Tar Pits Park — Attraction in Carpinteria

Warning: There's tar in these pits!

Parking: plenty. If you are a civilized, good and decent person you will pay to park at the state beach. If you did minimal research and you have a CA ID you know how to get a free pass to park. If you are a savage like me, who doesn't count steps or carbs, you will park in the near by city streets with plenty of spots and just jump over railroad tracks to get to the tar pits faster, because for all you know this is the last these ancient tar pits are in business.

Preface: You drove here on untold tons of what is essentially solidified tar because they didn't clench your insatiable thirst for tar in its unrefined pure form. You are just a few miles from beautiful, prestine, historical Santa Barbara with her drive on pier, 200 year old mission, classy Spanish architecture, but you didn't care for that at all, instead you left refined St Barbara for gritty, blue collared St Joseph the worker to behold it's prehistoric, black, tarry goodness to what has essentially been an ancient trash can and death pit since the dinosaurs reigned. Being the town of the carpenter, pits like these would have been used by the Chumash to seal their boats for their seal hunting expeditions and trips to the channel Islands.

Most of the tar is on the cliff just above the beach.

The pits are a little underwhelming. Nothing like La Brea's. Here at least you can poke the tar and ruin your shoes with it. They have a few tiny ones that just ooze from the earth from the ground or rocks. One rock was oozing down the sides with it, at first it looked like some contemporary art piece an accomplished artist with a 1st grade education squirted black acrylic on and called it a day.

The first mini Pit I saw I assumed at first was made by a hobo's bonfire but then I poked it with my handy-dandy poking stick and saw the tar in all it's dark, molasses viscosity, and glory.

The sign I included said this was once an asphalt yard.

If this park didn't meet your drunken tar lust, then by all means drive 90 miles south to the Miracle Mile and see swimming pool sized bottomless pits of your black gooey idol along with the adjacent shrine to its existence . Or better yet go to an...

I'm blessed to walk and enjoy these beaches almost daily and I'm blown away by the constant beauty! Seals, dolphins 🐬, and true " happy campers ", who always grow as families and friends. And the locals are some of the friendliest I've ever experienced in my many years living at various coastal towns in Southern California. From San Diego to Santa Barbara , Carpinteria and Ventura have the older ways still working best. The areas look basically the same after 40+ yrs . Still great surf spots without the negativity from local Surfers! The moto is basically; " just get in the water! " Doesn't matter if your surfing,body boarding, body surfing , or a swimmer cooling off, enjoy but remember to treat each other with a little love and RESPECT ". Also, great for families with kids since Carpinteria was recently earning the " Worlds safest Beaches" #1 honor. Not too shabby! The selfish part of me says to stay quiet so I can enjoy the solitude, but seeing all the different, happy people everyday helps me stay humble and grateful. You will be amazed at it all! ENJOY and always remember to keep the beaches clean and safe for our children, and their children of our future....

Worth trying to find if only because it is one of three active tar seeps in California and one of a limited number worldwide. There is no parking nearby (the other reviewer described parking that is not public and security will tell you to leave). The closest parking is the lot for Carpenteria Bluffs further east on Carpenteria Avenue. From there it's about a 3/4 mile hike along the railroad tracks and past the industrial parking - not really as bad as it sounds, and you may see some seals on the beach below, near the pier that handles boats that are servicing the offshore oil platforms. The seep itself is unimpressive, but it is obviously active, as there are little shiny black rivulets of tar pushing downhill toward the sea edge of the bluff. If you touch the fresh shiny part, it is surprisingly solid and does not cling to your finger. Nonetheless, it will move inexorably downhill, faster if it's hot and sunny, until it reaches the more level edge of the bluff, where it will stop and harden, picking up a layer of sand on its surface that will make it look more like a rock than a...