Santa Barbara Hiking Trails - Inspiration Point

Inspiration Point is one of the closest and easiest hikes in the Santa Barbara area (only 5 minutes away from the downtown area). It also has one of the most beautiful views of the city. Therefore, it makes for a popular late afternoon or morning hike. In looking at the images, you can see why it's called Inspiration Point.

The trail starts on a paved road with a light incline. After the pavement stops, you will eventually get to a fork in the trail (go left!!)... and it will lead you down to a creek (which is dry during the summer months). If you follow the creek, you will get to 7 Falls (have to do a bit of rock jumping). However, if you pass the creek and continue going up, you will eventually find yourself on top of Inspiration Point! The summit itself is rather non distinct, but you can tell you're at the top when looking down on the city of Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara Hiking Trails - Cold Spring(s) Trail

Cold Spring(s) Trail starts off with a very gentle climb to an area with small waterfalls (the creek bed was a bit low when I was there... so waterfalls were extra small). After you get to a sign for "West Fork Cold Springs Trail", it starts getting a bit more steep and will eventually lead you up to Edison Rd. From Edison Rd, there is a beautiful vista looking down on Montecito and Santa Barbara (in the distance). If you want to challenge yourself a bit further, there is an even steeper trail that leads higher into the mountains. The views from up there are even more incredible and there are some really cool yucca plants that dot the trail. Definitely recommend this hike!

Can still see traces of fire damage on certain trees.

We were actually searching for a waterfall (that didn't exist) and ended up on this boulder trail. After we got to a certain height, we realized that getting down would be much more difficult than going up. Therefore, it was at this point that we decided to turn around and admit defeat (my running shoes were not providing much traction on the boulders)