Chumash

We started our jaunt on the Wendy Trail in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, which is national parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains where Chumash people lived for thousands of years.

Mason consulted Chumash and Tongva artists and conducted fieldwork in the Channel Islands, Santa Barbara, and museums across L.A. and Ojai while writing and researching the play.

This trail camp is also reachable by starting at the Chumash Trail, but given that trail’s steepness, this reporter isn’t advising that as an option for backpackers.

Another begins with an inexpert “A Day in the Life at Temple Hillel Public Access Film,” in which Rabbi Marty points out that the bound Torah is called a “Chumash” — it’s left to the viewer to make the connection to the Chumash people who first lived in the area, from whom Rudy is descended and in whom Harrison is interested.

It also is home to marine fossils and Chumash paintings considered among the most impressive examples of Native American rock art.