Get Outside - Winter/Spring 2024

THE CENTRAL COAST GUIDE TO EVERYTHING OUTSIDE

Winter/Spring 2024

Federal, state, and local agencies ramp up efforts to protect communities, prevent catastrophic fires in the wildland-urban interface [28]

BY TAYLOR O’CONNOR

FEATURES

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Contents

WINTER/SPRING 2024

Year-round recreation

W

ildfires and wild storms are California’s new norm.

We prep for these events and then we rebuild after they’re over. In this issue, we’re focusing on how our public land is being managed to prevent catastrophic wildfires from sweeping away acres of flora and fauna and the communities that exist within those spaces. We also head out to a local freshwater lake among the sand dunes, a wolf sanctuary in Paso Robles, and the landslides in Big Sur that so often close Highway 1. You can read about how to zip line across the Central Coast, where to get your hiking legs back, how to enjoy fresh oysters, and a new used-gear shop built just for you. This issue is full of the things that winter weather makes you yearn for, so we hope you’re ready to get outside!

Camillia Lanham editor

ON THE COVER Fire mitigation efforts are ramping up across the state, including in Los Padres National Forest, which is conducting prescribed burns as part of that work. cover design by Alex Zuniga • cover photo courtesy of Cal Fire

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Features

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Fighting fire Zip-lining Paso’s wolf sanctuary Highway 1 landslides

28 38 44 50

Gear Hub

The Switchback Bike shops near you

56 58

GO Business Directory

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Winter/Spring 2024

THE CENTRAL COAST GUIDE TO EVERYTHING OUTSIDE

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Publishers Bob Rucker Alex Zuniga Editor Camillia Lanham Associate Editor Andrea Rooks Contributors Taylor O’Connor Glen Starkey Adrian Rosas Caleb Wiseblood

Samantha Herrera Ben Purper Photographer Jayson Mellom Graphic Designers Eva Lipson Mary Grace Flaus Ellen Fukumoto Danielle Ponce Advertising Katy Gray Kimberly Rosa

Lee Ann Vermeulen Andrea McVay Business office Cindy Rucker Michael Antonette Michael Gould Get Outside is published and distributed throughout Northern Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County twice a year.

1010 Marsh St. San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (805) 546-8208 www.newtimesslo.com Get Outside © 2024 A New Times publication

M O D E R N • C L A S S I C • J E W E L R Y

11 2 8

G A R D E N

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L U I S

O B I S P O

W W W . B A X T E R M O E R M A N . C O M

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 5

Trailblazing

The

skinny bear Oso Flaco Lake is a scenic spot with a dark legend PHOTOS AND STORY BY BENJAMIN PURPER

W

hen you think of the best Central Coast trails, a few key areas probably come to mind: the dramatic views of Big Sur, the high hills of San Luis Obispo, or the coastal climbs around Avila Beach. But my personal favorite is tucked away on the coast west of Nipomo: the Oso Flaco Lake Trail. It’s got everything: a richly biodiverse lake, rolling sand dunes, and a world-class beach.

It’s also got a fascinating history. Oso Flaco is Spanish for “skinny bear,” referring to a gruesome legend the lake is named after. As the story goes, Spanish explorers arrived at

the lake in 1769 and shot a bear they spotted on the lake’s shore.

The bear was sickly, but they ate it anyway, and several men died the following day. The Chumash residents of the area had apparently poisoned the bear to prevent it from competing for their food supply, and that sickness passed on to the Spaniards.

Dark legends aside, the familyfriendly Oso Flaco Lake Trail is a fun, gorgeous, and easy trail for anyone looking to get outside.

It’s 2 miles round-trip, fairly flat, and takes less than an hour if you don’t stop to look around—but with incredible views like this, why wouldn’t you?

6 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

The woods

Located off Highway 1, the 800acre day use area designated for hiking, fi shing, bird watching, and other nonmotorized uses is part of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Complex operated by California State Parks. Once you arrive at the parking lot and enter through the trail, you won’t see any water or sand just yet—you’ll walk for about 10 minutes along a paved road lined by trees. It’s a dramatic introduction to the trail, full of willow and myrtle trees rustling with small animals.

But watch out: there’s also lots of poison oak.

Eventually, you’ll reach a

crossroads. You’ll see water on either side, with a “Beach Access” sign on your left at the entrance to a wooden boardwalk. If the boardwalk is closed or you’d rather skip it, you can keep going on the path you’re on and meet up with the trail again later. But trust me—it’s not a view you’ll want to miss.

The boardwalk

The wooden boardwalk stretches out over Oso Flaco Lake, allowing you to stroll over the water’s surface.

It’s a great vantage point to see birds like great blue herons and cormorants up close.

OSO FLACO LAKE continued page 8

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Trailblazing

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OSO FLACO LAKE from page 6 It’s small compared to other Central Coast lakes like Lopez or Nacimiento, and you can see virtually all of it from the boardwalk.

You’ll also start to see sand dunes in this area but the view from the lake is just the beginning.

The dunes

The boardwalk continues, winding through ever-changing sand dunes. With a wooden trail underfoot, you’ll follow a path lined by sandy hills full of coastal shrubbery. There’s no incline here, but the boards can be uneven, so

take caution. You’ll catch glimpses of the vast dunes system to your right, and you may even hear the growl of all-terrain vehicles speeding around the sand.

Informational signs dot the trail and are great opportunities to read about local flora and fauna.

There’s also a resting area with a public restroom not too far away, if you’re needing one at this point.

Whatever you do, don’t give up and turn back—arguably the best part of the trail is still ahead of you.

The coast

At the end of the wooden

8 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

path, the trail will give you your ultimate reward: a beach stretching as far as the eye can see. You can either head left to a scenic viewing area at the top of a nearby sand dune, or you can take off your shoes and walk straight through the sand until you hit the water. The Oceano Dunes will be to your right, with the GuadalupeNipomo Dunes to your left. The shoreline is frequently dotted with Western snowy plovers and other shorebirds, further cementing this trail as a birdwatcher’s paradise.

Sunset at the beach is particularly mesmerizing, but be

warned: The trail closes at night and isn’t lit, which can make for a dark and scary walk back through the wooded trail. So be safe, have fun, and remember: If you see a skinny bear wandering around the lake, don’t eat it!

Get there

Oso Flaco Lake is located about 6.5 miles south of Oceano off Highway 1. At the Oso Flaco Lake road junction, head toward the ocean until the road dead ends at the day use area parking lot. Day use fees are $5 per vehicle, and it’s open daily from sunrise to sunset, but no dogs are allowed.

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Trailblazing

Gravel racers The Bovine Classic brings competitive bicyclists from around the world to North SLO County

BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

10 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

T

he grounds in front of Atascadero City Hall thrummed with the tinkle of hundreds of bike bells, the whir of chains passing over gears, and the singular peal of a ringing golden cowbell.

That chaotic melody marked the start of the second annual Bovine Classic Gravel Ride on a chilly but sunny Oct. 28 morning. Almost 450 riders made their way past City Hall before picking up speed on the Lewis Avenue bridge.

Los Osos resident Leah Lemoine clutched the handles of her baby blue and pink Cyclocross bike that held a yellow and green water bottle and a second blue and purple one. Lemoine’s bike appeared ready to carry her across North County’s tarmac roads and dusty vineyardlined routes.

“I like longer multi-day rides,” she said beaming. “I’m a long and slow rider.”

But that day, Lemoine had signed up for the Baby Bovine, the shortest course of the race at roughly 37 miles. A bicyclist since 2009, the East Coast native enjoys gravel bike riding and has previously completed the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage Trail between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. East Coast bicyclists like Lemoine weren’t the only ones

COURTESY PHOTOS BY TOPO COLLECTIVE

drawn to the cow-themed race.

Bryan Yates, the race’s executive producer and creative director, said that the first version of this gravel cycling competition in 2022 attracted people from 14 different countries, including a friend who flew in from Bogota, Colombia.

Yates proposed the idea to the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce after cycling around New Zealand five years ago. Despite biking on another continent, his mind was still on Central Coast gravel.

“Hands down, in the world, it’s one

of the best places to ride a bike for a number of reasons,” he said. “One of them is little traffic. The other is that we have all these great dirt roads.

That’s the biggest growing market in cycling right now: gravel cycling. It’s basically what was sort of saving the cycling industry.”

Why is the Yates’ brainchild cowcentric?

“It could have been grapecentric, but the reality is I don’t drink. While I appreciate the wine industry being a guy from the city, I love the cows here,” he said,

laughing over a Zoom video screen prior to the race. “The other thing is that a friend of mine has a race up in Petaluma called the Bantam Classic. … It was going to be a joke response to his ride, and the thing got out of control.”

The Bovine Classic’s debut race in 2022 brought in 350 cyclists, which grew to 450 last year. The 2024 version in October will limit the number of racers to 550.

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BOVINE CLASSIC continued page 12

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 11

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begin and end in Sunken Gardens in Atascadero. The main course— Big Bovine—covers almost 100 miles of scenic rural routes through Creston and Paso Robles. The other courses include the Feisty Bovine spanning 73.4 miles, the Happy Bovine covering 64 miles, and the Baby Bovine.

Yates explained that unlike most races, the Big Bovine competition doesn’t rank winners on who completed the course first. Rather, the course is split into three timed segments. The winner is the cyclist with the overall best time across the three rigorous sections.

Montana native and Santa Rosa resident Levi Leipheimer biked into first place in the men’s category for the Big Bovine in 2023 while Stanford-based Eleanor Wiseman aced the women’s one. The winners get bragging rights, hugs, a hand-screened poster, and a hefty branding iron that says “MOO.” But the Bovine Classic valorizes the cyclist who comes last too.

They receive all the prizes and a free entry into next year’s competition. They’re celebrated because they worked the hardest to get across the finish line,

Yates explained. Unlike the other winners, that rider receives a bright red branding iron instead as a cheeky reference to a popular nickname.

“There’s a term for the last-place rider in the Tour de France, which is called the lanterne rouge, which is the red lantern,” he said. “It was always for the caboose of a train.”

Register to ride in the Bovine Classic’s Oct. 24 to 26 races at thebovineclassic.com. Funded through sponsorships, the Bovine Classic tails what Yates calls “gravel cycling season” that lasts between six and 10 months. The catch-all term for anything that’s not pavement, “gravel” refers to mud, dirt, sand, or silt—terrain that other regions don’t have much of throughout the year. But Atascadero is spoiled for choice, and Yates considers it lush enough to brag about.

“We ride dirt almost yearround,” Yates said. “The Bovine Classic is not necessarily designed specifically with locals in mind.

The idea is to is to bring bodies here to really experience what we’ve got, so that we can put our community into the gravel cycling community and let those two mingle and learn from each other and exist together.”

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Trailblazing

W Rookie routes Trails to get that tail back into shape PHOTOS AND STORY BY CAMILLIA LANHAM

inter legs feel heavy on those steep inclines.

They’ve been stuck indoors for too long, and sometimes those gams need a little light coaxing before they’re ready to start bagging peaks.

Start slow and low, and you’ll be ready in no time. San Luis Obispo

County has a lot of hikes, some of the them big and some small. Here are three that will have you out and back in less than an hour, a good starter pack for anyone who hasn’t hiked in a while—or ever— but is ready to see what nature can bring (a little hike at a time).

Eagle Rock Nature Trail Where: El Chorro Regional Park Length: 1.7 miles Elevation gain: 433 feet

Jim Green Trail Where: Atascadero Length: 1.6-mile loop Elevation gain: 167 feet

Operated by San Luis Obispo County Parks, the Jim Green Trail is at the end of Cortez Avenue in Atascadero. The trail meanders through oak woodlands from start to fi nish, with views of moss-covered trees in the winter, wildflowers in the spring, and the Chalk Mountain Golf Course year-round. It’s a lovely little hike with just enough up and down to get the blood pumping. Many residents loop around it more than once.

There are multiple ways to tackle this little trail in El Chorro Regional Park. But the key to the Eagle Rock Nature Trail is to start walking from the parking area just past El Chorro’s dog park. There’s a map as you head in, so take a gander before you meander. As you walk along a paved path, you’ll eventually see a dirt trail that cuts to the right. Hit that and head into a lovely oak forest with some slight inclines. Eventually it’ll kick you out into chapparal with views that can take you all the way to Morro Bay on a clear day. It turns around at a bench next to the Eagle on the rock.

Hang Glider Hill Where: Cayucos Length: 1 mile Elevation gain: 359 feet

This hike is quick and dirty. It starts at the end of Chaney Avenue with an immediate leg burn and views of Cayucos and Morro Bay the whole way to the top. The path is wide (it’s a road) and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to watch hang gliders soar into the air and glide all the way to the beach. At the top, you’ll fi nd a windsock, a State Water Resources marker from 1957, and 360-degree panoramic views that take you from Whale Rock Reservoir to the Pacific Ocean. It’s absolutely worth the walk.

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Trailblazing

The buzz on

beekeeping BY

W

ADR

IAN V

I N C E T R O SAS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEREMY ROSE

hat’s fuzzy, tiny, and one of the Central Coast’s highest exporters of sweet

treats?

It’s the bee, of course.

The familiar pollinator with a mighty sting is as hard a worker as any other, especially when making something we use daily in our cooking, baking, and—according to Patrick Frazier—even biking.

“It’s funny because most people don’t realize how versatile and useful honey is when out and about in the great outdoors,” he said laughing. “Honey sticks made from the bees out here turn bike riders into bee riders.”

Frazier and fellow bee lover Jeremy Rose currently lead a unique program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo that can turn beekeeping and honey from something you do for a fun class into a lifelong hobby or career.

Both Frazier and Rose are dedicated to growing an appreciation for beekeeping across the state, often encouraging people to ask questions and get involved with local programs for bees.

“We want to make the program accessible to everyone who wants to take the course and get involved with the bees,” Rose said. “Part of that is having a class like this, that students can then go on and build upon outside of the classroom.”

Frazier handles the academic side of things to help students understand why and how bees behave, and how to handle selling any potential goods the bees help create.

“I’m a hobbyist with a handful of bees, and my whole thing has always been showing students and people in general how to get involved in it like I have come to be,” Frazier said. “The whole thing takes so much effort that outside of the students being the ones taking a class, I’d almost consider it more of a job-training experience.”

Class activities include moving the bees from hive to hive, caring for the bees and ensuring they are healthy, and bottling the honey they make and shipping it out to Cal Poly markets.

Because students in the program are often new to the entire process, Frazier said that the focus is on giving them a foundation from which they can take the lessons they learn and turn them into a passion—if they like it.

“Most people that come into the program have no experience,” he said. “But our goal is to change that, give them the fundamentals they need so that when the class is done, if they still want to continue, they can start their hives and

BEEKEEPING continued page 19

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 17

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Trailblazing BEEKEEPING from page 17 harvest their honey, they can.”

For Rose, the program did just that: It introduced him to the world of beekeeping and honey and helped him kick-start his business.

“I am more of a beekeeping enthusiast,” Rose said with a laugh. “I started the California Bee Company in 2005 after going through the program, and I’ve run it ever since.”

Rose said students like him were and still are encouraged to dive into the program and bring their honey home with them, often turning it into baked treats and sometimes even mead.

“Outside of honey, I don’t think people realize how many unique things you can make relying on the bee as your source of income,” Rose said.

The California Bee Company specializes in honey, which Rose said is no surprise, but it also offers a range of other bee-adjacent products.

“Sage honey is probably our most common honey, which is similar to the one they produce as part of the program at Cal Poly, but we also do oak honey, and even raspberry

honey,” Rose said. “We do lotion, chapstick, and anything related to beeswax as well.”

Outside of offering these products, which Rose said they sell at farmers markets across SLO County, the company also has learning opportunities for nonuniversity students looking to get into beekeeping.

“We do a lot of informative stuff with the company because there are so many people interested in that process and the honey,” Rose said. “Most of the time it’s because they also want their bee-based products, but sometimes they also like the idea of managing the hive and caring for the bees.”

Currently, Rose said, his company plans to have tours of the hives and, in the future, may offer opportunities to get some handson experience.

“The best way to get involved right now is just to follow us on our various social media platforms because that is where we will make the announcements about the trips out to the hives,” he said.

“Hopefully, as the new year comes in, we can increase those if people

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEREMY ROSE

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BEEKEEPING continued page 20

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Trailblazing Bee boost

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BEEKEEPING from page 19 are invested.”

Getting into beekeeping on the Central Coast isn’t necessarily easy, according to Frazier and Rose, who said the climate and ecosystems pose challenges for beekeeping rookies.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEREMY ROSE

“The Central Coast as a whole is a unique place to experience beekeeping because of the challenges you face with the drier, colder temperatures that are great for a lot of plant life, but not for the bees,” Frazier said. “There is so much competition from other

20 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

flower-users that you have to account for, and it causes a lot of stress for the bees and their hives.”

He tries to combat this by offering beekeeping classes during colder months—when bees are usually less active—so he can teach students how to prep for warmer weather.

“Most people have no idea how much work goes into the ‘off-season’ for things like this, especially when you are on the Central Coast,” he said. “You have things like rain, something that humans sometimes take for granted, that brings with it so many blooming flowers for the bees.”

Beekeeping has become a staple for the Cal Poly School of Agriculture. Frazier said it’s sparked an appreciation and appetite for beekeeping across the state.

“I think purely from a class perspective, the funniest thing about this class is that by and large, most of the students that want to take it are not even agriculture students,” Frazier said. “We have a lot of business majors, journalism majors, and other liberal arts majors who get involved with it.”

BEEKEEPING continued page 22

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BEEKEEPING from page 20 Frazier is always hopeful that the program inpsires others to spread the passion and importance of beekeeping to the world around them, much like Rose did when he left the program.

“Having all of these students from different backgrounds and majors makes the honey and overall experience even more unique than it already is just being from the Central Coast,” he said. “Can’t really ask more for something most of us use to sweeten our tea in the morning, can you?”

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA BEE COMPANY

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Trailblazing

PHOTOS AND STORY

BY BENJAMIN PURPER

Headline

O

ne of the best parts about living in Santa Maria is all the food trucks scattered throughout the city. To the untrained eye, they might all look the same: brightly lit trucks in parking lots advertising classic Mexican staples like tacos and burritos.

But spend some time visiting them, and you’ll fi nd a rich, diverse array of food from across Latin America. Here are three of my favorite loncheras—aka food trucks—on Broadway Street in Santa Maria.

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Taqueria Charly 804 N. Broadway Ave. and 510 S. Broadway Ave., Santa Maria Open 4 to 11 p.m. daily

T

aqueria Charly advertises itself as “serving the best birria and barbacoa in Santa Maria.” I may not be an expert, but I’ve chowed down on their birria enough times to wholeheartedly agree. Birria is a meat stew or soup from the Mexican state of Jalisco, most often made with goat or beef.

The meat is slow-cooked with traditional Mexican adobo sauce that’s full of spices until it’s tender. Aside from being served in soups and stews, birria is commonly stuffed inside tacos, burritos, enchiladas and more.

Every birria-based dish I’ve tried at Taqueria Charly has been delicious, but one sticks out: the quesabirria. It’s essentially a taco-quesadilla hybrid, with shredded meat and melted cheese grilled into a fried corn tortilla. Served with onions, cilantro, and salsa, Taqueria Charly’s quesabirria is a rich and delicious meal.

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Antojitos Oaxaqueños Rosita 116 W. Enos Drive, Santa Maria Open 5 to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 6 to 11 p.m. Sunday

T

his lonchera specializes in traditional food from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. You can still get classic Mexican food staples like tacos and chilaquiles, but it’s dishes like tlayudas—a form of Mexican

Tortas Gigantes Estilo D.F. 1203 N. Broadway, Santa Maria Open 6 to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday

W

ith a name that translates to “giant Mexico City-style tortas,” the Mexican sandwiches this lonchera pushes out are indeed giant. One torta comes in at about 12 inches or longer.

They’re stuffed with meat and other ingredients, meaning two

pizza—and Oaxacan mole where this particular lonchera shines.

My personal favorite from Antojitos Oaxaqueños Rosita are the chicken empanadas. They’re made of shredded chicken inside a fried tortilla casing, topped with cream, guacamole, and shredded cabbage. They’re slightly spicy and filled with the complex array of chili-based flavors that Oaxacan cuisine is famous for. If empanadas aren’t your speed, there are plenty of other classic and traditional meals to try at this lonchera.

people can easily share one.

Tortas Gigantes Estilo D.F. may specialize in Mexico-City style tortas, but its menu also features sandwiches from across Latin America, from Cuba to Argentina and Brazil.

I highly recommend a sandwich called the “choriqueso.” It’s a giant torta filled with chorizo, melted yellow cheese, and Oaxacan cheese called quesillo.

This lonchera’s chorizo is delicious, full of sweet and spicy flavors complemented by the two cheeses. It’s worth trying all nine of this lonchera’s giant tortas; you won’t regret it.

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Outdoor Kitchen

Shuck it

Morro Bay’s oysters are a delicate, delicious treat STORY AND PHOTOS BY CAMILLIA LANHAM

I

n early January, I had a wild idea.

I wanted oysters. But not from a restaurant. I wanted to buy them from a local spot, take them home, and dive in.

Morro Bay’s just the spot to find them. You’ve got a choice between two oyster farms: Grassy Bar Oyster Company or Morro Bay Oyster Company, both of which farm the hard-shelled delicacy out of Morro Bay’s salty, silty bay. I wanted to try both, but we don’t always get what we want. With all the storms rolling through, runoff had put things on hold.

The little ocean filters imbibe that runoff, which can bring with

it pollutant-laden water—meaning, oyster farmers have to wait days to weeks to be able to harvest their mollusks after a big rain.

Lucky for me, Grassy Bar happens to run an indoor farming operation in addition to the one that’s in the bay. So while I wasn’t able to nab any Pacific Gold oysters from the

Find the bar

Meet Grassy Bar Oyster Co. in Morro Bay at 1215 Embarcadero Road, suite D, where you can buy oysters whole, to go, or eat them there on ice, shucked and topped with a variety of delicious accoutrements. The retail store is open from noon to 5 p.m.

Thursday through Sunday. Check out @grassybaroyster on Instagram or Grassy Bar Oyster Company on Facebook.

26 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

Morro Bay Oyster Company, which is open most Saturdays and by appointment, Grassy Bar had some on hand.

The retail shop is located on the north end of the Embarcadero, next to all the fish houses. You can purchase your specimens to go or snag a table on the patio for service on the half-shell with a variety of toppings.

I bought two dozen and put them on ice for a journey to the backyard barbecue. The plan was to shuck a dozen and cook a dozen over oak wood. All you need is a shucking knife, hot sauce, lemon juice, and a mignonette (shallots, vinegar, salt, and pepper) to get the job done right. Oh, and someone who can

do the shucking (there’s a YouTube video for that).

The cashier recommended larger oysters for the barbecue and smaller ones to eat fresh. I didn’t eat them all by myself. I had some help, and two dozen was almost too many for us, but these little beauties might have been the freshest oysters I’ve ever tasted.

The oyster liquor was refreshing and a little salty, and the meat was a little sweet.

Grassy Bar oysters went down easy in both their purest form and with a little smoke on them. I can’t wait to try some Pacific Golds from Morro Bay Oyster Company.

If you’re into shellfish, I highly recommend.

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Feature

Los Padres Forest Service rangers remove brush and vegetation near La Cumbre Peak off Camino Cielo Road, north of the city of Santa Barbara.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS PADRES FOREST SERVICE

Federal, state, and local fire agencies are using several mitigation strategies in the face of more extreme wildfire events and growing wildland-urban communities

BY TAYLOR O’CONNOR

T

epusquet Canyon residents Lilian and Dave Clary loaded their mules and other livestock into trailers and fled their home after receiving an evacuation order in 2017. “[Dave] left at 10 a.m.; by 2:30 p.m. we could see flames on the western ridge of the canyon and watched the crews fighting fires, the helicopter drops, the big tankers, it was amazing,” Lilian Clary said. “One evening we were watching with binoculars and it looked like a huge bed of charcoal on 50 to 60 acres just glowing.”

Alamo Fire flames would later engulf their backyard and more than 28,000 acres in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, she said.

Watching the fire sweep through the west side of the canyon, which hadn’t burned in 50 years, showed Clary what a prescribed burn could have done—taken out brush and vegetation to help prevent severe future fires, she said.

“I’m not speaking for all my neighbors. I know I have neighbors wary of controlled burns, but [to me] they just make sense,” she said.

Prescribed burns occur when

crews apply fire to selected land parcels to remove overgrown vegetation or invasive species— referred to as fuels—as a way to reintroduce fire to ecosystems that need to burn regularly to thrive after years of fire suppression activities in the forest, to maintain soil and forest health, and to prevent highseverity fires in the wildlands and in communities.

To prevent future high-intensity fires, the Los Padres Forest Service—alongside local and state fire agencies—are building up their fuel reduction programs as part of a solution to protecting wildlands on the Central Coast and the growing wildland-urban interface communities, which are facing hotter, longer wildfire seasons and more extreme climate events.

“Fire is a natural part of the environment, and fire suppression has led to this fuel buildup and that’s what we’re trying to do through this emphasis of fuels management,” said Los Padres Forest Service Forest Fuels Planner Rodolfo Uribe. “We do these projects to prevent catastrophic fires or reduce [their] impact.”

28 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

In order to support these fuel management efforts, the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $5.5 billion to help the U.S. Forest Service conduct fuel reduction projects—including within Los Padres’ 1.75 million acres. At the state level, Cal Fire allocates millions of dollars in grants each year for projects on state-owned land.

Some environmental organizations are concerned with fuel management’s environmental impacts and would like to see more investment in building homes with fire-retardant infrastructure. But Uribe and other fire agencies said that managing fuel is beneficial in the long run to keep wildlands thriving.

“If we get a big fire, it’s going to shut down the forest, destroy the trails. It has a huge impact on the community,” Uribe said.

Projects underway

Los Padres National Forest crews have spent days at a time in the Big Sur area, removing chaparral and vegetation by hand or with handheld equipment as part of the Strategic Community Fuelbreak. The vegetation removal

project is approximately 525 acres and designed to protect communities on Mount Manuel’s west side (near Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park) from any fires in the Ventana Wilderness, Ivor DeManty said.

“We have an increased wildlandurban interface, we have a lot more ownership adjacent to the forest.

That being said, when we do have the occurrence of a fire, the risk goes up and we’re trying to protect these homes,” said DeManty, a U.S. Forest Service battalion chief and assistant district fire management officer.

The 24-mile project runs along the coastal ridgeline of Skinner Ridge, Mount Manuel, and Post Summit from Bottchers Gap to the Big Sur River, according to the project description. Any removed vegetation will be piled for future burning or chipped and spread.

“The placement of the fuel break is one where they were looking at past fires and what ridges have been routinely opened up during fire suppression activities,” DeManty said. “[Fuel breaks] help with defense and help with firefighter safety. If we can put a fuel break in ahead of time and have that defensible line available, then

not only does it save money, it potentially saves lives, homes. It’s kind of a balance.”

The Strategic Community Fuelbreak is one of 26 fuel reduction projects in Los Padres National Forest that are either being conducted or reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act—which analyzes a project’s environmental impacts by identifying threatened or endangered species, heritage sites, and/or natural resources that may be impacted by the project, said Los Padres Deputy Fire Chief Seth Mitchell.

Smoke, air quality, botany and wildlife, powerlines, and highways and railway systems running through the forest are other factors that go into planning a prescribed burn. The Forest Service analyzes fire history records and fire perimeter data to see where certain efforts have worked along ridgelines.

“Today, we know that fire is a natural part of Western ecosystems.

We know that Native American groups throughout the Western United States have used fire for their cultural resource benefit,” Mitchell said. “We’re trying to get back on track, but it’s a challenging new world: communities, powerlines, all this infrastructure we need to mitigate in this process. The world is more complicated now than it was 200 years ago.”

From 1910 until the 1970s, Los Padres exclusively suppressed fires in the forest, the forest’s Public Affairs Specialist Andrew Madsen said. Years of fire suppression allowed chaparral and other vegetation to thrive when they might have otherwise been tamped back by natural fires.

“The Forest Service managed 1 of every 5 acres in the state of California. As communities continued to pop up and expand adjacent to the National Forest System land, there was a very high priority for putting them out as quickly as we could to reduce impact,” Madsen said. “Today in California, generations of aggressive fire suppression have left many areas unburned for decades, allowing for dangerous fuels accumulations that contribute to much larger wildfires.”

Fuel breaks and home hardening

Wildfires are larger, hotter, and last longer than they used to, and California wildfire season is evolving into a year-round constant, Deputy Fire Chief Mitchell said.

“The extended fire seasons are definitely a challenge, and we’re doing the best we can to move funding and resources. … Each year presents a different challenge,” he said.

The 2017 Alamo Fire was considered the state’s most severe

Rangers hike on La Cumbre Peak, north of the city of Santa Barbara, to conduct vegetation removal.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS PADRES FOREST SERVICE

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT

wildfire in recent history, but the Thomas Fire changed that when it burned more than 280,000 acres between 2017 and 2018 in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Between 2020 and 2021, California saw some of its largest fires in state history. The 2020 Creek Fire burned more than 379,000 acres across Fresno and Madera counties and in Sierra National Forest, according to Cal Fire data.

The 2020 August Complex Fire obliterated more than 1 million acres across seven counties and

through Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests and destroyed 935 structures. The 2021 Dixie Fire burned through more than 960,000 acres across five counties and through Lassen National Forest, destroying multiple communities, more than 1,300 buildings, and parts of Lassen Volcanic National Park.

“This year, California experienced a normal fire season. … It was pretty quiet in comparison to the last five years, so we were able to get a lot of work done, but

it’s really a lot of strategic planning and [flexibility] across all agencies to move people and funding in the right direction,” Mitchell said.

Approaching each project by looking at the landscape, rather than district boundaries, is one strategy the Forest Service is trying to implement through the Wildfire Risk Reduction Project, Forest Fuels Planner Uribe said.

“Rather than zoning in one specific project, you can zoom out and see how

FIRE MITIGATION continued page 30

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 29

Feature

This wildfire mitigation project on Mount Manuel near Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is a strategic community fuel break.

FIRE MITIGATION from page 29 Uribe said. “It wouldn’t break down by district, but by vegetation, terrain and local ecosystems. … Fuel breaks and ridgelines don’t know boundaries and changes in jurisdictions. ” Formerly known as the Ecological Restoration Project, the Wildfi re Risk Reduction Project proposes prescribed burning and vegetation removal in four of Los Padres’ five ranger districts, which stretch across Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Kern counties.

The project’s original design included work on 200,000 acres— making it one of the largest projects in Los Padres. But Uribe said that the Forest Service cut back the project’s acreage after a further scoping analysis was conducted.

As of Jan. 11, no new footprint has been established.

Several local environmental organizations are against this project and believe fuel reduction work is the wrong approach to wildfi re mitigation.

Los Padres ForestWatch, an environmental nonprofit based in Santa Barbara County, has filed several lawsuits against Los Padres National Forest for its fuel

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS PADRES FOREST SERVICE

reduction projects, including the Wildfire Risk Reduction Project. The environmental nonprofit is facing off against the Forest Service in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals for a lawsuit against the Reyes Peak Health Project—which proposes to remove chaparral and trees across 755 acres of Pine Mountain.

As of Jan. 18, the project is awaiting funding and the court did not put an injunction on the Los Padres Forest Service while the lawsuit plays out, allowing the Forest Service to begin work once a funding source is identified.

“What it comes down to is there’s a core tenant of our perspective, which is to protect communities from wildfires you have to start in the communities and work your way out from there,” said Bryant Baker, ForestWatch’s director of conservation and research.

“The prevailing management paradigm is to start in the wildlands out in the backcountry and work your way to the communities.”

He’d like to see Congress invest more into home hardening programs that help homeowners retrofit or build their homes with fi re resistant materials to prevent

damage or destruction in the case of wildfi res.

“The reason fi res burn homes are embers, generally miles ahead of the fi refront and under extreme wind conditions. Embers enter a town when fi res are miles away,” Baker said. “They quite literally get sucked into houses, into vents, homes start igniting and start blasting their neighbor’s house with embers. There’s no fuel management that will prevent embers from entering town.”

Installing double-pane windows, ember-proof screens on vents,

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embers from entering town.”

Installing double-pane windows, adding ember-proof screens on vents, and using fi reproof materials on roofs are ways to keep embers from entering a home and protect it from wildfi re, he said.

“Policy and legislation dumps more money into the exact same approach that we as a society have been taking for decades,” Baker said.

“It’s crucial to create new pipelines to give communities the resources they need for home hardening programs and alert systems.”

Wildland-urban interface

Several communities have taken home hardening and creating a defensible space into their own hands.

Tepusquet Canyon residents— who live in the wildland-urban interface—created an informal phone tree network 20 years ago to help improve communication during emergencies, Tepusquet resident Renee O’Neill said.

“Those days we didn’t have reverse 911, we didn’t have any alerts that we have now through the Office of Emergency Services, or the local alerts from readysbc. org or that kind of thing,” O’Neill said. “There were some harrowing experiences, but thankfully they developed the reverse 911 system,

and we continued with our phone tree captain list.”

The phone tree network had contact information for every resident in the canyon and broke down into “micro communities,” she said. Each micro community had a phone captain who would contact 10 to 12 people during emergencies to inform them of a fi re’s location or evacuation area.

Residents used the phone tree network in 2008 to warn residents of the La Brea Fire, which started at 2 a.m. about a mile away from the Highway 166 side of the canyon, O’Neill said.

“I had my master list, and then [the fi re department] alerted the rest of the community to wake up and pay attention,” O’Neill said.

Over the years, the phone tree list has been developed to show which families have young children, individuals who have disabilities, people who can’t drive, and the number of structures on each property— which has been shared with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, she said.

On her own property, O’Neill said she’s added high pressure fi re hydrants and sprinklers on her roof. Her adobe home and steel FIRE MITIGATION continued page 34

10WAYS

Feature

Cal Fire conducts a prescribed burn near the Point San Luis Lighthouse.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLO COUNTY CAL FIRE

Los Padres Forest Service rangers camped out in Big Sur for a few days and removed dead chaparral and vegetation as part of a community fuel break project.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS PADRES FOREST SERVICE

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Feature

in his fi lters to prevent embers from blowing into his home, and every year, ensures that he meets the required 100-foot clearance around his home by pulling invasive weeds and brush and planting trees.

“We own some forested property, and of course, it’s our responsibility to maintain it in healthy and safe condition. We do A 2014 fire burns vegetation at UC Santa most of the work Barbara’s Coal Oil Point Reserve. ourselves, a lot of it is easy—pulling PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SANTA BARBARA COUTY FIRE DEPARTMENT out flammable FIRE MITIGATION from page 31 In Cambria, residents formed and invasive brush,” he said. “You the Cambria Forest Committee to can’t leave her property. don’t see immediate results, but discuss fuel reduction projects, “I’m very pro doing anything we after a few years it’s amazing the defensible space, and home can do to mitigate these wildfires that difference it makes. It seems like it’s hardening practices, Cambria happen in the summertime,” O’Neill an impossible task to improve what’s resident Crosby Swartz said. said. “[Prescribed burns] promote a growing in the forest, but after years “We’re acting just like a forum healthier environment. The thing that it does make a difference.” for people to discuss things,” concerns the heck out of me is when Swartz said that he’d like to Swartz said. “It’s a matter of we do nothing, we get these raging see a more selective approach to encouraging people to become fires like the Thomas Fire that came removing vegetation, by focusing aware of what people should be through in Southern California and on the dead plants or invasive doing to reduce the fi re danger.” burned all the way from Ojai to the species, and a stronger push for Santa Barbara coast.”

Swartz installed metal screens home hardening programs.

“Bryant Baker has done studies that show just blind fuel reduction of any kind of tree doesn’t make a difference in fire behavior, whether you have thinned the forest or not,” Swartz said.

“If you have a hot windy fire, it doesn’t even get slowed down. That’s why it’s important to focus on the house because it’s been shown to work.”

Protecting communities

Fuel breaks aren’t designed to stop a wildfi re independently; rather, they are meant to help give fi refi ghters a safer place to work from, said Rob Hazard, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department’s division chief and fi re marshal.

“More efforts across the state have really shifted to the wildlandurban interface that are really adjacent to our communities,” Hazard said. “For our organization, that is the vast majority of the work that we do.”

Vegetation management crews will go out to wildland-urban interface communities in the unincorporated parts of the county to remove chaparral or trim shrubs around clusters of homes and clear vegetation off public roads and driveways to meet Cal Fire’s 100-foot clearance requirement for defensible space, he said. The FIRE MITIGATION continued page 36

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Feature

FIRE MITIGATION from page 34 county also introduced sheep and goat grazing as part of its fuel reduction work in grassland areas.

Santa Barbara County Fire conducts this work as a contract county with Cal Fire, where it oversees and manages the stateowned land (known as a state responsibility area) in Santa Barbara County. The state fi re agency provides project funding through grants, which other agencies can apply for to conduct projects in their jurisdictions.

“It’s in everybody’s interest to help the forest to become more responsive to the local community,” Hazard said.

Facing growing wildland-urban interface communities, County Fire takes a multi-pronged approach to protecting communities, including prescribed burns, home hardening education, and defensible space practices, County Fire Capt. and Public Information Officer Scott Safechuck said. The county also works with the Forest Service to address communities near Los Padres.

“It’s a holistic approach to what the communities should do during a wildfi re or if it’s applicable to other events,” Safechuck said. “We’re not

trying to enforce laws of defensible space for the sake of doing it.

There’s a safety impact; if a fi re event comes through and destroys a community, there’s life-impacting events that can occur.”

Cal Fire oversees similar work in SLO County and approximately 1.4 billion acres of land where the state agency is responsible for emergency response and conducting vegetation management projects like prescribed burns and fuelbreaks, said David Erickson, a Cal Fire forester.

“We work with landowners located in our state responsibility area that are interested in conducting vegetation management projects— anything from creating a shaded fuel break or prescribed fire on their property,” Erickson said. “We are looking at the projects on a large scale and incorporating protection of homes into what we’re doing.”

All vegetation management projects follow environmental guidelines and wildfi re history, and they are designed to mimic natural fi res, which are beneficial to protecting wildfi re-prone areas and promoting native vegetation, Erickson said.

Cal Fire may get mixed reviews from residents, but when teams

Cal Fire conducts a prescribed burn in Long Canyon, near Huasna.

begin working on one property owner’s land, neighbors will often follow suit after seeing the complete work, he said.

“Our vegetation management projects are scientifically and ecologically centered and mimic natural fi res—which are essential to increase biodiversity [and] protect fi refi ghters—and result in the modification of existing fuels to reduce large fi re events and promote native vegetation,” Erickson said.

While these projects are mainly focused on protecting wildland urban interface communities,

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLO COUNTY CAL FIRE

they can also bring benefits to hikers and outdoor enthusiasts by improving habitat and preventing wildfi res—which can close down trails and parks for the long term and negatively impact the environment, he added.

“Treatment may not look pleasing and you’re not going to appreciate that on your hike, but six months later after rain you’ll have grass growing, fruiting from plants—which will attract a whole suite of birds and animals,” Erickson said. “Ultimately, these projects can enhance recreation opportunities.”

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Auras to soar in

Find out more about Highline Adventures at highlineadventures.com. The new zip-lining venue is located at 700 E. Highway 246, Buellton.

PHOTOS BY ALEXANDRA WALLACE

Three local zip-lining parks supply singular highs

BY CALEB WISEBLOOD

T

his is the closest I’ll ever get to being Batman. About 400 feet above ground, I look below at some valley terrain, visible but mildly obscured by my legs—dangling wildly in the air—as I zip-line from point A to point B at Highline Adventures.

Tucked away just outside Buellton’s city limits, Highline Adventures is the Central Coast’s newest zip-lining destination, which opened in July 2023, and the fi rst of its kind in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Since its summer debut, the attraction has lured in both zip-line junkies and newbies, including fi rst-timer Louise Henle, a local in her 60s who attended the same park tour I did in early January.

“It was just like being a bird; like being able to fly,” Henle, still wearing a harness and helmet, said about her fi rst impression of ziplining. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be afraid of heights.

“Nope! It was awesome,” she exclaimed. “They just make it so comfortable.”

For Henle, the occasion also marked her fi rst time riding in the back of a Humvee, as one transports park guests up a steep mountain path from the briefi ng area to the zip-lining platforms above.

Those who book a tour at Highline Adventures get access to three consecutive zip-lining opportunities, each one faster than the last, according to the park’s owner and operator Jeff Hartman.

38 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

“We start you off long and high, but that’s the slowest one. We get you progressively faster,” Hartman said. “The third one gets people going 50, 55 miles an hour.”

The local entrepreneur said it took about 10 years to get his new venture off the ground. Before landing on zip-lining, Hartman’s family considered using their hillside Buellton property—where he also resides on-site—for agriculture cultivation or cattle raising.

“We’ve gone through a lot of iterations of what this project could be, and I think we’ve really developed a world-class outdoor recreation facility,” said Hartman, whose park features other activities as well.

There are more than 80 climbing obstacles, as high as 60 feet above ground, for adults and children alike to take part in at the venue’s Adventure Park area.

Highline Adventures also offers more down-to-earth opportunities for sightseeing without the adrenaline rush of zip-lining or climbing. The park’s Protea Walking Tour gives attendees the chance to stroll across the property and enjoy the flowers, expected to be in bloom through March.

Pincushion protea were blooming near the beginning of 2024, and winter leucadendrons and banksias are currently in full bloom at the park as well.

ZIP-LINING continued page 40

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Starting a child’s appreciation of nature can begin early, with walks in a stroller. As the child grows, visit playgrounds and parks, or spend time exploring the backyard.

Unstructured outdoor play can be especially beneficial because it encourages social skills, too. Children create games, take turns, make decisions together and learn about sharing as part of unstructured play.

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Visit vistalagoadventurepark.com for more info on Vista Lago Adventure Park, located at 6820 Lopez Drive, Arroyo Grande.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VISTA LAGO ADVENTURE PARK

ZIP-LINING from page 38 While Highline Adventures offers patrons scenic views of the property’s flora and mountain surroundings during both zip-lining and walking tours, some zip lines at Vista Lago Adventure Park in Arroyo Grande take riders directly over a body of water.

When general manager Nick Johnson started at the park in 2017, “we never really had the zip-lines going over the water, with the drought and Lopez Lake being lower,” he said.

Nowadays, zip-liners at Vista Lago glide over the surface of Lopez Lake on a regular basis when the venue is open, as it’s seasonally closed until this May. The lake setting may elicit a subliminal feeling of relief—the water could be seen as a wet safety net of sorts, not that one’s ever needed, Johnson clarified.

“A lot of the time the fi rst question we get is, ‘Is it safe?’”

Johnson said. “We go through every nut, bolt, wire, rope. Everything on

the course is inspected daily.”

Zip-lining isn’t the only activity at Vista Lago that’ll get adventurers above ground, as the venue has plenty of ropes courses for its patrons to choose from. Each one is named after an animal, with difficult courses like Deer Run and Black Bear not recommended for the faint of heart, and beginner-friendly treks such as Squirrel Zone and Quail Trail recommended for most.

There’s also Cub Course, ideal for ages 4 through 8, which offers young adventurers the chance to climb like Spider-Man across a weblike rope net and embark on similar escapades.

Margarita Adventures at the historic Santa Margarita Ranch welcomes the same demographic to enjoy its lineup of kids day camps, and guests of all ages to try out both zip-lining and nature/wildlife tours led by ranch naturalist Jacqueline Redinger.

“The eagle tour is really exciting, especially at this time of year because we’re expecting the bald

ZIP-LINING continued page 42

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Trailblazing ZIP-LINING from page 40 eagles out on the ranch to be returning to some of their nests,” Redinger said in January. “We expect them to be laying eggs and incubating them soon.”

A seasonal offering, the eagle tour is open now through June. During the summer of 2023, Redinger and attendees of other wildlife tours saw a fair amount of black bears at the ranch. Each of these events includes a driving tour of the ranch’s backroads while guests learn about the sprawling property’s diverse ecosystems.

“There are mountain lions out there too,” Redinger said. “They’re active in the early mornings and late evenings, so we don’t see them quite as often.”

For more info on Margarita Prior to joining the staff at Adventures, visit margaritaMargarita Adventures about two adventures.com. The park is years ago, Redinger had never located at 22719 El Camino tried zip-lining.

Real, Santa Margarita.

“That was a really cool new experience for me,” said Redinger, who leads both the Wines, and charcuterie. venue’s nature/wildlife tours and Both Redinger and operations kids day camps. manager Katrina Larson share an One activity open exclusively to adults at the park is the Zip ‘n unwavering favorite when it comes Sip Tour, a zip-lining package that to which wine pairs best with zipincorporates five wine tastings, lining. courtesy of Ancient Peaks Estate “It seems pretty unanimous

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARGARITA ADVENTURES

between Jacqueline and I. We both really like the Renegade,” Larson said of the wine, a blend of syrah, petit verdot, and malbec.

When Larson started working for Margarita Adventures in 2019, she intended to stay on for just a

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Trailblazing

Howl of the hybrid Public awareness group Wolf Hybrid Adoption and Rescue is a discreet haven for wolf-dog mixes in Paso Robles STORY BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL • PHOTOS BY JAYSON MELLOM

ural Paso Robles is home to the mothballed Paso Robles Juvenile Facility on Airport Road and the Conservation Ambassadors Zoo to You nonprofit on Adobe Road.

But these establishments have unlikely neighbors tucked away from the eyes of the majority of San Luis Obispo County: a pack of wolf hybrids under the watchful care of Wolf Hybrid Adoption and Rescue (WHAR).

Minutes into the walk down a golden vineyard-flanked cul-de-sac off Adobe Road, a pair of wolfish dogs come into view. The large black one paced inside the enclosure, his fluffy tail periodically flicking the chain-link fence.

“All of them are rescues, but it started in 2001 with my mother,” said WHAR co-founder and lead trainer Melanie Krutsinger on Dec. 14. “We lost our family dog, and a year later my mom went out searching for a dog, she wanted a rescue, and came across an ad in the paper. … She found a wolf-dog mix and a full malamute.

Before long, my dad started throwing up fencing in the yard.”

For more than 20 years, the Krutsingers and their team at WHAR have been a sanctuary for captive-born part- and full-blood wolves. They rescue, rehome, and

WOLF continued page 46

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For WHAR co-founder and lead trainer Melanie Krutsinger, an unforgettable memory was winning the trust of a “a pistol” wolf hybrid named Harley after five months of hard rehabilitation when he finally submitted to her with a pent-up yawn of relief.

WOLF from page 44 educate SLO County about wolf hybrid dogs. The six hybrids they now look after—Ragnar, Dahlia, Axle Rose, Soso, Amber, and Dream—are housed in a labyrinth of large fenced and roofed outdoor enclosures. They’re all varying degrees of a dog and gray wolf mix.

“It’s not like going to the pound and picking up a dog,” Krutsinger explained. “There is a lot of merging of households that has to happen. But also understanding the breed. They’re not blindly obedient like a dog. They have more questions than a dog.”

Krutsinger’s mom and dad, Kristi and Mark, set up and operated WHAR on an Estrella Road ranch in Paso Robles until Caltrans acquired the land through eminent domain— the power afforded to governments to take private property for public use and reimburse the owner for its value. Caltrans took over the original WHAR property to widen Highway 46 East.

Conservation Ambassadors extended help to the Krutsingers when local media spread the word about WHAR’s plight. The nonprofit leased its Adobe Road land to the wolf hybrid rescue team and even extended the agreement for a few years. By the time Kristi passed

away in 2020, WHAR had looked after 16 hybrids—most of whom were elderly.

Back at the Adobe Road sanctuary, the present pack of hybrids are smaller than wolves but share characteristics with their full-blood cousins. Ragnar, a primarily white hybrid with a black star-shaped patch on its back, eagerly approached the front of the

enclosure. Jet-black irises punctuated the yellow of his intelligent eyes.

A long snout with black whiskers and pointy ears underscored his wolfish features. Ragnar frequently rubbed the length of his lean body along the chainlink fencing, emitting a subtle musk in the process.

It’s how he spreads his scent and sniffs out others’ perfumes.

“We don’t normally DNA test any of our animals,” Krutsinger said. “We do behavioral assessments to try to gauge where they might be at, but also [study] facial features.

Low content wolf dogs will have dog-like features, high content will have wolf-like features.”

Ragnar and his enclosure mate Dahlia—a pink-nosed hybrid—“head up education” for WHAR, according

Get clued in

Learn more about Wolf Hybrid Adoption and Rescue and its rehoming plans on Facebook and Instagram @ wharwolfsanctuary. Donate to their relocation efforts at givebutter.com/ wharwolves or by calling (805) 400-7473.

to Krutsinger. That means they’ll be the sanctuary’s ambassadors when Krutsinger takes them into schools for educational programs. The COVID-19 shutdowns forced WHAR into a hiatus from such events, but Krutsinger and the wolf hybrids are ready to be more social again.

“We want to talk to kids about wolf dogs, what they are, and also how important the wolf is for the ecosystem,” she said. “It’s really needed and wanted on the Central Coast because a lot of our people here are drawn to Nordic breeds like Huskies and malamutes. Sometimes they have a little bit of wolf in them.”

Knowing the makeup and temperament of Nordic breeds is crucial. She occasionally gets calls from people who purchase dogs from that line and are perplexed by their behavior. Often, those dogs’ unexpected actions are a result of them being part wolf.

“I wanted them to have that research or that resource to be able to contact us, and we can network WOLF continued page 48

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Trailblazing WOLF from page 46 and help them better understand [the dogs] rather than have them end up in a pound,” Krutsinger said.

She added that most animal pounds can’t handle hybrids because they’re overwhelmed with dogs as it is, leading to the hybrids being put down.

“I’m like, ‘It probably could have taken you three weeks of your undivided attention that could have helped you understand your animal a little bit better,’” Krutsinger said.

Equating housing a wolf hybrid to “adopting a 7-year-old child,” she said that the ideal owner is patient, doesn’t live in an apartment, and has a spacious backyard. Essentially, owning land for the wolf hybrids to settle into doesn’t hurt.

Diligence on the owner’s part is key. Krutsinger pointed to the midnight-colored hybrid Soso.

“She can actually clear 12-foot fencing; she’s got legs for days,” Krutsinger said. “She challenged it when she first got here. But after she adjusted, we made adjustments for her, and then she finally settled in.

Now she’s never challenged it again.”

Ragnar, too, can jump fencing, but Krutsinger said he would never go over it unless something stimulated him to try to clear those boundaries.

WHAR volunteer Megan Pollock playfully pets gray wolf and dog hybrids Ragnar (front) and Dahlia (back).

“But for the most part, if you do your part to understand them as animals, then they’ll be content and they’ll have no reason to challenge those things,” she said.

WHAR’s long-running lease with Conservation Ambassadors came to an end in December 2023. In January, the rescue group was in the process of relocating to another winery-ranch property in the Paso Robles area that wished to remain anonymous. The new space will allow a limited number of people for the first few weeks so that the wolf hybrids can adjust to the

changed environment.

The move is a costly one for the sanctuary, especially when it comes to constructing new enclosures for the hybrids. While WHAR is actively trying to place some of the hybrids in new homes, it’s also looking for donations in the forms of money, physical labor, and kibble and/or raw meat (it prefers lamb, chicken, beef, and even rice). Financial donations can be made to givebutter.com/ wharwolves to help WHAR meet its $15,000 goal. To offer other kinds of help, call (805) 400-7473.

Going forward, Krutsinger and her team are dedicated to improving the quality of wolf-dog hybrid lives. She said that a common misconception is that they’re vicious creatures.

“In the wrong hands, they can be very dangerous. In the right hands, you can have an amazing relationship with this animal,” Krutsinger said.

“Anybody who is interested: do your research. You owe it to them, really. I guarantee you, they’ll probably teach you more about yourself than you ever knew.”

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Trailblazing

Repairing an

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50 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

Trailblazing Caltrans battles nature along the Big Sur coast

BY CAMILLIA LANHAM

H

ighway 1’s expanse of pavement threads above cliffs, bluffs, and beaches between Cambria and Carmel, carving a breathtaking path that undulates between awe and fear— depending on the driver.

Steep drop-offs and hairpin turns. Wild blue and teal water pockmarked by white surf and gray boulders. The Coastal Range in browns, beiges, and greens.

But the road isn’t always open for drivers who want to meander its path.

In fact, it’s closed right now, a result of the historic rains that pounded California more than a year ago. Thanks to landslides that are a familiar occurrence along the iconic road, Caltrans continues to battle the elements to reopen Highway 1 for the 4.5 to 7 million tourists who attempt to travel the route every year, the businesses that rely on them, and the 2,000 or so residents who depend on it for access to both their homes and the world beyond Big Sur. “In the same way that we maintain access to our national parks, we’re committed to maintaining access to the Big Sur Coast. It’s a unique

resource,” Caltrans District 5 Public Information Officer Kevin Drabinksi said. “It requires a lot, you know.”

California has spent more than $325 million on emergency repair contracts along the Big Sur stretch of Highway 1 since the 2016-17 fi scal year. According to Caltrans data, more than a third of that ($129 million) was spent last year, mostly thanks to the slew of storms in January. From Dec. 1, 2022, to Jan. 16, 2023, the Bay Area News Group reported, Mining Ridge in Big Sur recorded almost 85 inches of rain.

Caltrans preemptively closed the highway to vehicles each time an atmospheric river threatened the forecast, and by Jan. 5, 2023, the transportation agency reported its first slide along the Big Sur coast: Polar Star south of Ragged Point, effectively closing the highway until repairs could be made.

By the end of January, there were several more slides between Ragged Point on the south end of Highway 1 and Lime Creek farther north, with the largest amount of activity at Paul’s Slide just north of HIGHWAY 1 continued page 52

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CALTRANS

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 51

Trailblazing HIGHWAY 1 from page 51 Limekiln State Park. More than a year later, Caltrans is still working to repair the site, with expected costs topping $60 million.

“We got hit pretty good,” Drabinski said.

Caltrans was able to repair most of the damage along the highway, opening it up as far north and south as was safe. But the Paul’s Slide area is a work in progress. It’s a tricky area, he said, because that stretch of the Coastal Range is constantly shifting.

“We have photos and data going back to the 1970s about that slide and it’s been active historically.

It’s a geologically active range of mountains. We refer to it as the Paul’s Slide Complex,” Drabinski said. “A series of slide areas … across about 1,000 feet of mountain.”

The last time Caltrans did a major repair in the area was 2017, when a January slide took out part of a lane. The agency put in a giant catchment basin as part of that repair, one that could mitigate slide activity and be excavated from time to time. The 2023 slide fell from 80 to 90 feet above that

basin, fi lled it, and pushed onto and over the roadway, Drabinski said.

“The fact that the area is geologically active has an impact on our ability to maintain the roadway,” Drabinski said. “At Paul’s Slide, the volume and rate of movement of some 500,000

cubic yards of material caused the road to close. Slide activity is understood to be active throughout the area.”

Over the course of 2023, the area continued moving, pushing a potential timeline for repair further and further out.

Repairing slide damage takes

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALTRANS

more than simply fi xing the road where a slide occurred, he said, because it’s not just the earth above it that moved. The land beneath the road also moved, and earth on either side of the slide is also unstable.

“Even if you lose a small section HIGHWAY 1 continued page 54

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HIGHWAY 1 from page 52 of road, it can take out up to 40 feet of roadway and take a long time for repair,” he said.

Caltrans workers have to excavate all the slide material, reintroduce fill that’s stable enough to hold a road, bring the fill back up to the highway level, secure it with retaining material, and then lay the road on top. It’s a process that many Caltrans employees who work in the Big Sur area are used to.

“A lot of the men and women out there making those repairs have years of experience and are seasoned at doing the work they do up and down the Big Sur coast,” he said. “It’s also good to know that you’ve got your best team out there making repairs.”

At the Paul’s Slide Complex, the repair job is even trickier.

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it,” he said. “It looks like ballet, the vehicles driving on it.”

With the help of a landslide hazard plan developed in collaboration with the California Geological Survey, Caltrans engineers, geologists, and planners decided to move the highway inland at Paul’s Slide, recontouring the mountain in a way that takes away the potential for slide activity and takes advantage of its natural features, Drabinski said. The agency also

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALTRANS

created an even larger catchment area to mitigate future movement.

“It was a repair design that was developed in response to the mountain continuing to slide,” Drabinski said. “This is a good way for us to be able to defend the road.”

Highway 1 is open for travel from the Cambria/San Simeon area north to Limekiln State Park and from the Monterey/Carmel area to 0.6 miles south of Lucia. Caltrans estimates it can have those lanes open to through traffic in late spring.

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WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 55

Gear Hub

Find your

next

adventure

Local used gear that’s easy on your wallet

BY ADRIAN ROSAS

L

ooking for a spot to get some high-quality gear for a more affordable price? Or a spot to find a new home for a great piece of used equipment?

According to Josh and Lindsey Haring, if that sounds interesting, The Switchback is the place for you.

The couple has owned and operated The Switchback since August 2023 in conjunction with running The Mountain Air—just two buildings down in the same shopping center—after they took over the business in 2020.

“The Mountain Air is a singledoor specialty outdoor retailer. Our heritage is in the ski side of things, so we mainly specialize in that, but we also have stuff for snowboarding, backpacking, and hiking,” Josh said.

“Any outside adventure is one we pride ourselves on getting locals and our entire customer base involved in.”

PHOTOS BY ADRIAN ROSAS

So it only made sense to give local outdoor enthusiasts a chance to sell their old—but still highquality gear—while also providing a slightly more affordable avenue for new adventurers.

“I think used gear was something that we were interested in for a long time,” Lindsey said.

“We have always had customers asking if we had used gear or if we were interested in buying back used gear, as it’s a pretty common thing in the outdoor industry.”

Both she and Josh felt that the opportunity was right when a space became available near The Mountain Air last August.

“We knew there was community demand for it,” Lindsey said. “And the fact that it was just two doors down from The Mountain Air was beyond convenient as staff can go between the two stores, and it just makes the

whole thing easier to manage.”

Part of managing those items is having thorough specifications on what The Switchback can carry in terms of used gear.

“People come in and constantly compliment how good the quality of the gear is despite being used,” Lindsey said. “A lot of that comes from how specific our guidelines are for our buy-back program that helps keep the stuff in the store seasonal and in good shape.”

Sellers who meet the used gear specs can enjoy either cash or store credit for either The Switchback or The Mountain Air. “In just a few months, we already have 400 buybacks of gear that became part of our inventory,” she said.

More than anything else, both Josh and Lindsey feel that being able to give high-quality used gear a second life increases accessibility

New, old gear

56 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

Visit The Switchback at 667 Marsh St. in San Luis Obispo. Find all the information you need for usedgear adventuring, selling, and more at theswitchback.com.

to outdoor gear.

“We have a lot of carry-over customers from The Mountain Air, but we also have found that a lot of younger people, especially college students, really like the appeal of The Switchback,” Josh said. “It’s accepted and almost part of this specific aesthetic where they look at the used gear less as used and more as a trophy.”

Hiking boots, ski equipment, snowboarding gear, jackets, sleeping bags, tents, boots—you name it, he said reminders of old adventures can be the start for new ones.

“What’s great is that you can use everything you get on day one,” Josh said. “It’s great to be able to give that piece of gear a new adventure while also continuing that legacy of just going outside and seeing what nature has to offer to us.”

Adventure Awaits!

Ask About Our Spring/Summer Kids’ Camps!

Zipline Tours · Nature & Eagle tours Escape! Room · Team building · EBike Tours Margarita-adventures.com · 805.438.3120

Living Landscape by Raymond Bailey 45 years of Creative, Personal, and Award-winning Designs

@MargaritaAdventures

Experience the SLO Botanical Garden

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www.livinglandscapesbyraymondbailey.com

livinglandscapes@yahoo.com (805) 714-0999

Art in the Garden/Spring Plant Sale Friday, March 29 - Sunday, March 31

Friday Night - 5pm - 7pm • Saturday & Sunday 10am - 4pm

SAVE THE DATE

Faerie Festival - Sunday, May 12

FREE Sundays at the Garden:

February 11, March 10, April 14 and June 9 3450 Dairy Creek Rd. San Luis Obispo

slobg.org

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 57

Gear Hub

Wally’s Bicycle Works 209 Bonetti Drive, SLO (805) 544-4116 wallysbicycleworks.com

Bike shops galore

Wally’s specializes in custom builds, as well as road, gravel, touring, electric, and full custom in-house frame building.

Foothill Cyclery 767 E. Foothill Blvd., suite B, SLO (805) 541-4101 foothillcyclery.com

SLO County has bicycle shops everywhere you look BY CAMILLIA LANHAM

I

f you’re stuck on a bicycle somewhere in San Luis Obispo County and feeling desperate about your situation, there’s probably a bike shop near you that can fi x your problem. On the coast, in a town, up in North County, down in South County. Wherever you are, there’s a bike shop close.

They’re filled with bicycles— people-powered and electric, mountain and road—frames, forks, wheels, tires, parts,

apparel, accessories, and more.

Here’s a list of the local spots, including fix-it stops.

Cambria Bicycle Outfitter 1239 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo Cambriabike.com (805) 221-2602

Since 1986, they’ve carried the best stuff. Employees test ride everything. If they don’t like it, they don’t sell it.

Bike SLO County Bike Kitchen 860 Pacific St., suite 105, SLO (805) 547-2055 bikeslocounty.org

This Bike Kitchen has all the parts, tools, and knowledge you need to fix your bicycle.

Volunteers can help you build one from the ground up, polish up a fixer-upper, and tune-up your ride. The kitchen also sells gently used, ready-to-use bikes.

Foothill carries road bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes, E-bikes, and everything in between! With more than 40 years of combined experience in bicycle mechanics, this shop says it’s the most knowledgeable and reliable bike shop in San Luis Obispo.

Art’s Cyclery 3988 Short St., No. 110, SLO (805) 439-3915 artscyclery.com

Art’s Cyclery has grown from a tiny, one-person shop founded in Los Osos in 1982 to a global cycling resource. Surrounded by a unique network of trails, employees gain fi rsthand experience with the products Art’s stocks.

BIKE SHOPS continued page 60

Illness doesn't care about your weekend �lans!

We are a design studio mindfully creating modern landscapes that are true to place and distinctively new. contextoland.com 58 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

For more information visit slotransit.org, download the SLO Transit app or call 805-541-2877.

Testa Catering & Event Rentals www.TestaCatering.com 805-739-0809 Voted #1 Best Caterer Customize every menu From simply delicious to the most elegant of affairs Specializing in rustic Santa Maria Style BBQ

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Full-service catering and event rentals Serving the Central Coast of California and Beyond!

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 59

FULL SERVICE RECORDING STUDIO

BY THE BAY

Gear Hub BIKE SHOPS from page 58

Village Bike Shop 107 Bridge St., Arroyo Grande, (805) 489-2621 villagebikeshop.business.site

Family-owned and operated, the Village Bike Shop sells a large selection of bikes, e-bikes, and parts, as well as servicing everyone’s cycling needs.

Trinity Cyclery 1343 W. Grand Ave., Grover Beach (805) 473-8324 trinitycyclery.com

Whether you’re shopping for a new bike or repairing an old one, Trinity is ready for you. It carries top brands and prides itself on friendly service as well as quality work.

K-Man Cyclery 9530 El Camino Real, Atascadero (805) 461-8735 712 Paso Robles St., Paso Robles (805) 237-2453 kmancyclery.com

K-Man Cyclery strives to make bikes a part of your everyday life.

With a strong work ethic, positive

attitude, and stellar customer service, K-Man is a workplace that focuses on quality over quantity.

VeloCambria 4056 Burton Drive, Cambria (805) 395-7055 velocambria.com

More than bike shop, VeloCambria aims to capture the essence of country cycling at a cozy venue for you and your friends with world-class cyclists who have the parts and skills to keep you rolling.

Cambria Bike Kitchen 1602 Main St., Cambria (313) 727-9750

A community of cyclists joining together to provide inspiration, communication, and education for local cyclists.

Red Tail Bikes 890 Main St., Morro Bay (805) 225-1010

A good, old-fashioned neighborhood bike shop offering bicycle sales, service, and rentals.

ORCUT T PROVIDING FUEL & SERVICE TO ORCUTT FOR OVER 60 YEARS

Rob Vermeulen of Robbo Music welcomes musicians, bands, singers and vocal talents to Morro Bay where music is hand crafted, home grown and full of heart.

Let us help YOU

Gas up and GO! SMOG CHECKS PASS OR DON’T PAY

Old & New Vehicles DRIVE-UPS WELCOME

OIL CHANGES ASK FOR DETAILS

Robbomusic.com

(805) 801-9841 info@robbomusic.com 60 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

805-937-5340

100 E. Clark Avenue, Orcutt · Orcutt76.com

Business Directory

To get your business listed here or to get more information about the Get Outside business directory email advertising@newtimesslo.com

A Kayak Shack

Baxter Moerman

10 State Park Rd. Morro Bay

1128 Garden St. San Luis Obispo

805-772-8796

morrobaykayakshackrental.com

Aerovista Dental 805-543-4266

835 Aerovista Place Suite 210 San Luis Obispo

805-305-8118

Behind the Barn Consignment 805-464-2072

4785 Traffic Way Atascadero

aerovistadental.com

behindthebarnconsignment.com

Ancient Owl Beer Garden & Bottle Shoppe

Bello Forno

6090 El Camino Real Atascadero 3197 Duncan Rd. San Luis Obispo

www.belloforno.com

805-623-2899

ancientowlbeergarden.com

APX Boomers Santa Maria LLC 856-281-4777

2250 N. Preisker Lane Santa Maria

Arroyo Grande Parks & Recreation 805-473-5474 1221 Ash St. Arroyo Grande

arroyogrande.org/rec

Arroyo Grande Physical Therapy 805-481-5656

117 S. Halcyon Rd. Arroyo Grande

arroyograndephysicaltherapy.com

Banff Film Festival 509-951-6793 banffcentre.ca

805-623-7111

119 E. Clark Ave. Orcutt

Best Family Adventures / Pen & Pad Publishing 805-345-9066 P.O. Box 186 Creston

bestfamilyadventures.com

Black Bear Springs Organic Farm 805-423-0637

blackbearspringshemp.com

Black Sheep Bar & Grill 973-768-7733

1117 Chorro St. San Luis Obispo

blacksheepslo.com

Branch St. Deli and Pizzeria 805-489-9099

203 E. Branch St. Arroyo Grande

Cal-Coast Machinery

805-925-0931

617 S. Blosser Rd. Santa Maria

California Therapy That Works 805-423-4028 1244 Pine St. Paso Robles

Central Coast Landscape Products / CCLP 805-595-3478 445 Prado Rd. San Luis Obispo

cclandscapeproducts.com

Central Coast Solar Brokers 805-668-4420

centralcoastsolarbrokers.com

Central Coast State Parks Association CCSPA

Cambria Bicycle Outfitters

805-548-0384

1239 Monterey San Luis Obispo

centralcoastparks.org

805-927-5510 cambriabike.com

Cambria Garden Shed 805-927-7654 2024 Main St. Cambria

cambriagardenshed.com

Camp Natoma

202 Tank Farm Rd. Suite H2 San Luis Obispo

California Holistic Institute 805-786-4808

11555 Los Osos Valley Rd. Suite 109 San Luis Obispo

californiaholisticinstitute.com

805-316-0163

Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino

campnatoma.org

711 Lucky Lane Coarsegold

P.O. Box 3012 San Luis Obispo

Central Coast Kayaks

866-794-6946

chukchansigold.com

805-541-3181

805-773-3500

Chumash Casino Direct

booboorecords.com

centralcoastkayaks.com

3400 East Hwy. 246 Santa Ynez

Boo Boo Records 978 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo

1879 Shell Beach Rd. Shell Beach

805-686-2163

City of Santa Maria Utilities Dept.

805-925-0951

Downtown Paso Robles Main St. Association

cityofsantamaria.org

835 12th St. Paso Robles

2065 E. Main Santa Maria

City of SLO Transit 805-781-7012

805-238-4103

pasoroblesdowntown.org

Downtown SLO

990 Palm St. San Luis Obispo

805-345-8349

Coastal Community Builders (CCB)

downtownslo.com

P.O. Box 13 Pismo Beach

earthdayalliance.com

805-556-3060

Coelho Academy of Music 805-925-0464

325 E. Betteravia Rd. Santa Maria

coelhomusic.com

Community Health Centers / CHC 805-346-3957

2050 S. Blosser Rd. Santa Maria

communityhealthcenters.org

1135 Chorro St. San Luis Obispo

Earth Day Alliance 805-544-8529

Farrell Smyth Inc. 805-543-2172

21 Santa Rosa St. Suite 100 San Luis Obispo

farrellsmyth.com

Festival Mozaic 805-781-3009

P.O. Box 311 San Luis Obispo

festivalmozaic.org

Flower Carriage 805-922-0578

Contexto Landscape Design

2255 S. Broadway Suite 15 Santa Maria

815 W. Grand Ave. Grover Beach

FOXEN

Dana Adobe

7200 Foxen Canyon Rd. Santa Maria

760-680-1885 contextoland.com

805-929-5679

671 S. Oakglen Ave. Nipomo

danaadobe.org

mscardel.com

805-937-4251

foxenvineyard.com

DIRECTORY continued page 62

Supporting Central Coast State Parks Since 1976

Become a Friend of CCSPA and Support our Local State Parks

4850 S. Bradley Rd. #D1, Orcutt (805) 938-1965

www.backporchflowers.net

cetralcoastparks.org

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 61

Business Directory

To get your business listed here or to get more information about the Get Outside business directory email advertising@newtimesslo.com BUSINESS DIRECTORY from page 61

Gaia’s Garden 805-441-3723 875 Main St. Morro Bay

gaiasgardenmb.com

Gavin’s Books 922-4282

230 E. Betteravia Rd. Santa Maria

gavinsbooks.com

805-549-8855

4100 Vachell Lane San Luis Obispo

kcbx.org

Krobar Craft Distillery 805-467-9463

1701 Monterey (The Hub) San Luis Obispo

krobardistillery.com

Living Landscapes

by Raymond 805-714-0999

livinglandscapesbyramondbailey.com

Margarita Adventures

805-438-3120

22719 El Camino Real Santa Margarita

margarita-adventures.com

Melby’s Jewelers 925-1678

1140 E. Clark Ave. Santa Maria

melbys.com

Robbo Music

7060 N. Marks Ave. Suite 117 Fresno

Morro Bay

Moondoggies Beach Club

559-448-0600

837 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo 781 Dolliver St. Pismo Beach

patrickjames.com

San Luis Marble

Pediatric Medical Group

5452 Edna Rd. San Luis Obispo

805-541-1995

moondoggiesbeachclub.com

NatureTrack Foundation

805-866-2047

KCBX

Patrick James

P.O. Box 953 Los Olivos

naturetrack.org

Nunno Steel 805-238-6801

3461 Dry Creek Rd. Paso Robles

nunnosteel.com

O’Connor Pest Control 866-331-3295

3905 State St. Fleet 7-196 Santa Barbara

oconnorcentralcoast.com

Oakstone Outfitters

805-472-2200

71201 Sargents Rd. Bradley

Orcutt 76 937-5340

100 E. Clark Ave. Santa Maria

Mike’s Shoes

Pacific Energy

487 Madonna Rd. # 3 San Luis Obispo

2121 Santa Barbara St. San Luis Obispo

805-547-9593

805-544-4700

mikesshoessanluisobispo.com

alteryourenergy.com

805-801-9841 robbomusic.com

805-544-9133

805-922-3548

slmarble.com

pmgsm.com

Santa Maria Public Airport

Santa Maria

Point San Luis Lighthouse 805-540-5771 P.O. Box 308 Avila Beach

pointsanluislighthouse.org

PuppyCuts Grooming

805-459-2811

175 Tank Farm Rd. San Luis Obispo

Rancho Maria Golf Club 805-937-2019

1950 Casmalia Rd. Santa Maria

Renaissance Festival 805-550-9177 ccrenfaire.com

805-922-1726

3217 Terminal Dr. Santa Maria

santamariaairport.com

Sierra Club Santa Lucia Chapter 805-543-8717

P.O. Box 15755 San Luis Obispo sierraclub.org

SLO Botanical Gardens 805-541-1400

3450 Dairy Creek Rd. San Luis Obispo

slobg.org

SLO Sportsmen’s Association 805-541-4867

3272 Gilardi Rd. San Luis Obispo

slosa.org

SLOCAL Roots 805-439-1496

3535 S. Higuera St. San Luis Obispo

slocalroots.com

SLOCOG Rideshare

805-781-4362

1114 Marsh St. San Luis Obispo

www.thatsfetch805.com

The Back Porch 805-938-1965

4850 S. Bradley Rd. Santa Maria

backporchflowers.net

Thomas Hill Organics

650-430-5291 1313 Park St. Paso Robles

thomashillorganics.com

solarponics.com

80 San Francisco St. Avila Beach

4700 El Camino Real Atascadero

Sun Buggy

805-244-9721 sunbuggy.com

Superboat DBA Island Packers

SLO County Farmers Markets

805-642-1393

slocountyfarmers.org

islandpackers.com

805-503-9105

1691 Spinnaker Dr. Suite 105 B Ventura

SLO County Parks & Recreation

Templeton Recreation

1144 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo

599 S. Main St. Templeton

805-434-4900

slocountyparks.com

templecsd.org

SLO Rowing Club 805-459-8874

Testa Catering

711 Tank Farm Rd. Suite 100 San Luis Obispo

Santa Margarita Lake and Morro Bay

2218 Thornburg St. Santa Maria

slorc.org/learn-to-row

3564 Skyway Dr. Santa Maria

805-466-5595

805-781-5930

richardsonsothebysrealty.com

361-0802

Van Curaza Surf School

Solarponics

Richardson Sotheby’s International Realty 805-781-6040

That’s Fetch

805-544-7873

vancurazasurfschool.com

Virg’s Landing 559-836-4911

1169 Market Ave. Morro Bay

Western Village Health Club 805-348-1888

2015 S. Broadway Suite B Santa Maria

wvhealthclub.com

805-739-0809 testacatering.com

Business Directory To get your business listed here or to get more information about the Get Outside business directory email advertising@newtimesslo.com 62 Get Outside WINTER/SPRING 2024

You are your only limit.

Success starts with

EXERCISE IS ESSENTIAL 2015 S Broadway B, Santa Maria

805-348-1888 wvhealthclub23@gmail.com

WINTER/SPRING 2024 Get Outside 63

Renaissance Festival July 20 & 21

Laguna Lake Park − San Luis Obispo 10 AM − 6 PM

Full Contact Battles

Four Stages of Comedy, Plays, Music, Dance Archery, Falconry, Games & Fine Shopping Delicious Food, Wine, Beer & Honey Mead Kids’ Costume Contest Both Days Pirate Treasure Hunt On Sunday Free Bike Valet & Water Filling Station Save $4 with promo code Save$4 Tickets & Information

CCRenFaire.com