California Swimming Holes: Red Rocks of Santa Barbara Part One

Filed in archive on July 19, 2006

Now a week or so before leaving for High Sierra, I tried out one of the old classic swimming holes from my college days at UCSB. It had been possibly ten, eleven, maybe even twelve years since I had driven out Paradise Road in the Santa Ynez Mountain range close to the town of Santa Barbara.

Well, of course I chose a weekend, and I chose to go on the hottest day of the summer thus far, and I chose to go when it was a graduation and end of school year kind of celebration day. Bad call.

By the time I drove out to the first river crossing and waited behind a long line of cars in the burning heat, my patience was already wearing thin. People, people - everywhere! I never remember there being more than a handful of people along the five mile plus road out to the trailhead, nor were there more than a couple of other groups actually swimming at Red Rocks during the few times that I had gone there in the past.

This time it was like being in Michoacan. There were Latino families everywhere! All along the side of the road, in the river, in the shade doing massive BBQs, it was astounding to see the sheer number. There had to be more than several hundred people between the gate entrance and the trailhead!




Well, I went this far, I was going to jump off those rocks into that cool Santa Ynez river water despite the raucous crowds and less than tranquil natural setting. I passed two groups of five or more young kids on there way out to Gok Rock, the oddly-named, ominous stack of rocks that formed a massive perch above the swimming hole.

How many people have broken their necks here? I heard the paramedic just say: 'Oh, bleep, Red Rocks again?' How high up is that jumping spot, anyway?

Some of the bits of conversation that drifted into my ears as I trudged past the youngsters, wondering myself if I was going to be launching off the top rock or not? Not. At 34, although not retired from the art of blasting off twenty-foot cornices, and dropping in on 14-foot waves, I am officially retired from hazardous eighty-foot cliff jumps into tiny little swimming holes.

Red Rocks is not exactly the safest of spots to be a daredevil. Judging from this picture, this seventeen-year old (who's Mom probably had no idea he was doing this) who is taking the leap of faith is going to land . . . ON TOP OF THE ONLOOKERS!

ER Harris