Buena Vista and Old Pueblo Trails

This short hike is a loop touching 4 different trails. You begin on San Ysidro Trail, take an Edison road for a spell, then reach the Buena Vista trail, walk a short distance along a road to the Old Pueblo Trail, then continue on back to San Ysidro Trail. There is an option to take the Wiman Trail from the Old Pueblo Trail, instead of meeting back at the San Ysidro, which adds another trail to the loop.

Some highlights along the way: The Old Pueblo trail is a Montecito Trails Association horse trail that passes behind some homes in Montecito. Part of the trail passes along the back of a marvelous garden. There are numerous unusual plants, such as proteas, planted along the trail, and you can see amazing blooms growing in the garden beyond the fence. None of this is native, but if you like beautiful gardens, you will enjoy this.

The Buena Vista trail is an unusual trail in that it is "Y"-shaped. The bottom stem ends at Buena Vista Rd. The two branches form a connection between the two sections of the Edison road. You can use the Buena Vista trail as a connector between San Ysidro and Romero trails, although you will also need to spend a long distance walking along the Edison roads to make the full connection. If you do choose to do this connection, there is a tiny side trail to the "Big Chair," which can be fun.

The total distance of the main loop I've described here is a little under 4 miles. There is a very steep uphill section on the Edison road, but otherwise, the hike is not difficult. All the other extra stuff, of course, will add some distance and difficulty!

Buena Vista Trail Updates

Update trail conditions

Posted: June 30, 2005, 9:34 am
by: Anonymous

June 28, 2005

We mistakenly got on the Winman trail to start and wound our way to the Old Pueblo over to the Buena Vista and on to San Ysidro. Parts of the trail are over grown and washed out but you can still navigate without any problems - wear long pants. At one point there was a severe wash out and we had just turned around but 2 men working with the Montecito trail association were working on the trail and helped us cross the wash out safely. They also told us how to get back to where we started. We wanted to publically thank them for their help! This is a beautiful trail system and you are encouraged to try any of these trails, support the trail association and have fun!

Posted: March 23, 2005, 7:12 pm
by: Diane

Post your update here.