Beach Walk 1: Goleta Beach to Hope Ranch Beach

 

Goleta Beach (past the slough) on a typical June Day

To start the journey, I chose a more predictable section of beach and a lower tide. Based on my estimations and the website of the California Coastal Trail, I predicted this was about 3 miles. Jennifer and Crystal set off with me on June 5th just before low tide (this one was 0 feet) from Goleta Pier at Goleta Beach.  

It wasn't long before we hit our first challenge. The Goleta Slough was deeper than expected. I have crossed it plenty of times when it was low, but this day it was calf deep and we needed to take off our shoes to get through the water. After regrouping and drying our feet (and adding a towel to my list of items to bring), we continued on. There are several places where you need a tide like this (0 feet) or lower to navigate around the points. Several times we had hustle to get around the point when the tide was out or scramble over the rocks. 

More Mesa Beach is known for being a nude beach, but during this early part of the the day, we only saw one other person (clothed). There are some impressive "rock formations" along here that are actually made from tar. Hope Ranch Beach was 3.2 miles from our start! 

Challenge number 2 came at the end of the walk when we tried to exit Hope Ranch Beach. There isn't a clear way to exit and we had to wait for a car to come through the gate to leave when they came through. There was a lot of laughter as we dashed to and through the gate and a moment where I thought one of use would make it leaving the others trapped. We all made it our and a prearranged ride picked us up. (I texted from the beach which had coverage but I didn't have coverage on the road outside).

Thanks to Crystal and Jennifer for being adventurous and joining me for my first walk! 5km (3 miles down)!

Related Posts:

Goleta Beach

Goleta Beach Playground

Hope Ranch Beach

More Mesa Beach 

More Mesa Preserve

Birthday Beach Walks

Gaviota May 2026

There's another big birthday coming this year. If you have been following me for a long time, you know I had a whole list of things to accomplish when for my 40th birthday. I may do some of those same things (but more ;) this year. One of the things I did was to train and do a sprint triathlon--not quickly, but I did it! I trained mostly by myself and when it came to my next big birthday, I chose to walk 45 miles with friends in the days around my birthday. Much more fun! 

These the things on my bucket list for the year: 
1. Walk or run 500 miles this year 
2. Give away 50 things
3. Try 50 new recipes

4. Read 50 books 

5. My big plan is to walk 50 kilometers of coastline with friends! 

I have been thinking about this last one for months. It much harder to plan than one would think. You need a low tide (less than 1 foot is best and a negative tide is better) at the right time of day (and hopefully a friend available to walk)! Maps of the area don't give milage for the coast and the right distance (probably 3-5 miles) is important. I tried to have ChatGPT plan this for me and found a task to simply could not do.  It wildly underestimated distances and told me to walk at 2:30 AM. It has taken planning and I still will probably find surprises along the way. Last week I finally found a helpful website (after much research and planning) from the California Coastal Trail. 

While this is still a work in progress, these are the segments, I have planned so far:

 1. Gaviota to Canada San Onofre Beach
2. Canada San Onofre Beach to Arroyo Quemada
3. Arroyo Quemada to Refugio
4. Refugio to El Capitan
5. El Capitan to Haskell ?? (Still figuring this one out)
6. Haskells to Ellwood
7. Ellwood to Goleta
8. Goleta to Hope Ranch Beach (June 5th)
9. HR to Arroyo Burro
10. Arroyo Burro to Ledbetter
11. Ledbetter to East Beach
12. East Beach to Miramar
13. Miramar to ?? (Still figuring this one out)
14. ?? to Carp State Beach (Still figuring this one out)

As a mom, I will still be working on some of the Choose Your Own Adventure items that we haven't done before and hope to post that too (as the gals get older, it gets harder to coordinate this)!

Related Posts:

40 Year Old Bucket List

40 Year Birthday Update/ 6 Month Update
Yearly Reading Challenge 2020-2024 and 2025 and Beyond

Screenagers 5/3/26

Screensavers is a documentary created by physician and parent, Delaney Ruston. It is designed to bring together teenagers, parents, teachers and community members to inspire conversations about what healthy technology habits look like today. The movie examines smart phones, social media,  video games and overall screen time in today's teens. Not content to just state the problem, Delaney focuses on finding balance in teen technology use both personally and at a systemic level. The film is designed for to spark conversations between parents and children regarding digital literacy and healthy habits. (63 mins)

 Screenagers Trailer

More info

https://www.screenagersmovie.com

Support for the Goleta Mom work

Do you love to get notifications for events in our area on Facebook and Instagram? Do you love looking up a park on the blog to see if it had bathrooms? Consider supporting the work I do by supporting some things I love! (I do get a small kickback or benefit from these, but I only recommend things that I have tried and truly love.)

Online Cooking and life skills classes for kids & teens:  https://sl290.isrefer.com/go/vip/rdupar/

Fashion and Color Analysis with Created Colorful

Online Pilates and wellness with Lindywell

Favorite checklist tool: Trello! 

Book Discussion Questions: Present Over Perfect

My spiritual formation group is still meeting and reading together. Our most recent read was Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist.  It is written as essays and is autobiographical. It is available on Hoopla as an ebook and on Audio through my Goleta and Santa Barbara libraries. We split the book into 2 3 section chunks. 

Parts 1-3
- What aspects of Shauna's life change resonated with you? (Or didn’t.)
- Shauna talks about the idea of “Fake resting?” (page 35) Is this something you are prone to? Why or Why not?
- On page 37, Shauna lists some fundamental questions. “Am I loved? Does someone see me? Do I matter? Am I safe?” Which question jumped out for you?
- Page 49 reads “If you're not careful with your yeses, you start to say no to some very important things without realizing it.” How does this cause you to reflect on your own life?
- On page 74, Shauna shares the analogy of pouring out the vinegar before you get to the oil. Is this how you pray instinctively? Or do your prayer habits look different?
- On page 83, Shauna mentions that each church can only be “half the pie.” What gaps have you found in your church experience?
- Page 106 reads, “In seasons of deep transformation, Silence is the greatest guide. Silence will become the incubator for your new spirit, keeping it safe, growing it steadily. Has this been your experience with silence? How so?
- Page 128 reads present over perfect is about rejecting the method every day is a new opportunity to prove our worth and about the truth that our worth is inherent, given by God, not by hustling.
- There are a lot of stories we tell ourselves about what’s required of us. (“I’m a hard worker.”) And a lot of stories our culture tells about what’s required of the moment. (“Carpe diem!”) What story are you telling yourself about what constitutes “the good life” right now? Is that story particularly gendered or Christian? Does it matter? *
- What practical ways are there to reshape the life we live? 

* Thanks to Kate Bowler's question list

Parts 4-6 

Other places to hear from Shauna: Kate Bowler and Emily P. Freeman

Bowlero

Recently we purchased a summer bowling pass from Bowlero. For $40, you can bowl 2 games every day and have free shoe rental (Sunday- Friday open-close and Saturday open-4pm). For $55, you can upgrade to any location, a daily $5 arcade credit and 15% off food/nonalcoholic beverages. The passes are good May 13th - September 1st. 

Otherwise: 

Cost: Online Reservations will put the cost at about $125 for a lane for 2 hours including shoe rental. It is far cheaper to walk in and get the lane, but you are not guaranteed a quick spot.  

Location: Goleta near Yogurtland on Calle Real

Directions: From downtown, take the 101N to the Fairview exit and take right onto Fairview. Take another right onto Calle Real. Bowlero is about 1/2 block down on the right. 

Parking: Free on site

Hours: M-W 2pm-11pm Th/F 2pm-12am, Saturday 10am-12am, Sunday 10am-11pm
Time: 1-2 hours

Drive Time: 10 minutes 

More Information: https://www.bowlero.com/location/bowlero-santa-barbara

Nearby:  Goleta Library, Fairview Gardens 

Quote from my 11 year old: "It's great to bring friends." 

Related Posts: 

Choose Your Own Adventure 2025 

Refugio Nature Program

We spent a weekend camping at Refugio State Park and enjoyed perfect weather (in June!). We noticed that they have a junior ranger program with activities. The little house where the junior ranger programs are located is at the far end of the day use parking lot.

Otherwise: 

Cost: Day use pass for the Refugio State Beach is $10.

Location: Refugio State Beach 

Directions: From Goleta, take the 101N to the Refugio exit just past El Capitan. Take a left to go under the freeway, another left to follow the frontage road and a right to the kiosk.  

Parking: In the day use area unless you are camping. 

Hours: see the Instagram page for updated info

Time: 45 minutes if you do the craft

Drive Time: 20 minutes 

More Information: Instagram or State Beach Website

Nearby:  Refugio State Beach, El Capitan State Beach (Closed in 2025) and Gaviota State Beach

Quote from my 11 year old: "I liked the craft." 

Related Posts: Choose Your Own Adventure 2025