August 23, Day 84 El Capitan State Beach, Santa Barbara County Isolated beaches and bluff trails at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Base ecologist Mike McElligott escorted us through the northernmost 17 miles. Colonel Don Petkunas, who had climbed Mt. Whitney the previous week, took over for the second day. . . beach coves, a train trestle across a canyon. . . . Next day, the 27,000-acre Bixby Ranch, a cattle ranch, is another Lost Coast: it has pristine beaches, no people. But there's no public access. To walk through the Hollister Ranch, a locked-gate subdivision of very large lots, we were told we had to come before dawn, so as not to disturb the residents. We saw two people and a car . . . sea caves, sea stacks, rocks, coves, and bluffs, all natural . . . more seashells than I have ever seen.