Gibraltar Trail

Dogs Leashed

Starting at a sign by an old oak along Cold Spring North, this trail climbs upward and rolls through the hills before connecting with old roads above an abandoned quicksilver mine. (Quicksilver is a descriptive way to say mercury.) The majority of the mine is fenced to try to keep people out of the collapsing buildings. It sits above the city reservoir. The road continues and becomes a service road for the current dam maintenance before ending at Gibraltar Dam Road.

Gibraltar Reservoir was the first effort to dam the Santa Ynez River to collect water for Santa Barbara. A tunnel dug through the mountains brings to water out in Mission Canyon beside Tunnel Trail South. Materials were brought over via Tunnel Trail South and Devils Canyon Trail, if one wants to continue the history lesson.