Fearless Travel

To come full circle to our outing along Coal Oil Point, it occurs to me that you all have no idea what it looks like. I’ve fixed that little problem, below. But first, there’s something I have to talk about; Sloughs (pronounced SLEWZ). Sloughs dot the wetlands where Santa Barbara county meets the ocean. These are semi-saltwater marshes that absolutely teem with life. I have more pics hidden somewhere, but there’s a pic of a crane fishing for frogs or small fish. The Sloughs are a buffer between the run-off from the mountains and the more delicate ocean. In dry months, the water will completely evaporate, leaving weeks of stinky mud smells until the beds dry up as well. When it finally does rain, the critters come back so fast, it’s mind boggling. Frogs are usually the first back and within a day of a heavy rain, their mating choruses are so loud it can be hard to sleep with the windows open. Hundreds of thousands of tree and swamp frogs yealling “Hey baby! Hey baby!” in their chirping awesomeness. No frogs nor chirping now though. Enjoy the pics:

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