Anastasia Canyon Trail (aka Cahoon Spring Trail)

[jack_glendening]

Date Hiked: November 10, 2009
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Day hike from Tassahara Rd to Cahoon Springs, continuing on to
Tassajara Rd at Chews Ridge lookout. The post-fire tread was not well
defined at tail start, where it descends down to canyon, but
thereafter became more identifiable. From there my map has the trail
continuing up along the streambed but it actually follows a
well-defined old roadbed to the side, up to Cahoon Springs and then
to the meadow.

To create a loop, but not officially part of the Anastasia trail and
hence not included in the "passable" rating, we continued up to Chews
Ridge via the path described in the previous post (my companion being
the previous poster!). Some bush-whacking between open spaces was
required up to the fence but was not too bad. Beyond, however, much
brush had grown since the last report of 7 years ago, requiring much
crawling and some sawing - it took 1 hr to move 0.3 mi! Quite a
relief to finally get to the firebreak, a clear path leading to the
Chews Ridge Observatory and Tassajara Road.

An edited GPS trace of the Anastasia Canyon portion of the trail is
attached.

[Site Administrator]

Date Hiked: January 15, 2003
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)

Conditions reported by: Paul Danielson
Survey date: 15-JAN-2003
General: CLEAR
Specific:Tassajara Road to Cahoon Springs area

The access from Tassajara Road is the only one now. (The lower access from Carmel Valley Road is now denied and does indeed cross private property.) The 800 foot drop into the canyon is clear with just a little bit of poison oak intrusion. Once in the canyon, one encounters one serious deadfall which is easily skirted to the left crossing the small stream and resuming right along the path. The trail continues upstream and crosses it, veering sharply to the left and winds steeply uphill through open canopy to Cahoon Springs (now a pig wallow). Then one heads right and up to an open meadow which makes a good rest spot.

There are old ranch roads which head east, southwest, and northwest. The last is along a ridge with views but should be followed with caution as it enters private grazing property and eventually dead ends far below.

An interesting adventure is to take the southwest option and in about a quarter of a mile one notes the open, sloping meadow and heads straight up it instead of making the left-hand curving bend in the road. As you climb out of the meadow you will clearly see the old ranch road heading up the ridge. In due time you come to a wooden fence where the road appears to end and a single tread path begins. This is brush-covered and requires attentive pushing and ducking until you break out into the open, on the(most recent 1999 debris-strewn) firebreak swath that leads up to the Chews Ridge lookout. One easily exits to the saddle on Tassajara Road and can follow it back down the 2-3 miles back to your car. If you do this, chances are you will have made a loop that will put you in the dirty dozen's hikers hall of fame.

[Site Administrator]

* USFS trail # 4E01
* Parking: Tassajara Road
* Watersheds: Carmel River
* Junctions: Cahoon Spring, trails and jeep roads to private property
* Connects: Carmel Valley Road with Tassajara Road
* Camps: None