Montecito Peak and the ruins of Montecito Hot Springs

The Santa Ynez Mountain Range near Santa Barbara is one of the very few east-west oriented mountain range in the United States, almost all other ranges are north-south oriented. This mountain range is also known for its hot springs, most of them very primitive and not commercialized (see for example this one). One exception was the Santa Barbara or Montecito Hot Springs. In the mid 18 hundreds a man named Wilbur Curtis built a hotel next to the hot springs in the hills behind Montecito. However, several fires destroyed the building and these days only the ruins of the once big hotel can be seen. I wanted to visit these ruins today and combined my hike with a climb of the close-by Montecito Peak.

The starting point of my hike is at the trailhead of the "Cold Spring Loop" on Mountain Drive in the hills of Montecito. I take the Cold Spring Trail on the east side of the creek which leads me up to the fire road, follow it for a few hundred yards and then take the obvious trail on the left hand side which goes up the mountain. A few eucalyptus trees on the way up are pretty much the only shade you'll find from this point on. I follow the trail which leads to the Northern side of the peak and to a saddle east of the high point. From there a rather steep paths leads to the highpoint, which offers a very nice view.

On my way back down I then make a detour to visit the remains of the Montecito Hotsprings. In order to get there I first retrace my steps to an altitude of about 1800 ft. There I take the trail on the left hand (east) side going down into the Hot Spring Creek valley. It crosses the creek and on the other side I walk up to the ruins of the former hotel. After my visit there I then follow the big gravel road down the hill for a few hundred yards and then cross the Hot Springs creek again on the right hand side and there follow the Edison Catway gravel fire road up to the crest. From here I retrace my path along the Cold Spring Trail back down to the trailhead.


PS: A good and detailed description of the hike to Montecito Peak can be found on the santabarbara.com website