismo
The Oleson’s hosted our annual club Summer BBQ event again and it was another great event. The weather was awesome up in Buellton that day and good times were had. Many thanks again to Art and Cory for working the grills!
For those of you that have done my Owens Valley runs I thought you might be interested in seeing what your camp site looks like this year. In the 50+ years I’ve been going there this only the second time I’ve seen water and never this much.
Calico, CA is a great place to go wheeling — plenty of mining history, mild to wild offroad terrain, and also the Calico Ghost Town within a few miles from camp. We had 5 rigs in total — Rob & Dorothy, Doug, Dick, Richard & Christina (and family), Bryan K. Everybody arrived Friday afternoon and evening before dark. It was a pretty mellow night but before sunset went and explored one of the nearby washes to west of camp. That night there was some sounds of thunderstorms and a bit of pitter patter rain.
Saturday was the main day for offroading. The original goal for the day was to complete the “Phillips Road Loop” which would lead us back to our camp where we started. There were some obstacles that were harder than expected, but we all stayed in 2Hi/4Hi most the day. The canyons around Calico are very cool, with varying rock formations, and LOTS of mines everywhere to explore (or drive you vehicle into by accident).
The first stop was at the Kramer Arch. This is natural rock/sand arch that can be driven under but is harder than others in the area — nobody decided to attempt it this trip. After that stop, we were lead into a very cool looking red rock canyon with high walls on both sides. That canyon and road after led us up to Bismark Mine. While at the Mine we spent some time exploring and got a group photo.
Group visiting Bismark Mine
From Bismark Mine we decided to finish the loop, which led us clockwise east and then south back towards camp. At least in it’s current condition, this loop is something that most/all 4WD could do as long as vehicle has decent ground clearance.
GPS Stats
11.7 mi Distance
3 hrs 35 min Total Time
2 hrs 17 min Moving Time
1 hrs 18 min Stopped Time
Well, the 2023 TDS Desert Safari week is over, and although not many of us made it, those that did had a blast!!
Here is the wrap-up:
Ken got there first on Wednesday afternoon followed by Steve and Trevor that evening and Renee arriving just before midnight. Paul got there Thursday afternoon and Austin and Dylan got to camp on Friday. Bryan Slattery showed up Friday night and wheeled with everybody Saturday and came back to Santa Barbara Saturday night. Bryan took some nice pictures and videos that he has shared on the club website.
The weather was great every day, T-shirts, and shorts once the sun warmed things up a bit.
There was a slight breeze every day, but almost unnoticeable, and the only time the wind came up was Saturday night, about 6 o’clock, but it wasn’t unbearable. The guys that left for a night run at about 8 o’clock that night, said that once they got into the back country, they couldn’t feel much of a wind at all.
For the most part, everybody’s wheeled together, mostly in the north part of the Truckhaven area…. Farther out into that northern area than we normally go. And according to Steve, they never even headed over to the Ocotillo area at all.
Steve, Trevor, Renee, Austin, and Dylan went on night runs Friday night and Saturday night…. Getting back to camp about three in the morning each night.
There were way fewer attendees to this TDS event week than normal, maybe even half as many, which made it really easy to get around and find areas where hardly anyone was.
The T-shirt vendor was set up in the store on the opposite side of S86 from the Am/Pm gas station. And although it was advertised that there would be about 50 vendors, there were only about 15 and those vendors weren’t very interesting according to our group.
Also, this year, the groups that were camped on either side of us the last couple years did not show up and the closest music was about a half a mile away, and they quit playing their music about 9 o’clock at night. So things were quite enjoyable from that perspective.
Our folks brought plenty of firewood and so the time to sitting around campfires was good. Also, good, was that nobody got hurt and everybody had fun. The only mishap was on Saturday night when Dylan attempted to climb the right hand side of the ash cliffs on the front side of telephone booth hill, and he ended up flopping his 4-Runner on its side. Due to where it was, it was almost impossible to get any proper winching points, and it was in such a position that in an attempt to winch it upright, it ended up rolling completely over. It broke out all the windows, and of course he’ll have to decide whether to rebuild it or take the goodies off it and put them on another rig. Again, and fortunately, he did not get hurt, and it was on the last night of the weekend, so he didn’t miss any wheeling and everybody got back to camp safely.
All in all a good time was had by everybody, and we hope that more people will join up next year for the fun!!
This was a solo “scouting” trip, so post written in first person by Brent C.
I spent a nice couple of nights at Carrizo Plains. It is still very much “winter season” there, but things are greening up nicely. I had to go in from the north off the 58 from San Luis Obispo since the 166 is still closed in multiple places, which added about 45 minutes to my travel time. Got there around 8pm Friday night and set up camp in ~40 degree weather and got a hearty dinner going…. (Danish sausages from Solvang)
I elected to stay at Selby Camp rather than attempt some of my more remote “disbursed” spots because I wasn’t sure about how muddy things would be (more on that below)
Woke up on Saturday morning to a brisk 38º but no wind at all. Went for a pre-dawn walk and got to see the sunrise from the top of a ridge.
The hillsides are starting to green up, and there are signs of wildflower plants, like the lupine, starting to emerge
Visited a couple of my favorite spots and saw that the brine shrimp are already hatching from the rains in a couple of spots where they only emerge every few years.
Soda Lake has a lot of water in it! I can’t remember ever seeing it this full…
Did some scouting in the Jeep on the Eastern (Elkhorn) side of the valley and came across a big badger about 80 yards from me. He did not care AT ALL about me! I wish I’d had a camera and telephoto lens – he was a big boy!
One thing about Carrizo Plain – the mud here can be TREACHEROUS. It’s one of the few places that scares me when it starts raining. I have been caught several times in the back country here in a downpour and immediately headed back to the main road, BARELY making it out. And if you get stuck out here in some spots no one is going to find you and it will be a 10+ mile walk back to find another vehicle.
There are two main roads that cross the plain – Simmler and Panorama (both just dirt roads). Both of them are submerged during heavy rains and the superfine clay is incredibly hard in the summer months, but has a legendary ability to swallow vehicles when wet. It’s the kind of stuff that looks like it has dried out, but then you venture onto it a few feet, break through the crust and are immediately stuck.
After exploring the far side of the plain I decided to see if I could save an hour on my trip back to camp by cutting across Panorama Rd. I headed down and got to about the middle when I saw a group of vehicles about 150 yards off in the distance. This time of year the area is popular with hunters from Bakersfield and central California, and I figured I’d go see if I could help if they were stuck, since I had all my recovery gear (including traction boards).
I put the Jeep in 4H, locked the rear axle, and turned off the traction control (I’d already aired down to about 18 psi). I continued onward at about 20 mph as the road became more and more deeply rutted and more and more wet. On either side of the road is the typical ground cover you find in the desert – low weeds and clumps of rabbit brush.
Within about 20 yards, I felt the Jeep bog down HARD – I immediately knew I was in trouble, as the killer when driving in mud is stopping – you stop and the vehicle settles into the mud and develops strong suction that is almost impossible to break. To get more horsepower I depressed the clutch, revving the engine to near redline and feathered it in and out enough to force a few feet of progress, but not allowing the engine to stall. I HAD to keep moving – stopping would mean being stuck! I could not stop and reverse because I knew I’d instantly be sucked into the mud. Intermittently revving the engine to 60000 rpms and fanning the clutch, I managed to pull a wide u-turn, cutting into the fresh ground on either side of the road and munching through the rabbit bush. I could smell burning clutch, see steam rising from the wet mud splattering the exhaust system, and smell the burning rabbit brush on the catalytic converter as I desperately tried to avoid stalling the engine and keeping momentum. Being in mud like that feels like a giant is holding on to you – you’re fighting to overcome immense forces. The “fresh” ground on either side of the road was even worse than the main road, so it was a tense battle for a minute or so until I got turned around.
I finally managed to make it back to terra firma and literally jumped out of the Jeep to calm my nerves and also to wave a “sorry, can’t help you” wave to the poor souls stuck in the muck. It reminded me of one of those terrible stories you hear where one person is in trouble and everyone that goes in to help befalls the same fate. I considered myself lucky for excaping without any damage other than a few year’s less life on my clutch…. lol
I went the long way around back to camp (north of the Soda Lake) and set about scraping the alkaline mud off the fenders and undercarriage as best as I could with a stick. I was probably carrying 500 lbs of mud!
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful with some relaxing at camp and soaking up some of the winter sunshine, and early dinner and a nice camp fire with a good book and a thick down jacket.
Sunday morning I woke to a cold and foggy morning with a 15mph gusty wind that told me weather was coming…. When the sun came up, it was obvious that something was brewing…
I decided to start packing things up before any rain started, so I skipped my morning hike and folded everything up, hoping for a little sunshine to dry things out…
On my drive out I stopped at a couple of spots to have a last look at the beauty of Carrizo Plain and some of the vestiges of life here in earlier years…
We left about 8AM Friday morning and got out Tuesday afternoon with a lot of hard driving in between. There was a lot of erosion in places and a lot of deep “whoop-de-doos”. I did it 3 times many years ago and we would not see a soul out there. Now lots of other vehicles and trails going every which way, making navigation very difficult. Kim did a great job keeping us on the correct trail, mainly using GAIA MAPS downloaded to a tablet with built-in GPS for moving map capability. It did not show one of the historic springs, but otherwise was very helpful.
We encountered the very steep hill with the deep spin-outs late in the day, so we took the bailout route. We were all tired by then. We had great campsites all 3 nights, however the second night was very cold! It was 36 F when I got up, so likely about 30 at 5 am.
The terrain included lots of deep sand, a few steep hills, some big rocks that washed down onto the trail at an alluvial fan crossing, two deep water crossings, and some deep erosion issues. But no problems!
By finishing Monday we beat the rain. But those of us who stayed to visit Calico “Ghost Town” had lots of wind (and maybe the others also) on the drive home. On the first full day of the trail we all stopped to visit Fort Piute, built in the mid 1800’s. It now has interpretive signs. We also did a hike at the end of the trail to see the scant remains of Camp Cady. It was very hard to find and not much was left, but two of us did find it, but only after a long search.
Under the promise of a full October Moon, Bryan F. led a group of about 10 vehicles along the trail from east to west. The trail is getting good usage by both vehicles and motorcycles. We did stop several times and chatted / snacked so it did take 4+ hours for the loop.
