In a previous column, we saw how longer ventures out into the wilderness of la inmensidad can breed a revivifying urge to return again and again.
These outings provide our postmodern digitalized brains a temporary rejoining with the paleo-Stone Age mindset. The relief from urban cares and our current political chaos is better than Zoloft or Prozac, and similar to steadfast prayer and eastern meditation practices.
However, the adventure described requires only 25 minutes of easy hiking, and one spends more time on the freeway and country roads than hiking to well-known Nojoqui Falls, located at the south end of Nojoqui Falls County Park south of Buellton.
Enjoying the verdant park at the entrance to the narrow gorge is a recommended part of the whole experience of “going to the falls,” so plan to bring the relatives along with abundant food and drink.
Don’t miss the glorious landscape at the county park by a too-narrow focus on the legendary falls. The 85-acre park has picnic tables and grilling areas, wide fields for games and rituals, and it’s ideal for bringing the family generations together here for a noon barbecue and a languid stroll to the falls.
While I was there in mid-April, a grandfather, his adult daughter and her son were on the path enjoying the silence, one another and the flowing water.
It’s amusing to hear people attempt to say “Nojoqui” — a Chumash, not Spanish, term. I generally hear it pronounced NAW-wee or Naw-WHO-wee. Some think nojoqui might mean “meadow” in spoken Samala (Chumash).
Nojoqui Falls itself sits at the end of a narrow winding gorge cutting into a prominent knoll near the ancient village of naxuwi. Napamu’ is the shrine-hill’s likely name. The county park comprises many acres of meadow in the spring.
Our general area has several examples of these small seasonal waterfalls, such as Alcove Falls above Manzana Narrows Camp and Rose Valley Falls behind Ojai. Nojoqui Falls was running in mid-April, but it should dry up like most of our other seasonal falls by June at the latest since we’re still in a major drought.
Between 80 and 100 feet high, Nojoqui Falls is geologically complicated in that it is growing slowly outward as well as carving out material at its base. The Jalama Formation marine sandstone’s magnesium carbonate and calcium minerals dissolve as the water rushes down from higher up, and then become deposited on the surface of the falls, thus growing outward. You can detect Venus maidenhair ferns growing on the walls since this plant prefers calcium-rich soils like those on the face of the falls.
As the trail narrows when you get closer to the rumbling falls, the county has helpfully put up railing to prevent visitors from slipping on the moist stones below. The grandparent stayed within bounds, but the young boy I observed was down in the rocky creekbed most of the time, obviously the most fun place and where my own schoolchildren would go.
While there was some water, you can see from the photo that the streams are feeble, and once they hit the ground the water goes underground within 150 yards — drought resumes.
Last year at this time, after a good winter of rain, Nojoqui Falls was pounding away. This spring, it’s sedate and quiet, yet thought-provoking.
Since I was hiking solo, the wonderful silence massaged the mind and engendered a relaxing of the spirit. As my favorite novelist, Philip K. Dick, wrote in VALIS, only half in jest: “When you are crazy you learn to keep quiet.” Surely, he would have benefited from some sojourns at Nojoqui Falls!
The county park has individual tables and grills but is much less inviting in the hot summer. Note that the four large rental barbecue areas are often full on the weekends. Since it’s only about 45 minutes from Santa Barbara and six miles from Highway 246, it’s also fun to visit Solvang or the nearby wineries, then picnic at Nojoqui Falls park and include a pleasant hike to view the falls or the dry falls.
The attractiveness of the venture encourages several generations of family and friends uniting to enjoy the amenities of the free park, and letting the kids roam about and enjoy the gorge — whether the falls are flowing or dry.
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» Driving directions: From Santa Barbara, take Highway 101 north past Gaviota and through the tunnel. After topping out on the long uphill grade, look for Nojoqui Falls and make the right turn, then wind back toward the sea along Alisal Ranch until you see the entrance sign to the county park. From Solvang, it is 6 miles along North Alisal Road to Nojoqui Falls County Park.
» Click here for more information about the county park.
» Science fiction master Philip K. Dick’s novel VALIS (Vast Active Living Intelligence System) is the first in his astonishing final trio of “theological” novels, including The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer — all to be found at Chaucer’s Bookstore, 3321 State St.
» napamu’ defined in R.B. Applegate’s magisterial Samala-English Dictionary (2007), page 235.
— Dan McCaslin is the author of Stone Anchors in Antiquity, and has written extensively about the local backcountry. He serves as an archaeological site steward for the U.S. Forest Service in the Los Padres National Forest. He welcomes reader ideas for future Noozhawk columns, and can be reached at cazmania3@gmail.com. Click here to read additional columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
