Camping, but Not Really
El Capitan Canyon — the great outdoors for pansies
Luckily, the developers who did buy El Capitan, Chuck Blitz and Roger Himovitz, were preservation advocates themselves. After building the new facilities, Himovitz and Blitz sold the rest of the acreage in 2002 to the Trust for Public Land (TPL), donating $2.5 million in land value by selling it at a loss, so that it could be added to El Capitan State Park. Later, Himovitz joined forces with TPL again to turn Texaco’s old oil access road into the Bill Wallace Trail, a 12-mile loop through El Capitan’s backcountry. Tina is one of the docents who leads guided tours along the trail. “It’s an unusual hike, easily accessible from the 101, but taking you deep into a vast native habitat,” she said. “We see bobcats and deer all the time. This is where the reintroduced condors live. There are mountain lions and black bear too. Sometimes we even find bear prints on the beach. That’s how connected everything is.”
Tina is also a surfer, and swears by the local beaches (although, true to surfing form, she will not divulge where the breaks are exactly). In addition to seasonal surf, she points out that most of the area falls into the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary. There’s great whale watching there during the humpback migrations in winter and spring, but Tina said that blue whales have started gathering in summer as well, sometimes as close as in coves just off El Capitan Beach.
For purists, Tina said, El Capitan is putting in a traditional campground on an old avocado orchard above the canyon. “It’s not quite the Eden that the canyon is,” Tina said as we toured that site. “But it has fire pits and RV hookups right on the coast, with a sweeping view, which is rare.” The only other ones in California are state beaches, where you sometimes have to book a year in advance. “Come to think of it, these will get booked pretty soon too. Better sign up soon!”?
El Capitan Canyon Campground, 11560 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, (805) 685-3887. Safari tents $145 per night, cabins range from $225 to $345 per night.
Not sold on the whole luxury-camping thing? Check out El Capitan Canyon’s sister property, Ocean Mesa Campground, next door for the more traditional pitch-it-yourself tent camping ($45) and RV sites ($85). 100 El Capitan Terrace Lane, Santa Barbara, (805) 879-5751.
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