Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society

Dedicated to the study, exploration, and appreciation of natural history
in the Santa Ynez Valley region.

Rincon Creek to the Ventura River: Slip sliding away!

Saturday, November 1, 2025

Field trip with Larry Ballard and Sabina Thomas

This is a landscape scene of the beach, with ocean waves lapping at the shore, a broad expanse of sandy beach, and coastal mountains in the background. The sky is blue and clear.
Broad expanses of sandy beach are found in many shoreline areas between Rincon Creek and the Ventura River. Photo by Larry Ballard.

The Santa Ynez Mountains are the western-most range within the Transverse Ranges, and they dominate the skyline for the 60 miles of coast between Point Conception and Rincon Creek. At Rincon, however, there is an abrupt change in the topography which extends 12 miles down the coast. It is this section that will be the focus of our nontechnical field trip to examine a unique landscape, ranging from Rincon Creek to the Ventura River and back.

Naturalist Larry Ballard will lead the first part of the trip, where our driving route will take us along the Pacific Coast Highway and U.S. 101, with several short walking stops along the way. We will test our observational skills as if we were mapping the area for the first time. Some of the geomorphic features we will encounter are stream terraces, sea cliffs, marine terraces, antecedent streams, and depositional deltas. If the visibility is good that day we will have distant views of Gaviota Peak, the Channel Islands, Pine Mountain Ridge, and the Topatopa Mountains.

There will be stops starting at Rincon, then Sea Cliff, the Ventura River, “no-name,” and finally La Conchita. At our last stop, geologist Sabina Thomas will discuss the disastrous landslides on Rincon Mountain in 1995 and 2005 as well as the ongoing threats to the community of La Conchita. We hope to have a road log for places that we’ll pass by without stopping.

This is a close-up view of the coastal mountains behind the beach. Plants grow on the tops of deeply eroded gullies.
Gullies and arroyos dissect these terraces in the oil-bearing Pico Formation along the north side of Highway 101 west of Ventura. Photo by Larry Ballard.

Larry Ballard is a natural history educator with a focus on botany and has been a popular field trip leader for the SYVNHS, California Nature Art Museum, and other organizations for over 25 years.

Sabina Thomas grew up in Germany and received her PhD in Geology from the Technical University Berlin. She moved to Santa Barbara in 2010. In addition to teaching earth-science at Santa Barbara City College, she leads field trips for the SYVNHS, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and Channel Islands Restoration.

How to Register

Event date: Saturday, November 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m. to Noon
Participation is limited to 20.
Advance registration is required and opens at 9:00 a.m. on October 4 for members and on October 18 for nonmembers at syvnhs@syvnature.org or 805/693-5683.
Field trip location and information will be sent to registrants.
Hike difficulty is rated as easy.
Members $15 / Nonmembers $30 / Children $5

 

 

 

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