Planning a Trip
The Big Sur coast has been described as “the greatest meeting of mountains and sea.” The mountains that create the Big Sur Coast—the northern Santa Lucia Mountains—are much less famous than the coast, yet this primal backcountry harbors beauty and mystery that matches its better-known Big Sur Coast. Most of the northern Santa Lucia range is public land with the largest portion, over 325,000 acres, contained within the Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest. More than 285,000 acres of the District are contained in the Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas. We call this backcountry the Ventana Region.
See our Trip Suggestions section to help you plan your visit to the Ventana back country.
