Rattlesnake Trail and the Connector

This trail doesn't necessarily mean you will encounter a rattlesnake! That is just the name of the canyon. One canyon over from Tunnel Trail, this hike is also within 15 minutes of downtown. There is almost always plenty of water in the creek, and the trail is always shady, making this the most popular trail in Santa Barbara. It is also relatively easy compared to just about all the other trails in the area. It is well-maintained, gentle, and there are no mountain bikes allowed. 3.5 miles round trip.

The trailhead is adjacent to Skofield park and is marked by a very large sign just behind the rock wall on the road. Right away you are creekside, and after crossing the creek you climb up to a fire road. Following the fire road you return to the creek and cross again. The trail stays near to the creek, but not in it, and gently climbs to a meadow. Just above the meadow is a junction. To the left is the Connector which connects Rattlesnake Trail with Tunnel Trail. If you want a strenuous hike after the warm-up to the meadow, continue up the Connector and all the way up Tunnel to East Camino Cielo. Or, for less of an effort, take the other fork in the road and follow the steep switchbacks up a half mile to Gibraltar Road near where the rock climbers practice and the hang gliders take off.

Rattlesnake Trail and the Connector Updates

Update trail conditions

Posted: January 10, 2010, 9:02 pm
by: sbhiker

Hiked Rattlesnake over to Tunnel Trail then up to East Camino Cielo. We parked at about 7 am. There were three other cars there. By the time we got back around 11:45, the street was packed. Saw only a couple of people on Tunnel Trail, but tons as we neared the Rattlesnake trailhead across from Skofield Park. Trail is in good condition, though slippery above the meadow on the way to the Tunnel connector. The trail from the connector to the top of Tunnel was in good hiking condition.

Posted: December 5, 2009, 5:20 pm
by: redhathiker

Back from Rattlesnake Trail. 464 pictures taken. We hiked all the way to the Gibraltar Rd. About 5-6 miles round trip. 1550 feet elevation gain. Went through about 500ml of water per person. Plenty of water on the creek, but the trail doesn't alway go near the creek. We crossed the creek 3 times. The water was refreshing. Despite the burnt area (from Tea Fire of 2008), the scenery was beautiful and dramatic, especially on the last steep section (on Connector Trail) toward the Gibraltar Rd. We saw a few other friendly human & dog hikers, all having a good time. Hiking this trail is best done on a cloudy day like today; otherwise you could get burned by the sun.

Posted: October 13, 2009, 3:35 pm
by: WalkNWild

Today, raining, this report would be quite different.

But Sunday...We went up the very steep slope from Rattlesnake to the Tunnel fire road. At the top, where it meets the road, it was sprayed with that stuff that is supposed to reduce erosion. Kinda weird. Then we went up the road, then up the East end of Mission Ridge. From the top of Mission Ridge, it was somewhat of a slide down the backside 'shortcut' to the Tunnel Connector. The lower part of that 'trail' is overgrown as always and we found, looking back, that we could have gone to the right, through the burned area, totally easily to the Connector. The Connector has been worked, is in the best condition I have ever seen it! We made great time from there, then down Rattlesnake, on in.

Yes, it was a barren hike. Trail beds, of course, are plain to see. It was weird being able to see the Rattlesnake 'meadow' so easily on the way up. The road has been dozed, so you sink down a bit in a lot of places where it is not at all compacted yet. That is a scary thought with rains to come. Gonna be some gullying.

Some of the trail on the east most end of Mission Ridge is obliterated, but, as you may know, the trail essentially is along the spine, so just go up and it's there. I lost the trail for 20, 30', two or three times. What is strange is how safe it used to feel hiking rapidly through the brush tunnels, grabbing branches to swing along or help you up or down. Now there are no shrubs. What there is, is black charcoal limbs and stubs you don't want to grab or brush against, and the banks are dangerously steep in some places. We had to go slower and be careful. One advantage is some of the places you used to have to practically climb up/down, no longer exist. They are all smoothed over with soil, so you just walk up, albeit steep!

If you want to take others on this hike, you might want to hike it yourself beforehand to see how you feel per their hiking skills. You definitely have to pay attention.

It was great to see deer track and trail in various places.

Happy Trails!

Posted: January 13, 2009, 2:14 pm
by: BillV

The trail has been open for some time, is in good condition, and there's some water flowing again. The view up the slope to the monestary is totally burned out and looks more like a moonscape but you're past that fairly quickly. On weekends the trail is jammed with hikers like I've never seen before (groups of 15). This thins out dramatically above the meadow but if it gets any more crowded, they'll have to start handing out numbers. It's almost as crowded on the eastern (Tunnel Trail) side of Jesusita with it not being uncommon to have to park 1/4 mile down Tunnel Rd. from the trailhead.

Posted: December 30, 2008, 10:23 pm
by: IrishHiker

What is the condition of the Rattlesnake Trail. Is it still closed due to the tea fire? Thanks

Posted: November 28, 2008, 2:45 pm
by: Diane

Trail is closed at the trailhead because of the Tea Fire, but the burn is actually minimal and confined to the lowest portion of the trail.

Posted: November 25, 2008, 11:34 am
by: SkipSmith

Thanks Bill. I might try going up Tunnel Train to the connector, and then seeing how far down I can hike. Hopefully the trail will still be there after the rain today.

Posted: November 22, 2008, 4:48 pm
by: BillV

Las Canoas is now open but there are barricades at the trailhead with notices that the trail is closed. Looking in from the trailhead you could see some evidence of burning but it looked relatively unscathed. I was also at a house on Mt. Calgary Rd. from which you could look down on the trail. The impression from there was that the paths along the stream were unaffected but there was significant burning on either side. However the fire had to cross the trail to get to the area around St. Marys so there's a good chance of burning further up the trail than I could see. Gibraltar Rd. is still closed.

Posted: November 18, 2008, 4:19 pm
by: BillV

This doesn't directly answer your question but might still be of interest.

Las Canoas is blocked from the west at the entrance to St. Marys and from the east at El Cielito so you can't get to the trailhead. I tried going up Gibraltar to the point where the trail comes out but it also is blocked at El Cielito. My impression was that the blockages are there to make room for utility people so maybe it will open later this week. But possibly also to stop looters as there are several burned out houses on El Cielito.

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Posted: November 17, 2008, 1:31 pm
by: SkipSmith

I saw some photos that looked like the trailhead for Rattlesnake Canyon had burned, but that the trail was OK once you went in about half a mile or so. Can anyone confirm this?

Posted: March 25, 2008, 9:08 pm
by: SkipSmith

Went up the trail as far as Tin Can meadow today. There are still a couple of nice little waterfalls along the creek. Unfortunately, someone has spray-painted some white arrows on a few rocks -- I wish they had found a better way to mark the trail than graffiti.

Edit: Diane, I see you were on Rattlesnake today too! Maybe we saw each other and didn't even realize it. By the way, I also have all of Tufte's books ...

Posted: April 29, 2007, 8:40 pm
by: Liz

Rattlesnake Trail is in good shape right now. I just did a quick hike up to Gibraltar on Saturday. I saw quite a few salamanders in the creek, grey squirrels and even a snake. Despite such a dry winter, I was impressed by the wildflowers. In some sections, however, they've attracted a lot of bees. The water is low enough that the creek crossings are very easy. I only saw one snake sunning herself mid-trail.

Posted: March 14, 2007, 3:54 pm
by: SkipSmith

I did Rattlesnake Canyon to Gibraltar Road yesterday. That last stretch from Tin Can Meadow to the road is a killer (I'm still pretty new at this).

Question #1: I covered the trailhead to Gibraltar road in 1 hour --- how much faster should I be going once I'm in shape?

Question #2: Does anyone know if that large rock by the side of Gibraltar Road near the trail has an official name? I want to call it Gibraltar Rock, but I think that's taken ...

Posted: June 18, 2006, 12:29 pm
by: Jeff

There's a small oak tree down across the trail about 1/4 mile from Gibralter Road. Looks like it's been down for a week or two. You can crawl through the branches without much problem though. The sun is out and the sky is crystal clear blue at Gibralter Rock....

Posted: January 15, 2006, 5:28 pm
by: Jeff

Cold this morning (so, no snakes). Trail's a bit muddy but fine. Good work fixing the erosion and trail cuts at the pine meadow (thanks to the trail crew).

Posted: January 5, 2006, 11:33 pm
by: Anonymous

I have hiked this trial every couple of months since I was in kindergarten. In the past few years I've seen the huge Southern Pacific Rattlesnake that sits close to the top (as described in an earlier post) several times. Watch out He's a BIG male (funny pattern and old scar by the tail), I've been within a few feet of him and no snapping, but he could be a real problem if someone suprised him and got too close. A herper friend of mine thinks he has a burrow or den near there, be careful and happy hiking.

Posted: December 26, 2005, 9:24 pm
by: Anonymous

Hiked from trailhead to East Camino Cielo via connector to Tunnel trail. Everything is in great shape, although the Tunnel trail is looking abit like a bobsled run due to the bicycle traffic it recieves. The trail is not damaged from this, but it should be a sign that an encounter with fast moving bikes is a possibility.

Posted: November 12, 2005, 10:12 pm
by: Anonymous

I hiked the trail today and encounterd a pissed off snake on the upper section, past the meadow, near the top. I'm not sure if I heard a rattle, I didn't see the snake, but the hissing was very loud and clear, anyone else encounter that?

Posted: September 24, 2005, 3:45 pm
by: Jeff

Water is still flowing well and the diving pool and waterfall are still very much usable (and diveable) as of today.

Posted: September 5, 2005, 11:46 am
by: Anonymous

The trail is in good condition and the water levels are low for easy crossings and there are a couple of pools that you can cool off in, but most are too shallow. There is poison oak along the way but it is avoidable. It is starting to turn red and easily spotted.

Posted: August 2, 2005, 11:42 am
by: Anonymous

There is unavoidable poison oak everywhere, especially in the shady creek areas.

Posted: May 22, 2005, 1:09 pm
by: Anonymous

I walked the connector trail that goes from rattlesnake to the edison powerline trail last week and the thistles have completely taken over that section in the middle. I met a skunk who thought the trail was his alone.

Posted: May 21, 2005, 6:19 pm
by: Paolo

The Trail Alliance has done a great job rerouting the lower part of the trail (where the climb starts). The connector is still very overgrown, if you decide to go that way long pants are advisable unless you have kevlar skin...

Posted: March 25, 2005, 9:35 pm
by: Anonymous

The connector is a bit overgrown here and there and there are a couple of slides, but passable nonetheless. A nice diversion as of mid-March.

Posted: March 23, 2005, 7:16 pm
by: Diane

Post your update here.