Old School Signage: The Graveyard

Welcome to the Mother Lode

On a clear Santa Barbara day this past week, a band of VWRs assembled along the banks of the Santa Ynez for a day’s training and camaraderie.

Over the course of the day, DAW-G, ZK, Bardlero Primero and I stopped a few times at the “Graveyard,” a storage area for some old flame-cut and routered Los Padres trail and road signs.

One site with which I was not familiar at the time was “Milk Can Spring,” which I’ve since located in the Sta. Lucia RD just NW of Black Mountain. Legacy maps don’t show a camp there from what I’ve found, and while some maps show the Black Mountain Trail (15E03) crossing the spring (see older Wilson Corner 7.5″ quads), current orthoimagery clearly shows the route stay well above the drainage. An historic re-route?

Milkcan Spring

Milkcan Spring 002

Naturally, plans are now afoot to return and more thoroughly document and catalog this great collection of historical signage.

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Comments

5 responses to “Old School Signage: The Graveyard”

  1. Craig, that area north of Black Mountain is also home to a small herd of Wild Horses. A wander into it could be fascinating

    1. I’ve spent very little time in the Sta Lucia RD aside from Sisquoc/Manzana and Mission Pine excursions, so I think I’ll be putting this on the to-do list. If there was a camp there (I haven’t seen anything to say there was), who knows what we’ll find.

  2. I had no idea such a resting place for retired Los Padres signage existed. I need to see it in person some day if such a thing is possible. Bad enough I missed the opportunity to hang out with all the Los Padres luminaries for the day; now this.

    1. Expat, I’ve tucked this into the itinerary for our next outing. Pack accordingly. 😉

  3. Hmmm…I didn’t know that signage had a graveyard. I have been enlightened today!

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