Ellwood Hike But No Butterflies in Goleta

Our end of 2025 Humanist Society hike was at Ellwood in Goleta, including the Butterfly Grove. We had little expectation of seeing butterflies this year and therefore we were not disappointed when we saw no butterflies at all!

But we had an enjoyable walk, anyway. Here are my photos.

We met up at the Coastal Access parking lot at the end of Phelps Road, at the intersection with Cannon Green Drive. As we were gathering I saw a family unloading horses to ride out in that area. They said they live in this area.

Phil is a serious hiker who leads strenuous hikes. So I was surprised that he joined this easy stroll. But he showed up with his mountain unicycle! Mostly he walked it, but occasionally he got on and rode. Here he was walking.

We continued in the general direction of the Butterfly Grove, but we continued past that. A hidden treasure there is a little sculpture garden of dinosaurs. I first discovered this four years ago on Valentine’s Day, when they were adorned with Valentine decorations.

I keep watching to see if they will have new decorations and this time I was delighted they indeed had Christmas decorations!

Including Rudolph the Red-Nosed T-Rex?

The group looked up at me as I got up close with the dinosaurs! As you can see in the background of this photo, many of the historical eucalyptus trees have been cut down. The trees were chipped and laid onto the path.

Here we made our way back toward the Butterfly Grove.

We got out there just before the big storms came and it was still passable.

I had scouted this hike about a week earlier and talked to a young woman from the UCSB Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration who was working down in this ravine in the Butterfly Grove. They had installed these rocks to slow down erosion during storms.

They also were planting new eucalyptus trees, but it will be quite a few years before they are able to restore the unique habitat that provided a wintering location for the monarch butterflies. Here we posed for a group photo in the Butterfly Grove. Which had no butterflies. You can see some of the newly planted trees immediately behind us.

Butterfly counts are down all over the state. There are many factors. I talked to one biologist who told me that well-intentioned planting of milkweed can be a problem. Non-native milkweed blooms at the wrong season for the butterflies. This makes the butterflies stay longer in places when they should be leaving for these wintering locations. Please do plant milkweed, but be sure it is native. Island Seed and Feed is a good source.

We then headed out onto the Ellwood Mesa.

Phil was able to ride here!

And over to the Ellwood Bluffs. Another group photo op!

Along the bluffs is this spot where people leave little trinkets. An ever-changing collection!

We came down from the Ellwood Mesa to the UCSB North Campus Open Space. This had been developed as the Ocean Meadows Golf Course in the 1960s. In a rare twist, UCSB has been restoring it to its prior natural state. This involved a lot of grading with heavy equipment and cutting and burning non-native plants. Here is a little connector to that space. Tatiana led the way.

Phil paused unicycling on the North Campus path for this shot.

The path runs behind the UCSB Faculty Housing. We spotted a red-tailed hawk that flew off as we approached. But then it landed in a tree near one of those houses so I could get this shot.

I was very happy that one of my friends from my days as a UCSB student was able to join us. Her name is Valerie and her daughter Vivian also joined us. Here they posed back at the meeting place where we completed our loop!

I have been visiting the monarch butterflies at Ellwood Eucalyptus Grove in Goleta since the 1980s. Numbers do rise and fall. Here is my photo of how things looked just two years ago at the Ellwood Main Butterfly Grove.

When you visit the grove, please be respectful of being in a nature preserve. Please do not let dogs run loose in this delicate area.

You can see the schedule of all of our local Humanist Society hikes and other events here on Meetup. Everyone is welcome!

https://www.meetup.com/humanist-society-of-santa-barbara/

I will end with this short video of Phil unicycling after the hike along Phelps Road!