Authors reveal best walks in Santa Cruz
Book by longtime residents will spice up quarantine walks
SANTA CRUZ >> Chances are those who live on the westside of Santa Cruz have seen Debbie Bulger and Richard Stover walking. Now those walks are chronicled for those who love exploring the area — or those who are just sick of having the same quarantine walking route.
“We are well-known in town, so people sometimes ask for suggestions because they’re tired of the same old block that they’ve taken for the last nine months,” Bulger said. “Since we walk everywhere in town, pretty much, we’re aware of a lot of places.”
Writing what one knows
The husband and wife, who are retired after working and raising their kids in Santa Cruz County, have spent the last six years compiling “Secret Walks & Staircases in Santa Cruz.” The progress on the book — which includes route descriptions for 28 walks throughout the town — really amped up this year as the couple stayed home to avoid contracting COVID-19, they said.
The book is divided into six areas such as walks starting from downtown, near the boardwalk and West Cliff. Each walk has the distance and elevation included; the shortest walk is 1 mile and the longest more than 6 miles. The active pair wanted those of
all capabilities to be able to find an option in their book.
“Some of the (walks) are perfectly flat, but it’s pretty hilly here so (the walks) can have considerably more elevation gain,” Stover said. “We make sure people are aware of that. Can they make it up the hill?”
At the same time, Bulger and Stover created a section for the “real hardcore” folks that desire to connect the walks together.
Connecting trails for a longer stroll might be daunting, but anecdotes are included about historical and natural features along the walks that give an excuse for pause to appreciate all that the area has to offer. Stover created accompanying maps and took many of the photographs, while Bulger wrote the text and designed the book’s layout, they explained.
“There’s a lot of local history in the book, so as we walk we point out important things like Fred Swanton’s house,” Stover said before deeming Swanton, a former mayor of Santa Cruz, the area’s “Donald Trump of the 19th and 20th centuries.” “He owned the streetcar system and he routed the streetcar to pass up to the house, so guests coming from out of town would be on the electric streetcar and it went by the house, (nearly) up to the doorstep.”
Generally, but especially in light of the times, Bulger and Stover were set on printing their book locally. That’s why they chose to print “Secret Walks” at Community Printers on Soquel Avenue.
“I do have friends who have written books and sometimes it’s cheaper to print somewhere else now,” Bulger said as Stover nodded. “It was important for us to print it locally.”
Carried by their own two feet
Bulger said that the couple’s longtime habit of walking started approximately 20 years ago.
“I used to walk after work, and I think we became more aware of climate change and some of those issues,” she said. “If we go to the bank, or a movie or something like that, it’s a nice journey. Of course, we don’t go to the movies anymore, but if we did we could talk about the movie on the
way home.”
And walking gives the couple an additional opportunity, Stover — who met his wife when they were young hikers who had come to the area for jobs — pointed out.
“You can interact with your neighbors, and you can’t do that when you’re in a car,” he said.
Neither Bulger nor Stover has a “favorite” walk.
It’s more about the time of year and the views they feel like seeing that day. They’ve taken their kids, who they admit they may have “walked out” as they took them walking and hiking nearby and through the Sierra Nevada, on routes such as one that begins up on the hill at UC Santa Cruz and travels downward.
Bulger said she has done walks from the book with those who haven’t done them before to make sure that the directions are clear and concise. Her attention
to detail is what drew her to focus on pedestrian advocacy, a cause that has driven her to sit on several commissions and help with transportation research over the last several years. Her understanding of pedestrian structures is included in a special section in the book.
“I became somewhat knowledgeable about transportation issues, and there’s been a lot of research since the ’90s that shows that we used to think of transportation as just cars, drivers,” Bulger said. “Caltrans and
the city (of Santa Cruz) are spending more money and being more aware of those needs, not just the needs of drivers. We have a ways to go.”
“Secret Walks & Staircases in Santa Cruz” can be purchased at Bookshop Santa Cruz and online at lostballoonpress.com.