“Everything you see here was part of one big rock,” explained trail wizard Ray Ford last Saturday, pointing to a scatter of broken-up sandstone. He and volunteers Kalon Kelley and Rich Scholl were working with a hand-cranked winch and titanium rod to slide a boulder to the side of the new trail on Baron Ranch, where views of the three big Channel Islands were crystal clear, interrupted only occasionally by the swoop of a hawk or teetering of a vulture.

"The morning effort of clearing this landslide zone located about 1,200 feet above sea level was just one of numerous tasks for the day, and just a fraction of the time and energy required to open this trail, which is the first new public trail opened on the Gaviota Coast in decades. And there’s already talk of connecting this trail — which is actually mostly an unpaved road that winds through a working avocado and cherimoya ranch, save for the upper six-tenths of a mile — with West Camino Cielo on the ridgeline far above."

Read more of Matt Kettman's story at the Independent. The Trails Council played an integral role in opening up the Baron Ranch Trail and is working on a ridge connector to the top.