The early parts of my 19.5-mile walk had me looking directly into the bright sun--I was walking to east climbing out of the Lompoc Valley into the Santa Ynez Valley. I was observing an amazingly interesting phenomenon: nearly all mountain ranges on the North American Continent run north-south--not this one! Of course, it wasn't always that way. Some 12 million years ago it was orderly, then rotated 110 deg clockwise and thus we end up with a beautiful traverse range some 70 miles long that stretches from where Point Concepcion meets the Pacific all the way to Ojai! What's more it's a single-crested range with "phenomenal" character. It also screws most of us up who live in its shadows, because when we look out into the ocean, we're looking south (not west).
Besides seeing an increasing number of vineyards, I noted a few sites unique to this part of the country: Chumash Indian Casino buses making their runs to Lompoc (the Casino is just east of Solvang); black/raspberries enshrouded in plastic to avoid the birds' damage; and at least three bicycle groups with guide motorcycles and support vehicles. It was a fun day, as all of them have been!
