On the Record

Nicholas Schou is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of several books, including Orange Sunshine and Kill the Messenger. If you have tips or stories about Montecito, please email him at newseditor@montecitojournal.net

Social Distancing Now Mandatory on Montecito’s Trails

Despite mounting fears over the COVID-19, aka the “coronavirus,” on March 24, the U.S. Forest Service officially declared that the extensive trail network in the hills above Montecito will remain open for recreational activities until further notice. The news came as a relief to Ashlee Mayfield, president of the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF), in part because the group continues to work with the Los Padres Forest Association (LPFA) to complete repairs to the trails, which were extensively damaged during the 2018 Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flows. (As the Montecito Journal reported last month, MTF and LPFA have nearly finished all the major trail restoration and had expected to be completely finished sometime in April.)

“It’s a good thing that the Forest Service says the trails are still open,

The San Ysidro Trail’s waterfall in action Ashlee Mayfield near top of San Ysidro Trail

so they can be repaired as needed,” Mayfield says, adding that recent rains have added to the LPFA’s ongoing workload. (Mayfield also pointed out that the rains have finally produced enough flow for the San Ysidro’s trail’s typically dry waterfall to actually live up to its name). Although any work that is carried out on the trails is subject to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines on social distancing, Mayfield says that won’t impact the work. “The guys can work very far apart up there in groups of two or four for safety,” she explains.

“It’s perfect, actually.”

That said, Mayfield worries that too many people on the trails may lead the Forest Service to reverse its decision to keep the trails open. She argues that it’s up to the general public using the trails to voluntarily adhere to CDC guidelines as well as practice common sense when they are out in nature. “Once you get out of your car, you have to think about social distancing from that very moment,” Mayfield explains. “And even before you get out of your car, if you see a lot of cars parked, maybe think about leaving

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and coming back later. Everybody wants to hit the trails at 9 or 10 am. Either come back later or go early to avoid crowds.”

Another important thing to keep in mind is not jamming up the trailhead. “Don’t gather at that narrow space where people are trying to get on and off the trail,” Mayfield advises. “The next thing is about passing: People should have room to pass – six feet of it – so step back off the trail and out of the way,” she continues. “Just don’t step into poison oak, because that will be an unwelcome surprise.”

Because of the coronavirus crisis, MTF has suspended all its regular group hikes, which usually meet at various trailheads each Friday morning at either 6:30 or 8:30 am. “Generally, meeting up in groups is not advisable,” Mayfield says, unless everyone in the group is symptom-free and from the same household. Mayfield also has a warning for parents who might feel inclined to let their kids hike alone. “We’re seeing some teenagers telling their parents they are going for a hike, and then meeting a whole bunch of other teens out there, which we really don’t want,” she says. “But if you follow all the rules, it’s a great place to be for a few hours, just to get away from the news and not check your phone.”

The Solo Joy of Sunrise Summitting

One person who has no problem practicing social distancing in Montecito’s front country is Andrea Strand, 42, a registered nurse and

nurse practitioner who gets up well before dawn each morning to ride her bike up various paved inclines, especially Gibraltar Road, with the goal of reaching the top by sunrise. “I’m the unofficial hill climbing champion of Gibraltar,” Strand says with just a hint of well-earned pride. “I climbed Gibraltar twelve times last year, 29,500 feet in one day; it took me just under 20 hours. It’s a global challenge and nobody’s done that. I own it.”

On September 11, 2001, while obtaining her master’s degree at Yale University, Strand became a 9/11 first responder, taking the train down from Connecticut to Union Station, which was as close as she could get to the wreckage of the World Trade Center. “I walked fourteen blocks to the site,” she recalls. “I helped firefighters with saline flushes and nebulizers. It was just crazy. Everybody was trying to get out of there except for the firefighters who went in running, knowing they would not get out.”

A Mission Canyon resident for the past 13 years, Strand works in primary care with Dr. Susanne Ramos, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Santa Barbara. Strand also teaches Pilates classes on her Instagram Live feed, which is @drea2motivate. “I do it maybe three or four times a week,” she adds. “Anyone can join; I’m not charging anyone.” In 2011, her zeal for workouts and blogging about workouts was so strong that it won her a front page story in the Wall Street Journal. The first female winner of the Santa Barbara Marathon, Strand was a competitive runner until a back injury forced her to switch her work out routine to cycling.

Strand loves the solitude of predawn cycling but says she wouldn’t mind seeing a few more folks out there. “Nobody gets up at 5 am to bike up the hill,” she explains. “I took my son up on Mesa today at 9 and there was hardly anybody. People are flocking to the trails, and my fear is if people keep doing that, we will all be kept off the trails.”

Pet Fostering in a Pandemic

Summerland resident Lee Heller has lived in Santa Barbara County, including Montecito, for the past 23 years, and has been active in animal services for another few decades before that. She’s also a longtime volunteer with the cat-centric Animal Shelter Assistance Program, or ASAP, which is based in Goleta. According to Heller, animal shelters throughout not just Santa Barbara County but the entire United States are experiencing a high volume of drop-offs thanks to the economic dislocation brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

“People are turning in their animals because they just lost their job and can’t pay the bills,” Heller says. “But meanwhile, people are at home sheltering in place and have all this time on their hands. If they are animal lovers, it’s an opportunity to get these animals out of the shelters.” It’s an urgent mission, Heller says, because many shelters are having to send home the majority of their workers. “The volunteers are no longer able to take care of these animals,” she explains. “It’s just minimal kennel staff, and that’s no quality of life for the animals.”

Heller already has four cats over her own, as well as three dogs, and before the pandemic began, she’d already taken in a friend’s Sheltie Lee Heller and her new friend, Brandi the Sheltie

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A selfie, Andrea Strand style