Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park

This place is awesome to see in person when you find it. It is a drive into the mountains off the 154. When you drive deep in the mountain the road narrows and let me tell you it gives you a mini anxiety attack haha. But when you get to it there is no parking. So you have to park off the road and hopefully find some space. It's cool but there's only one painted cave. It is awesome to see in person.

If you are interested in history and have the ability to be reflective and imaginative, this is worth it. Don't pay attention to reviews that suggest the drive up is scary or dangerous. It's well paved and, as long as you're a safe, focused, observant driver, you won't have a problem. (And it isn't that steep. My hybrid made it up without any problem at all. Here's the thing: the cave is small and has a steel grate protecting it, but you can look inside and carefully take pics if you want. If you are easily bored or have kids that are, you'll need to prepare yourself or them for this by talking up the importance of engaging your imagination to enrich the experience of seeing it in person: What would it have been like to be there thousands of years ago? What would a shaman do in this space? Why? How? The white ink was made from crushed shells, but this cave is high in the mountains. How did the shells get from the coast into the cave? Etc. Honestly, you'll spend more time driving to the cave than looking at it, but it can be worth it if you are interested enough. (A trip to the Natural History Museum afterward can deepen the experience post cave-viewing, as the Chumash culture is highlighted there.

A little disappointing. I will the say the absolute best part is the drive. It’s adventurous, challenging, exciting, and you feel like you could drive off the mountain at any moment. So if that’s for you, this is your drive! The “painted rocks” weren’t really painted and there is no where to stop or walk around. You are literally dancing on the edge of the mountain. The coolest part was finding the little hidden town that lives up by the park, really cool way to see people living life in a different style.

The area is beautiful but I would say pass on this not because the cave was a let down but because there is only enough room for at LEAST 2 cars to park. There is a very good chance you won’t find parking. It’s on a 1 car wide road and it’s not in walking distance, it would be too dangerous to try to.

I visited today. For a historic place, it is not kept well. No parking. The road up to there is dangerously narrow. It is just two paintings behind a locked iron grill. Will share some pictures here. The drive up there is fun. Don 't know why it is called a 'park '