Tag archives: MTF

60th Anniversary BBQ for the Montecito Trails Foundation
By Joanne A Calitri   |   September 24, 2024

Society Invites says, put your fashion sneakers on and jaunt over to the 60th Anniversary BBQ celebration for the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF), Sunday, September 22, 5-9 pm, at the Carriage & Western Art Museum Santa Barbara. The all-out celebration is the first fundraiser back on the trails since 2019. Proving to be a time […]

McMenemy Trail Project Moves Forward
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   November 29, 2022

Last week, Santa Barbara County’s Riding and Hiking Trails Advisory Committee (aka CRAHTAC) approved a plan to realign .6 miles of Montecito’s McMenemy Trail. According to Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF) Board President Ashlee Mayfield, the section of trail in question has significant issues and has been on the docket for improvement since at least 2008, […]

Sonya Harris’s 101 Freeway Ramp Garden Relocated
By Joanne A Calitri   |   July 26, 2022

Summerland is blessed with the beautiful green thumb of Sonya Harris, who single-handedly created a garden scape with over 250 plants and stonework along Lillie Avenue’s sidewalk through the northbound 101 onramp.  Caltrans was ready to bulldoze through that garden were it not for a good deed message from Kirsten Ayars, PR for the Caltrans […]

The Secret to Making Long Hikes Feel Better
By Rachael Quisel   |   July 26, 2022

How would you describe the Santa Barbara Nine Trails Endurance Run? Challenging, grueling, fun? In early 2020, a few Montecito locals – retirees, moms, and full-time professionals – found their joy in this mega-trail. The small group, comprised of about five women, met through the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF). They banded together and set out […]

Montecito Trails Replaces Bridge
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   December 21, 2021

Last week was an exciting moment for the Montecito Trails Foundation as well as the community at large: the last of the bridges to be damaged or destroyed in the 1/9 Debris Flow was replaced, a project nearly four years in the making. “In order to create the best access for the public, we needed […]

Montecito Trails Foundation Celebrates New Year With Trash Pickup on Local Trails
By Nick Schou   |   January 14, 2021

On December 31, the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF) held its inaugural New Year’s Eve trash pickup event on local trails, with dozens of members fanning out along some 90 miles of trails in the front country above town as well as community trails within Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria. Because of COVID-19 concerns, the group encouraged […]

Santa Barbara’s Bucket Brigade Unveils New Trail Project in Montecito
By Nick Schou   |   December 10, 2020

If you’ve ever trekked up the walking path on the west side of San Ysidro Road between the 101 Freeway and East Valley Road, or along the north side of North Jameson Lane between San Ysidro and Olive Mill Road, then you are already familiar with Montecito’s recently established community trail network. While sidewalks were […]

Montecito Trails Foundation Goes Ass First into Second Phase of San Ysidro Trail’s Restoration
By Nick Schou   |   October 22, 2020

After an almost monthlong closure aimed at preventing new fires in what is already one of the busiest fire seasons in California history, the National Forest Service reopened the Los Padres National Forest on October 9. At just after 9 am that morning, 13 mules and a horse led by a trio of wranglers hired […]

Focus on Film: Montecito Movie ‘Trail’-ers
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 30, 2020

Residents with a love for the outdoors – and isn’t that just about everyone in Montecito – might have a particular interest in the second event in Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s new Film Talk series that features viewings of short films produced locally followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers. The 15-minute Trail Heads […]

Social Distancing Now Mandatory on Montecito’s Trails
By Nick Schou   |   March 26, 2020

Despite mounting fears over the COVID-19, aka the “coronavirus,” on March 24, the U.S. Forest Service officially declared that the extensive trail network in the hills above Montecito will remain open for recreational activities until further notice. The news came as a relief to Ashlee Mayfield, president of the Montecito Trail Foundation (MTF), in part […]

Land Use Discusses Trails and Debris Basin
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   March 12, 2020

At this month’s Montecito Association Land Use Committee meeting, Bucket Brigade founder Abe Powell and Montecito Trails Foundation president Ashlee Mayfield presented an update on the network of community trails that the two groups are committed to building and maintaining. “Trail repair was a top priority in a poll we took following the debris flow. […]

The Los Padres Crew
By Nick Schou   |   February 27, 2020

About four miles and 3,500 vertical feet uphill from the San Ysidro Trailhead, a Los Padres Forest Association (LPFA) work crew wearing hardhats printed in block letters with their names, are wielding hand hoes. They’re fixing a somewhat crumbling ridge dotted with small bushes and the scorched skeletons of small trees that burned in the […]

Montecito Trails
By Lynda Millner   |   October 17, 2019

Autumn is here and it was time for the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF) to have its fall 55th annual BBQ, this year at Crane Country Day School. Besides BBQ you could Hoof-it, Bike-it or Hike-it. Jane Murray got you on a horse or a bike and Ashlee Mayfield had you move it or lose it […]

North Jameson Walking Path
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   May 16, 2019

Last Friday, May 10, the Bucket Brigade, as well as reps from Montecito Community Foundation, Montecito Trails Foundation, Montecito Association, and First District Supervisor Das Williams, marked the groundbreaking on a new walking path on North Jameson Lane between Olive Mill Road and San Ysidro Road, with plans to add a longer path along the […]

Montecito Trails Foundation Annual Meeting
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   February 7, 2019

On Thursday, January 31, the Montecito Trails Foundation held its annual meeting at the San Ysidro Ranch’s Hydrangea Room; the first event held in the historic meeting room since it was inundated with four feet of mud during the 1/9 debris flow last January. “It’s nice that we are able to keep moving forward following […]

Montecito Trails Barbecue
By Lynda Millner   |   October 18, 2018

MontecitoTrails Foundation (MTF) has been working long and hard since the debris flow. Their mission as a nonprofit is to have volunteers and to keep more than 300 miles of trails open to the public. MTF folks want you to know “that thanks to your donations, membership and support the trails are really taking shape.” […]

MTF Annual Barbecue
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   September 20, 2018

Montecito Trails Foundation will host its annual barbecue on Sunday, September 30, at Crane Country Day School. “It’s less of a fundraiser this year, and more of a thank you!” said Ashlee Mayfield, MTF board member. The Foundation has been hard at work restoring the Montecito network of trails since the Thomas Fire and debris […]

Trails Recovery Day
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   July 12, 2018

More than 80 volunteers turned out last weekend to help Montecito Trails Foundation restore the McMenemy, Old Pueblo, Bud Girard, and Saddle Rock trails as part of the Foundation’s Trail Recovery Day. “It was an awesome day, and we are so thankful for everyone who came out to help,” said MTF board member Ashlee Mayfield.  […]

Montecito Trails Foundation
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   June 28, 2018

For more than 50 years, Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF) has overseen the maintenance of Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria trails, making them a safe, reliable place for community members to explore both the foothills and “low land” trails. Following the Thomas Fire and subsequent mudflow, the group of volunteers realized the scope of their work had […]

Montecito Trails Update
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   May 17, 2018

At the recent community information meeting hosted by the Montecito Trail Foundation (MTF), Santa Barbara/Ojai District ranger Pancho Smith noted that almost all of the hot spots within the Thomas Fire area had been extinguished. An official declaration that the fire is out is required before closed portions of Los Padres Forest can be reopened. […]