Nov 2, 2021
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Etymology |
Story | Photos / Slideshow | Maps: 1 2 | GPX | Profile | |
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Peak 4,820ft previously climbed Feb 7, 2011 |
I didn't pick the best day to visit, and knew this based on the weather reports.
A small storm the previous day
had not dropped much rain, but left everything wet, a problem
with Ventana trails and the typical overgrowth. The Salinas Valley was mostly
clear as I drove up it around sunrise, but Fort Hunter-Liggett
was steeped in
fog and clouds, as was the Los Padres NF, keeping the moisture from evaporating
until later in the afternoon when skies began to clear. The Carrizo Trail
begins just past a gated bridge over the North Fork of the San
Antonio River. It travels through some lovely grass and oak terrain
for about half a mile before jumping on a ridge and beginning a long
climb. Most of the bushes were wet, some holding water better than others
(manzanita and pines are especially adept at this), while
newts periodically scampered along the ground in places, probably the
first
time in eight months. I used trekking poles today because of the high mileage
and a bum leg, but their biggest help came in using them to knock most of the
water from the brush ahead of me. My boots and socks would get wet through, to
be sure, but not so bad that my toes would get blistered. I'm pretty sure I
would have had to end the outing early if I hadn't the poles with me to minimize
the drenching.
The trail conditions had the Carrizo Trail as a "Wilderness Freeway" well past
the day's first summit, Peak 4,275ft. This was not the case. The trail was
excellent up to about 3,200ft, after which it became hard to follow. I found
myself on a sketchy, exposed slope where I lost the trail at one time,
eventually finding old ribbons that helped keep me on track, though I
still continued to lose the trail on and off for half an hour. Had the hillsides
not been torched in the Dolan Fire, I think I would never have made it to the
first summit. It took me two hours to reach the saddle SE of Peak
4,275ft, marking the point to leave the trail for the last half mile of
cross-country. This started off easy, but got tougher as I realized
the NE side of the ridge I was following had not burned. The SW side
had, but it was cliffy there and it took some effort to work
around obstacles or, when that didn't work, wade through some unburned
brush. Still, it wasn't too bad, as it took just over half an hour to reach
the top. I was half in the clouds here, leaving me with
interesting but poor views. I could see points below me in the adjacent
ravines and drainages, but not the higher surrounding peaks nor any far views,
not unlike typical views peakbagging in Hawaii. I left a register here,
the only one on the day (because I'd forgotten to restock)
while I took a much needed rest.
I could see the continuing Carrizo Trail to the southwest only a third of a mile
away and decided to descend in that direction. This worked nicely,
traveling through the burn zone and saving me time. It probably would have made
a better ascent route, too. Once on the trail, I found it easier to
follow, and had no trouble the rest of the day with trail navigation. The upper
part of the Carrizo trail had some downfall in places, but nothing
serious and I made decent time along it. I had to climb about 800ft along
the trail before leaving it around the 4,700-foot level to climb to
Peak 4,988ft. I passed over the North Coast Ridge Trail on my way up, finding
the summit ridge had not burned completely, leaving me some brush and
rock sections to work through. From the first summit, it took about an
hour and a half to reach Peak 4,988ft, landing on the summit rocks
around 12:45p. Views were muted even more than the first summit, as I
seemed stuck in the clouds. Some blue sky was appearing, so I was holding out
hope that things would improve as the afternoon wore on. I was now more than
4hrs into the hike and I still had many miles to go, having done maybe a third
of the route. Most of
the elevation gain was done, so it should get easier, but I didn't know
if I would run into more trail problems. With cell phone coverage at the summit,
I let my wife know it might be late before I got home. I had a headlamp with me,
so wasn't too worried, just hoping I didn't crash and burn when my body gave
out fighting brush.
I descended off the summit northeast and north to regain the
North Coast Ridge Trail.
It's really an old road that one used to be able to drive decades ago,
not a single-track tread that is far easier to lose. So even if the brush gets
heavy, it's easy to see where the trail goes because of the wide footprint.
I found both trail and weather
improving, and while my feet/boots weren't drying out, at least they weren't
getting wetter. An hour after leaving the previous summit, I had a good
view of the next two peaks still some distance to the northwest.
Views east to
Junipero Serra and the San Antonio River drainage were opening up nicely, too,
though views towards the Pacific would remain shrouded in clouds the rest of
the day. It would be 2:20p before I managed my way up the firebreak to
the summit of Peak 4,820ft. I had been here back in 2011 when it took
500ft of prominence for me to climb unnamed summits in Ventana. That had been a
long, 22mi outing from the end of Cone Peak Rd that included another P500 5-6mi
further north.
Peak 4,735ft is less than a mile further to the northwest,
mostly connected by roads and firebreaks. I continued over the summit
of Peak 4,820ft on the firebreak, reconnected with the North Coast Ridge Trail,
and hiked to its junction with the Rodeo Flats Trail, my descent route.
At this same junction is a firebreak running up to the lower southwest summit of
Peak 4,735ft. Not knowing at the time which was higher, I went to
this summit first, taking only about 30min from Peak 4,988ft. After
noting the
elevation reading on the GPSr, I then spent another 10min dropping to
a shallow saddle and making my way to the NE summit. It read
4ft higher, so I'm going
with that until someone does a better surveying job. It was after 3:15p when I
started down from this last summit, heading southeast down
a burned slope to intercept the Rodeo Flat Trail.
This is really just an old road/firebreak
dropping 2,000ft in less than three miles to Arroyo Seco. It was in poor shape
for vehicles, but otherwise decent for hiking - no brush at all on the
entire route, just the usual collection of ruts, loose stones and smaller
plants. The road ends just short of reaching the river below. A duck on
the left side showed where a single-track continues on the north side of the
river. This leads in a few minutes to the junction with the Arroyo Seco Trail,
marked by a second duck. I spent the next 40min hiking the lower few
miles of the Arroyo Seco Trail, part of which I had used only a few
days earlier when descending from Peak 3,807ft. It was 4:50p by the time I
reached the trailhead where I had stashed my bike.
I was quite sore by this time, my limping having progressed over the last four
miles from hardly noticeable to apparent drunkenness. The bike would be
a most welcome change. I packed up my poles and tucked my pant leg into my
sock and rode off, past the campground, the summer homes,
then up and over the saddle between the Arroyo Seco and San Antonio
River drainages. I spent 30min on the bike, most of that coasting downhill in
the late-afternoon sun through the grassy meadows to return
to the Jeep by 5:20p. After packing the bike away,
I took a shower, got a cold drink and a snack, then began the drive home...
This page last updated: Wed Feb 2 17:20:15 2022
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