If you have never had the good fortune to surf, or experience the incredibly special coastline simply known to surfers worldwide as, “The Ranch”, then you a short one notch on your ultimate “Bucket List”.
The ‘lower ranch’ aka as Hollister Ranch - a longtime working cattle ranch, is home to some of the finest reef & point breaks a surfer will ever hope to find.
The ‘upper ranch’ more commonly known as “Bixby Ranch” stretches north to include both “Cojo” & “Government” Points and includes surf spots “Lefts’ & Rights” (not to be confused with the more well known Hollister Ranch break, “Rights & Lefts” … which George Greenough once told me he refers to as, “Ego Peak”.) Colorfully named Upper & Lower ranch spots include curious and colorful names like: Crumple Car, Augie’s (St. Augustine Reef) Utah’s, Ranch House Point, Razorblades, Big & Little Drakes.
This article details the purchase of the Bixby Ranch which will preserve it’s pristine qualities rarely found anywhere along the California coast. The only other areas near Santa Barbara that rivals this area is the more remote Channel Islands.
