Out-n-Back to Sykes Hot Springs
I had quite an adventure back in Feburary when I hiked out to Sykes Hot Springs on the Pine Ridge Trail in the Ventana Wilderness. I started my hike a bit too late in the evening (5:30pm) which only left me with 30 minutes of sunlight. As it got increasingly dark under the forest canopy, I lost track of the main trail and began looking for a place to setup camp before it got too dark to do so comfortably. The first campgrounds are actually 5 miles into the hike (1.5 hrs or so of hiking), so be prepared for this if you go! Even with my little mixup - I did make it out to the springs and back all in 1 day without any problems, and wrote up my trip report in How To Hike Sykes Hot Springs (wiki) as a reference for others planning to make the same hike. If you have the time, I would recommend making this an overnight trip to really enjoy the beautiful surroundings at a relaxed pace.
Select the Read the rest… link for my trail condition report below, as there are a few obstacles and downed trees on the first 5 miles out from the Big Sur Station parking lot.
Trail Report - Feb. 11, 2006
From the Big Sur station parking lot on the Pine Ridge trail, out for the 5 miles to the Redwood grove/stream on the way to Sykes Hot Springs… several downed trees along the way, photos documented online. Started hike roughly at 8:30am from the parking lot with timestamps of obstacles below.
- (8:51) where the trail does a “V” there is a downed tree “off” the trail (’attempting’ to disrupt night hikers from going the wrong way)
- (9:04) rock fall washout, dangerous at night
- (9:06) light tree crossing trail
- (9:20) long dead tree on trail (I might have rolled this one over)
- (9:54) duck under tree w/branches, minutes before Ventana Camp sign
- (10:13) old tree blockage, wear on trail - should be cleared out, need good footing. 20min before redwood grove at 5 miles.
Quite clear from 5 mile mark Redwoods/stream to Sykes. I left the Redwoods/stream at 16:05 to head back towards the parking lot, and took note of a couple other downed trees:
Perhaps bring a hatchet or hacksaw with you, just in case you come across obstacles like I did… would be nice for someone to just clean it up.