Earthwalk Day 1196 (2 May 2025), 11,965 km

Continuing on, I’m staying close to the coast. Indeed, mid last week I arrived in Santa Barbara and soon after came within sight of the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Getting from there to Ventura on foot is, very literally, not straightforward; southeast of Dulah, Frontage Road gives out and State Beach Access Road starts up — but a railroad track and the Pacific Coast Highway lie between them. In practice you probably can dash across both but Google Maps doesn’t allow it. Instead it puts you on E Road which winds like a snake up and down and through the steep hills northeast of Dulah, coming out north of Ventura. From there it’s past Oxnard to Camarillo (of Brillo fame).

After a poor start to the year, April went well. Average steps were almost a dead heat with last April’s, ahead of the previous two years, and it edged out 2023 for best April distance. The Gilbertsville Morris Tour, and postering for that event two weeks earlier, prevented doing even better, as did three snow/rain/wind days.

A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 34.234°N, 118.974°W.