The Cliffs Jan 22nd 

Another gorgeous Southern California day!!!  I knocked out the trip to Whole Foods early to give myself a good chunk of day to play with.  I've been itching for new areas to check out and had decided on a town up the coast called Carpinteria, but after putting groceries away and having breakfast, I ended up at the cliffs again. I started about a 1/2 mile north of the pocket where I had been digging to scope some new areas.   I was about 30 seconds into the hike when my black mock turtleneck sucked every ounce of heat from the surrounding beaches and gave it to me. Eeeeesch!  That ended up in the backpack right quick.  I cooled down a little, but it was one of those searing -sun-on-the-skin type days…. I soon found my groove and traversed the cliffs all the way back to the California Incline where I started.  I was very surprised to find that this length of the cliffs was pretty clean as opposed to the pocket area. I looked and looked up the walls and faces and didn't find anything. Well….a modern necklace of hemotite beads and a sterling silver circular pendant.  The beads were rolling everywhere so I grabbed the pendant, which I liked, and added it to my medicine bag after I cleaned it up at home.
I climbed as far as I could and reached a 30 foot drop which unquestionably sent me back the way I came.  I had a nice birds eye view of the lower areas, but couldn't come up with a clear path down, so I figured I'd just head to the top. (I hate to back track.)   I was almost to the top when I encountered some tenacious sagebrush and fallen palm fronds I had to climb over….crack! crunch! Crunch! I looked up and a face appeared above me peering over the concrete fence at the top wondering what the noise was.  I finally made it to the top and there were three benches all with people sitting on them.   I must look nuts coming up over the edge covered in dirt and sweat with a backpack on framing hammer and 4 foot probe in hand.
Anyway, I hopped the fence and started walking towards the entrance of a footbridge. I wanted just one more look at the pocket so I cruised on down there…Upon arrival I noticed all the loose dirt I chipped away had become one solid mass due to rain and then hardening.  I climbed on over the pile a made my way towards the top. I stopped in the big "bowl" of an area that I cleared out and started poking my probe at the rocks and shards above my head. (I brought my "Smart Stick" 4 foot, probe   for those out of reach bottles…) Some of the debris fell away and I saw the outline of the bottom of a medicine.  I put on my respirator and  started to use the probe to chip the rest away when it hit me that this thing will come loose, tumble and crack.  In acceptance I chipped out a good foothold and climbed up to where I could reach the bottle with my screwdriver.  I poked and chipped all around it until it was in my hand reading: "Dr.  J.W. BULL'S COUGH SYRUP  A.C. MEYER & CO.   BALTIMORE ,Md. U.S.A", in great condition.   I chipped for about another hour finding nothing but shards of plates and bottle lips and pieces so I headed out… I stopped at the top to catch a picture of a smoke cloud that was billowing out of an inlet north of me.  About a 3rd of the way through the dig about six or seven fire trucks went screaming by…Now I see why!