Highway 1 Now Closed South of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road

[JasonG]

You shouldn't have any trouble staying on track;
to be fair, I haven't hiked the Buckeye > Cruikshank > Salmon Creek Loop in a few years,
but it gets enough traffic to remain passable.
The terrain is such that you'll know if you've taken a wrong turn in short order.
I'd recommend a clockwise loop as the top of the Salmon Creek Trail is steep & brushy-
much easier with gravity on your side.

Thanks for the reply. "The terrain is such that you'll know if you've taken a wrong turn in short order" is what I needed to hear. I'm planning on doing easy enough mileage (about 6-7 miles/day) that losing some time due to a wrong turn and having to double back a bit isn't a big concern. I was just afraid of getting lost completely and wandering in circles, or huddled on a mountainside in the dark wondering if I should summon the air cavalry with my PLB and put myself $10,000 in debt for rescue costs...

That is one thing I love about the High Sierra Trail. You pretty much can't get lost, because it's the only way forward.

[mikesplain]

You shouldn't have any trouble staying on track;
to be fair, I haven't hiked the Buckeye > Cruikshank > Salmon Creek Loop in a few years,
but it gets enough traffic to remain passable.
The terrain is such that you'll know if you've taken a wrong turn in short order.
I'd recommend a clockwise loop as the top of the Salmon Creek Trail is steep & brushy-
much easier with gravity on your side.

[JasonG]

I am thinking of the route you suggested as an alternate, for sure. Just a bit concerned about what I'm hearing about the difficulty of trailfinding. I'm not a new backpacker, but I have stayed pretty much on obvious trails like the High Sierra Trail or others in Sequoia/Kings. I only hike alone since I don't have any friends willing to hit the backcountry, so I haven't had the opportunity to learn orienteering from a more experienced person. So if anyone wants to come along June 6-9 from San Diego or points north, I'll drive!

Particularly near the end of a long day I sometimes zone out and kinda hike on autopilot when I'm tired, so I'm a bit worried about missing some faint turnoff or something and ending up lost.

I've read everything I can find on this route, including Charlie Williams excellent description, and several trail books, but still have a vision of wandering in the dark down some wrong animal trail. Am I overworrying this?

[mikesplain]

JasonG-
have you considered the Silver Peak Wilderness?
Trailheads are south of the Alder Creek slide
& thus would save you an hour or two of driving around.
Fantastic coastal views & coast redwoods at the southern extent of their natural range.
IMHO, Buckeye, Cruikshank & Lions Den camps are a lot nicer (& a LOT less crowded) than Sykes.
Wherever you go, bring a head net...

[K Vandevere]

The highway is expected to remain closed until the middle of June. The Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. is paved and shouldn't be a problem.

[JasonG]

Anyone know about the progress of clearing the slide south of Naciemento-Fergusson road? I have my first Ventana trip planned for June 6, coming from the south. Everything I can find about the April slide says "4-6 weeks", which at best cuts it very close but it's unclear if that is still valid. Currently CalTrans says still closed.

I'm planning on hiking Pine Ridge Trail to Sykes since this is my first trip to Ventana. If Hwy 1 is still closed on June 6, is staying on the 101 through SLO up to Jolon road, and connecting to N-F road a valid workaround for a regular (slightly low clearance) sedan? How many hours will that add to my trip do you think?

Thanks for any advice or insight.

[gust]

hwy 1 is now open between carmel and big sur during the hours of 8pm-8am.

[jbl]

For those who weren't aware of this, as of last Friday, Highway 1 has been closed just near Alder Creek (which is just north of the Cruikshank Trail trailhead) due to a very big slide. The original reports are that it will take up to a month to reopen.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/04/14 ... south.html

This means that the only access from the south to points from Big Sur down to Pacific Valley (including the Prewitt Loop trail, Lucia, Gorda and the Treebones Resort) is via Nacimiento Fergusson Road. As most are aware, access from the north of Big Sur is also currently cut off due to the Rocky Creek slide, but I understand that progress towards a limited opening up of that route is pretty far along.

Be VERY careful if you drive on NFR--there's a lot more traffic on it than usual, including very large motor homes and trailers.