A couple of weeks ago on our way back from Solvang to Palm Springs we went by Carpinteria less than 10 miles south of Santa Barbara and decided to visit its beach and have lunch there. This small town proved to be a real beach vacation destination with some very unusual sights.
We parked the car driving from main street (Linden Ave) up to the closest parking lot just beside the beach and Carpinteria State Park and started to walk along the beach south. After some walking we found black blocks on the edge of the sandy area of the beach. It turned out these black blocks were tar and we discussed where that tar had come to the beach. Maybe the close to shore oil drilling platforms was the reason?
Eventually we walked from the beach on a several yards high dune as other people seemed to walk there as well. The “secret” of the tar on the beach was evident since on top of the dune is Carpinteria Tar Pits Park. There were some explanations on how the tar is coming from underground natural asphalt lake, which reaches underwater areas of the ocean floor. In at least in one spot of the beach we saw some still quite liquid tar when most of it had hardened. There are similar tar pits based on asphalt lakes in some other areas of California, the most famous one being La Brea Tar Pits in the middle of Los Angeles area.
Our walk back showed there is a fairly big camping area for tents and RV’s on top of the dune, with some parts of the path covered with wooden planks to allow also wheel chairs on top of the dune. We continued to walk along the main street to see what else the town has to offer and dropped into an “oldfashioned” candy store and for our surprise (we all are from Finnish origins) found Finnish Licorice! A bit further we dropped to a Mexican lunch before continuing our journey back to Palm Springs. Below some photos from the beach, the dunes and also from the town center. Must be a busy beach town on warmer days!
