E Walker Images
Endeavor to persevere
Hiking the Southern Los Padres (Old Old Old)
These are old hiking/backpacking photos from the Southern Los Padres National Forest. I usually carried a camera (Rollei 35T or Nikon FM) in the 1980s. I did not (for the most part) take pictures in the late 1960s or 1970s. In general, the rougher the routes and the more difficult the route finding, the fewer shots I took (a huge mistake, in retrospect). These are scans of Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides and a few Kodacolor prints. I estimate that I have less than 20% of the photos I might have had if I had not lent slides and neglected to retrieve them and if I had been more diligent archiving my photographs. If I find more interesting material I will post it. I find I am more bothered by the loss of some of this record (Lower Sespe, Big Narrows, Madulce Cabin [Madulce has been found], for instance) than the loss of my vinyl LP collection (Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Creedence, to name a few). Ultimately, I am simply a homesick Los Padres expatriate; in fact, there is an amazing generation of adventure and trail scholarship in process in the Southern Los Padres. I refer the reader to these sites: craigrcarey.net, Ventura County Canyoneering, Jack Elliot's Santa Barbara Adventure and the David Stillman blog. Also peruse the outstanding continuing work to establish the Condor Trail through the Los Padres.
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Bluff Camp "ghost" sign: I had a film / camera malfunction the last few frames and did not (I thought) get an image of the sign at Bluff Camp on December 24, 1985. Twenty six years later (December 11, 2011) I examined the "unprintable" negatives I recovered in August 2011 from a plastic box that had been stored in Ojai for more than 20 years. To my great surprise I found enough of a latent image to pull the sign out - sort of. Close enough - the word "Bluff" is sufficiently legible to provide evidence of a successful trip. If you have ever made the commitment to get to the site you understand my consternation at missing this shot. This image helps ease the pain somewhat.
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