Wow, what a day!  Gaviota Peak had been on our to-do list for some time, and we decided it was time to make the one-hour drive down from Pismo to take it on.  The peak itself is the westernmost summit of a long ridge towering over Hwy 101 along the coast west of Santa Barbara, and the highway itself leaves the coastline here to turn north toward Santa Maria.  Gaviota Peak thus overlooks a variety of terrain – the coastal plains between the mountains and the beaches to the east, the ocean and beaches to the south, deep canyons to the south and west, and the inland foothills and peaks of the Santa Inez mountains.  The most direct route runs roughly 3 miles from the trailhead to the summit up a converted jeep road on the north slope of the peak with 2,000′ of elevation gain.  An alternate trail runs up a canyon on the peak’s south side and is a little longer – this is the Trespass Trail, so named because it crosses through private ranchland within a public easement.  A popular strategy is to ascend via the north side trail and descend via Trespass Trail, making a 6.5 mile loop, and we chose to use this route.  We arrived at the trailhead a little before noon, ate our lunch in the car, and hit the trail right at 12:00, coming to the Trespass Trail junction within 1/4 mile – we turned left and immediately began climbing, working our way around the various shoulders that run northward from the ridge.  After passing a trail to some hot springs (which we chose to skip this time), the trail actually lost elevation for a short time before turning again sharply uphill.  We had heard this trail described as “unrelenting,” and that label is more than appropriate.  Much of our path was in the sun, and it seemed like the steepest pitches were always that hotter ones.  Shade was always welcome, and we took regular breaks every 1/4 mile or so.  The higher we went, the more the views to the north and west improved – we caught an early glipmse of the ocean over the Lompoc hills to the west, and we could see the trail continuing higher ahead of us.  At about 2.5 miles in, we could see the saddle along the ridgeline that was our immediate objective, and we pushed through to gain it – the view was stellar as we reached the crest, ranging from the Channel Islands offshore across the blue ocean to the cliffs and canyons below us.  We turned right, climbing a rocky, undulating trail a few hundred yards to the summit proper, treated to the best views of the day by far.  Not only was the 360-degree vista spectacular, but we could now peer southward into the rugged canyon that our descent would lead us through.  We signed the summit register, leaving messages for Jane’s dad and our nephew Andy, and departed down the Trespass Trail.  We had heard this way was somewhat overgrown, and that turned out to be an understatement.  Right away the trail passed through deep chaparral taller than us, the path maybe 18 inches wide on average, emerging into open brush a few yards later – this pattern was repeated all the way down Gaviota Peak’s south face until we reached the canyon floor some 800′ below.  At that point, we turned west and continued to lose elevation as we went, although the grade had lessened substantially.  At one point, Jane recalled the mountain lion warning signs she had seen at the trailhead, and being by ourselves in such a remote area spooked her a bit – Chris didn’t mention until much later that he had seen a large cat print in the trail just minutes before.  So, we picked up the pace as we headed down-canyon, eventually rounding the western end of the ridge and dropping down toward the trailhead.  Jane was again anxious to improve our average moving speed (a bit off our normal pace at 2.4 mph), so she grabbed the GPS and ran off down the trail, beating Chris to the car by 15 minutes and getting the average to 2.6 in the process.  All in all, we did the 6.5 miles in just over 3-1/2 hours, not too bad considering the elevation gain and loss.  This has to be near the top of the list of our favorite hikes – the views were fantastic, well worth the effort to hike Gaviota Peak.