Stewards of the Hot Springs Step Forth in Montecito

A new group has sprung up around the hot springs in Montecito. Called the Stewards of the Hot Springs, a letter they circulated states, “Our grassroots group has taken on the job of ensuring that diverse groups of people can access the pools in a safe and respectful way.”

Not everyone agrees. Two property owners on Hot Springs Road were videotaped in May arguing with a hiker. One of the residents had brought a work crew to pull the pools apart while the other had simply been hiking, according to neighbors. And residents met with incoming county supervisor Roy Lee in June to fill him in on the dangers they’ve experienced since the springs attracted social media attention and tourists piled in during the pandemic.

But the Chief Steward is also their neighbor. Marilyn Mazess has lived at the top of the road for 20 years, next to Los Padres National Forest, where the artesian springs are found. She’s gathered about a dozen volunteers to be stewards, with the blessing of several who live on the road.

“The pools were not permitted,” she said candidly, “and they brought tons of people, which is not a good thing.” Mazess said she viewed the crowds negatively, at first. “Places can be loved to death, and I was very, very concerned about that,” she said. Parties and vandalism were ongoing, and fire was a perennial worry for Mazess, who’d lost her guest house to the Thomas Fire. She discussed it with a friend who belonged to the Montecito Trails Foundation: “She was very much for people coming out into nature,” Mazess recalled, “and it was so important then.”

Mazess said she decided to put her judgment aside and started talking to hikers on the trail. “People have been coming up here for 200 years,” she said, “and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. What I tell them is that if we’re not careful, we could lose the pools. What you’re enjoying now, you risk losing it if you don’t take care of it.” Along the way, Mazess heard stories about the waters: “One man was in construction and had serious back pain,” she’d been told. “He came up every morning with his little girl and wife before work. It had saved him.”

The stewards group is growing. They’ve added some informational signs at the pools, but Mazess knows that not everyone is going to read them. “The plan is to research the history of the area and have docents for the trail. Once people learn the history, the whole meaning of the trail will change for them. Like a church, it will become a special place. We all want solitude and peace, and we’re all in different places trying to do it in our own way,” she said philosophically.

From the Stewards of the Hot Springs

An introduction to this newly formed volunteer group is needed as the Montecito Hot Springs has become the hot spot for many who want to enjoy the beauty of nature while hiking a well-established trail and a healing soak in the cluster of pools constructed using the natural materials at hand.

Our grassroots group has taken on the job of ensuring that diverse groups of people can access the pools in a safe and respectful way. We are dedicated locals who put our skills to use in doing a variety of tasks to help create a positive experience for all.

In order to accomplish this we create helpful signage which inform the public as to personal trash disposal, safety issues and also an historical overview of the region and its importance as a destination for hundreds of years. We are putting up some signage that was put in place by the Santa Barbara Land Trust regarding the local history of the area. This signage was destroyed during the Thomas Fire and ensuing mudslide.

We also work closely with local environmental groups as well as law enforcement and the fire district. Some of our most recent accomplishments include alerting the Montecito Fire District as to a couple of incidents involving persons camping out overnight with open fire pits. The Fire District acted immediately to remove these persons with a harsh warning.

Some of our members work tirelessly to clean up the trails as well as the parking areas both at the trailhead and along Mountain Drive and Riven Rock.

Our sincere hope is that our working on this together will facilitate a collective ownership of this unique place and that it may be preserved as a place where we connect with nature, each other and provide a learning experience for our children and generations to come.

Sincerely,
The Stewards of the Hot Springs

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For residents near the trail head at the foot of Hot Springs Road, the overwhelming numbers of hikers and pool seekers has resulted in more than trash. They’ve experienced break-ins, graffiti, smashed plantings, human excrement in their yards, and a lawsuit with the county over the public right of way, which they lost.

Kohanya Groff lives in Riven Rock, where the narrow road at the trailhead sees hikers bumping over the curb and park their cars in the creek setback. “Stewards? If they’re stewards, it’s for an illegally built, nonpermitted area,” she said. “We are the ones who have been working for years to protect this land from the abuse of developers and human impact. The people at the pools are doing the exact reverse,” she said, citing the damming of the creek, the use of sunscreen, and the lack of any sanctioned toilets.

A home was robbed over the Memorial Day weekend, Groff said, describing the criminal behavior that went on daily. “Every month they clean graffiti from the rocks and from the bridges,” she said, “and people throw garbage over the walls and into the creek.” Her anger extended to County Supervisor Das Williams, who she never saw meeting with residents. “His brilliant idea was to make more parking, so our homes can be cased more,” Groff said. RVs and vans already park overnight along the road. More will do that in the new parking areas, she said.

A solution Groff favors is what Kauai did to provide access to the Kalalau Trail, the only land route to the lush, biodiverse, and inaccessible Na Pali Coast. “This same situation has happened in Hawai‘i, and they created a shuttle reservation system for the crowds,” she said. “And they make money doing it.”

Money, of course, would be the issue if a shuttle service were created: the shuttle, the drivers, the insurance, the pick-up parking spot, the marketing. The county kept its next fiscal budget status quo, waiting to see how the state deals with a big deficit. Groff pointed out a recent sign added by the pools’ builder that asks “Donate some $$!” She assumed the next ask from the Stewards will also be for money. “The county isn’t trying to solve this problem. They have a bulldozer on East Mountain removing landscaping so more people can park.”