Over the past summer my boyfriend treated me to an eagerly anticipated mini road trip, tried to stump me with riddles, and had me construct a DIY MacGyver catapult, all during a surprise hike.
Located in Montecito, the Ennisbrook Trail is easy to confuse with its gated community, considering that it is a neighborhood hike. We got lost and wound up strolling among the cobblestone driveways instead of the actual trail.
Pulling into a nearby school’s parking lot, we walked across the street and wandered over to what we thought was the trail. However, admiring such grandiose houses but only seeing foliage put there by man (fresh looking mowed lawns and perfectly trimmed rose bushes) we quickly realized this might not be the natural woodsy adventure we were hoping to experience.
Wearing all black, as we do, we decided to pause at this grassy field. As he rooted around in the “box of adventure” he’d brought, I gazed around at the mansion-like houses, observing their architecture and unique creativity that somebody had thought to incorporate. I even found a tennis ball, and dubbed it “Bill.”
After every riddle, I was rewarded with a simple office tool, and we explored parts of the neighborhood. Using my soccer skills, I was careful not to accidentally kick Bill too hard so he’d go speeding down a storm drain, where he’d no doubt be forever lost to Pennywise’s possession. We wandered from a little marsh spot to a rocky bit of land, then to a sparsely treed area.
At each stop, my boyfriend handed me a riddle that he’d handwritten on a piece of handmade “aged” paper. He documented it on social media, as I talked a couple of answers out. (I immediately knew the answer to most of them. I’m quite the riddle master, myself. Yes, I am bragging.) The last riddle read: What has a head but never weeps, a bed but never sleeps, can run but not walk, and has a bank but no money? Once I finished struggling to put together the catapult and eventually succeeded in slaying that paper dragon he’d drawn for me, the “treasure” he was guarding was now mine! (Ten gold, one-dollar coins.)
We then hiked the short runoff back to the car and as we were making our way toward the Goleta area, we noticed there was a different sign for the Ennisbrook trail. Confused, he parked in the dirt on the side of the road and there’s where we found the actual trail that he meant to start this riddle adventure. Shaking our heads and laughing, we walked a little bit off the trail. By this time, it was at least around 90 degrees and we were low on water. So we wound up not completing the entire 1.7-mile trail. The parts that we did see were beautiful and definitely made our imaginations run wild. We turned back and headed toward one of the used bookstores in the Goleta area, because, as Walt Disney put it, “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”
This was back in September—before the tragic Thomas Fire. According to maps released by local fire agencies, the damaging effects got near the Montecito Valley, but thankfully avoided the Ennisbrook trail and its main areas. The fire is now nearly contained, and the trail is open year-round.
Editorial Intern MD Langowski gave the correct answer to the riddle above: a river. She can be reached at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 4-11, 2018.