VENTANA WILDERNESS ALLIANCE
On-Line Trail Conditions Report

BEAR BASIN TRAIL

• USFS trail #3E11
• Parking: China Camp
• Watersheds: Carmel River
• Junctions: Carmel River Trail, Pine Ridge Trail
• Connects: Pine Valley Camp with Pine Ridge Trail at Pine Ridge, by way of Bear Basin
• Camps: Bear Basin Camp

Conditions reported by: Lindsay Jeffers (Stevenson Wilderness Expedition)
Survey date: 2-MARCH-2008
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Stevenson crews thoroughly cleared the trail from Pine Valley to the Bear Basin Trail. From there to the Pine Ridge Trail enough clearing has taken place that the trail is clear. Conditions reported by: Chad
Survey date: 4-MAY-2007
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Brush is encroaching on the trail, and had to push through it, or duck into the tunnel it created quite a bit. Tread is good and easy to follow. The junction with the Bear Basin Connector is flagged, there is no sign. Its easy to identify with a topo. Conditions reported by: Reed Thayer
Survey date: 29-FEBRUARY-2007
General: CLEAR/PASSABLE
Specific:

The tread is in good shape from Pine Valley to Bear Basin but is much worse from Bear Basin to the Pine Ridge Trail. There are several large deadfalls. Please do not remove the flagging from Bear Basin to Pine Ridge. Without it, the trail would be impossible to find in the snow and very hard to find in dry conditions. Conditions reported by: Stevenson Wilderness Expedition
Survey date: 13-FEBRUARY-2007
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Section: Church Creek Divide to Pine Valley - Passable/Difficult

Stevenson Wilderness Expedition leaders cleared the trail from Pine Valley to Bear Basin Camp and flagged where the trail becomes vague. They also began to clear up the hill towards the Pine Ridge Trail and cleared that to Passable condition almost to the top of the first ridge. The remaining section should be completed by the end of February, according to our current plans. However, at the moment, it is very brushy and would be hard to negotiate that top half mile. Conditions reported by: Fred Miller
Survey date: 12-FEBRUARY-2007
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Section: Pine Valley Trail to Bear Basin Camp - Passable

Trail is well flagged.

Section: Bear Basin Camp to Pine Ridge Trail - Difficult

The trail disappears between camp and Pine Ridge. Getting brushy. For a great lesson in Ventana's rowdy geology, drop downhill below Bear Basin Camp to see an entire hillside slumping in 5' high waves into the creek. Conditions reported by: Stevenson Wilderness Expedition
Survey date: 13-FEBRUARY-2006
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Section: Bear Basin Connector to Pine Ridge Trail - Passable

The Stevenson crew reflagged and cleared brush the length of the trail. The trail has some rough tread, but it is visible the whole route. Slumping and sliding footbed near the top of the brushy section leading out of Bear Basin will require attention, especially for loaded backpackers. There was only a trickle of water running across the camp area, but the main stream had adequate flow, and other streams around the Basin were flowing. Conditions reported by: Greg Minter
Survey date: 24-SEPTEMBER-2005
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Section: Bear Basin Connector to Church Creek - Difficult

Lots of encroaching brush. Tread evident but faint. Lots of pollen and dust stirred as you pass. Conditions reported by: Ryan Masters
Survey date: 29-JUNE-2005
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Brutal, but passable. At times, disorienting. At points the tread is completely lost in overgrowth and you have to feel your way blindly. Slow going to say the least. Conditions reported by: Dave Eshleman
Survey date: 1-JUNE-2005
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Very difficult going with brush completely obscuring the trail. Had to push forcefully through 7-foot high chamise. Conditions reported by: Lindsay Jeffers - Stevenson Wilderness Expedition
Survey date: 14-FEB-2005
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Section: Pine Valley Camp to the Pine Ridge Trail Junction : Passable

Stevenson Expedition staff brushed out and cleared most downed limbs from Pine Valley Camp to the Pine Ridge Trail junction. Ceanothus still impinges on the upper sections despite clipping, and several step-over branches remain. However, this route should not prove difficult for a backpacker familiar with Ventana trail conditions. Rapid growth on the upper sections of this trail above the Bear Basin Trail will doubtless overcome our clipping during this wet growing season. Conditions reported by: Lindsay Jeffers - Stevenson Wilderness Expedition
Survey date: 15-FEB-2004
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Section: Bear Basin Trail (Pine Valley through Bear Basin to Pine Ridge)

The Stevenson Wilderness Expedition cleared and re-flagged the trail from Pine Valley to Bear Basin Camp. The trail needs attention where it drops down the ridge into the valley above the Basin. There are rock cairns and some flags, but it helps to know where the trail is supposed to go. From Bear Basin Camp to the top of the Pine Ridge, the trail is open and flagged, but again, opportunities abound for losing the way. This is especially true where it comes out into the flat area on top and turns south east to meet the Pine Ridge Trail. This area of ceanothus and deadfalls has rapidly growing ferns and shrubs. We clipped the trail open, but it will rapidly re-grow and obscure this route again. We clipped open the trail for a hundred yards from the junction at the top of Pine Ridge a second time at the beginning of March, 2004. Conditions reported by: Rob Yang
Survey date: 19-APRIL-2003
General: PASSABLE
Specific:



This trail appears to have been cleared and flagged recently. I hiked from the junction with the Pine Ridge and Black Cone trails down to Bear Basin camp, and then up and over into Pine Valley. The camp was inviting and showed signs of recent use.

There is some deadfall, and I did some sawing where I could. There is also a bit of sloping tread, and some intermittent brush, but the trail is otherwise very pleasant. The flags help a lot. I ran into a few other groups going the other way, so that should help.

[Between the PR/BCT junction and Bear Basin camp is a flat spot with views, incense cedars and what looked like lots of volcanic rocks. It was quite different from most of the rest of the forest. What a treat !] Conditions reported by: Lindsay Jeffers
Survey date: 15/16-FEB-2003
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Pine Valley to to Pine Ridge Trail via Bear Basin Camp:

From Pine Valley up to the Bear Basin Connector junction, the way is clear after we did some cutting and clipping. The foot bed is in good condition.

From the junction down toward Bear Basin, we cleared a way and rebuilt foot bed around a large laurel that had fallen along the trail about 100 yards from the junction. One still needs to straddle another tree trunk, but an experienced hiker can negotiate the obstacle safely. From there to Bear Basin Camp, the trail is clipped out and newly flagged in the many obscure parts. There is one other tree at about 4 feet above the trail that can be swung under on the trail down from the first ridge where the route tends south before dropping to the first flat section.

From Bear Basin Camp up to the Pine Ridge Trail on Pine Ridge, our group clipped, re-flagged, and cleaned the foot bed up to within a few hundred yards of the Pine Ridge Trail junction. The last section to the junction was not finished because of darkness. The final section of the trail should be flagged before the end of February when another group uses it. However, I would not advise hikers to take this section of the trail unless they are comfortable with the possibility of losing the trail and having to make their own way. Conditions reported by: Ted Merrill
Survey date: 9-OCT-2002
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

From Pine Valley, the first mile of this trail is in good repair, up to the saddle where there is a Y. There is no sign at this junction with the Bear Basin Connector trail. The continuation of the Bear Basin trail falls downhill steeply into Bear Basin, and is marked with a small log across the trail (likely gone by the time you get there). I didn't go into Bear Basin but did notice that the junction of the Bear Basin trail with the Pine Ridge trail is basically invisible; but if you go North at the junction of the Black Cone trail (a burnt out tree trunk with a plaque and tagging) then, based on prior experience, you should find the way pretty easily. Conditions reported by: Jim Yurchenco
Survey date: 14-21-APRIL-2002
General: CLEAR BUT VERY STEEP
Specific:

Clear but very steep; a couple of minor blowdowns; it snowed on us here, but didn't stick. Conditions reported by: Stevenson School Wilderness Expedition
Survey date: FEB-2002
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

Pine Valley to Pine Ridge via Bear Basin: The route is open and flagged. The trail out of Bear Basin is steep but easy to follow after we cut in the foot bed and re-flagged the trail. The route is much more difficult, though, than the slightly longer route up to the Pine Ridge Trail junction and along the Pine Ridge Trail to Pine Ridge turn-off. On a map the Bear Basin cutoff may appear to be a shortcut, but it requires a lot of steep climbing to hike out of Bear Basin. Conditions reported by: Lindsay Jeffers
Survey date: 14-JAN-2002
General: PASSABLE TO VERY DIFFICULT
Specific:

Robert Louis Stevenson School's Wilderness Expedition leaders and co-leaders were out the weekend of Jan 13 to do some trail clearing and flagging into and out of Bear Basin Camp. I'm sending along my impressions of the trails and the results of our flagging.

Pine Valley to Bear Basin Camp: The Bear Basin Connector Trail is fine up to the Bear Basin (Camp) Trail. We flagged and cleared the trail down to the camp, and that route is now in good hiking condition, although not one of the more frequently used trails. The new flags can be depended upon down as far as the camp.

Pine Ridge/Black Cone Trail/Bear Basin Trail Junction to Bear Basin Camp: We cleared and flagged the trail from the Pine Ridge Trail junction approximately a third of the way down the hill. The top section is now flagged and can be followed easily. After it drops over the ridge down into the bare section of brown gravel, we added flags to the existing cairns. Flags now show the route over the edge of the canyon for the final drop into Bear Basin, although the tread has mostly disappeared. The flags follow the original trail down and across the worst of the side-slope traversal at the top of the ridge before the trail begins to zig-zag. We kicked in and clipped enough to make that route clear to the top of the first switchbacks. But our flags stop there. The other part of our group came up the trail after clearing the trail into Bear Basin Camp. The original trail in the basin near the camp no longer exists, and a number of alternative routes make finding the original trail up the ridge extremely hard for someone coming uphill towards Pine Ridge. Our group coming uphill tended too far south and flagged a route that meets the line of flags we ran down from the summit. That route can be followed by backpackers, but it lacks switchbacks and may become overgrown. We will try to continue flagging the original trail down from the top as far as Bear Basin in February. Meanwhile, hikers are warned to expect difficulty finding a complete trail between Bear Basin Camp and the Pine Ridge Trail. Conditions reported by: Lindsay Jeffers
Survey date: AUGUST-01
General: DIFFICULT to IMPASSABLE
Specific:

Pine Ridge Trail at Black Cone Trail Junction to Bear Basin Camp

The trail is largely invisible. I have been over it five or six times in the last five years, in both directions, but I confess I was off the trail as much as on it. Even when it exists, it is generally not continuous but exists as remnants of trail. From the Pine Ridge Trail junction, a half dozen faded flags and occasional foot bed indentations lead one through fern and burned tree trunks to within sight of the final short uphill ridge. Here one keeps slightly right of the direction the trail has come from and heads for the low spot in the ridge. A cairn on the other side confirms this is a way people have come before. From here the trail tends down and eastward across red gravel. At some point the trail turns northwest and down. I found traces. When it gets to an area of mostly burned ceanothus, I lost it and missed the drop over the ridgeline when the trail curves north and northeast. I made a cross country loop and regained that trail part way down. Looking back up, it did not appear there was much, if any, tread to follow down the steep side-slope even if I had stayed on it. I followed the trail and made my own down to Bear Basin Camp, crossing several new drainage cuts, some of which are over ten feet deep. The camp itself is in good shape and the main creek is running nicely. However, I would not recommend anyone attempt this route to the camp unless they have been on the trail and remember it well from four or five years ago. There is something unusual about the trail section above the camp and up to the gravel slope near the top. The whole area seems to re-make itself; at least it has done so over the last three years. It responds drastically to winter rains. Some new stream channels that were mostly dry five years ago in the winter now seem to flow all year, and their beds have cut seven or eight feet deeper. Trees have fallen over or burned away completely. New hedges of brambles, thimbleberries and nettles have grown up to cover previously dry forest duff. On the whole, if this trail is being abandoned, there are good excuses for doing so: it would need to be rebuilt after every rainy season if this dynamic process continues.

Bear Basin Trail - Bear Basin Camp up to Bear Basin Connector

This trail also exhibits signs of abandonment, especially in the two level basins one reaches before climbing the last ridge out to the main Bear Basin Connector trail. Much dry ceanothus covers the trail as well as other brush. Some spots require crawling. Worse than that, though, the trail repeatedly vanishes in the duff under the madrone and bay and oak trees in those basins. Although I have always found them beautiful and friendly places, I was off the trail more than I was on it this time through. In fact, I eventually just made a cross-country trek for the ridge I thought was the correct one and picked up the trail there with no sign I had ever crossed the actual trail. From that ridge up the last two hundred yards to the junction, the trail is easy to follow but is crossed by more ceanothus and scrub oak. After a couple of downed trees, the trail meets the much clearer trail between Pine Valley and the Pine Ridge Trail. Although this was recently brushed out to a considerable width, it is time to bring some clippers and handsaws along it once again.

My personal opinion about Bear Basin is that the trail in from the Pine Valley - Pine Ridge Trail should be reworked and not abandoned. The camp is a beautiful, remote spot. It is generally protected from storms (except from the north) and it was not severely burned in either of the last two big fires so the camp is under old oaks, pines and madrones. There are even Santa Lucia Firs in the camp area. But rebuilding the trail will require work to establish the foot bed as well as to clear existing brushy sections. A first step would be a good survey and new flagging to supplement the old cairns and flags which too often point to dead ends. Conditions reported by: Neil Lahaie
Survey date: NOVEMBER-00
General: DIFFICULT to IMPASSABLE
Specific:

Bear Basin Connector to Bear Basin: PASSABLE WITH DIFFICULTY.

The trail is passable but difficult from the top of the connector down to the top of Bear Basin with the trail disappearing every so often. The trail is overgrown in many places on the way down. There are a few yellow tags still in place down to the top of Bear Basin that will get you to a place where 3, count em, 3 trees in a row have fallen right into the foot bed. If you head straight down the basin from the middle of the first fallen tree you will pick the trail back up and that will take you down to the creek next to the old Bear Basin campground.

I found a remnant of the campground sign on the ground by the old campsite. It looks like someone used the rest of it for firewood or it got washed downstream.

It is my feeling that this trail will become impassable in the near future if some effort to clear brush and fallen trees isn't made

Bear Basin to Pine Ridge: IMPASSABLE

I spent several hours scrambling over the ridge trying to find the trail up to Pine Ridge with no luck. One of the previous posters said he could find the trail because there was grass growing in it. In November most of the hillside was green so that method of finding the trail didn't work. I spotted a couple of old ducks and tried to ascend from them but had no luck.

The trail location from the USGS and the Forest Service maps were inaccurate.

I camped at the old Bear Basin camp site that night. It turned out to be one of the nicest backcountry camp sites I've ever camped in with a nice view of the valley and the cones. The next morning I scrambled around on the ridge for a couple of more hours without luck, and finally decided to head back up to the connector and reach the Pine Ridge trail that way. Conditions reported by: Stevenson School Wilderness Expedition 2000
Survey date: APRIL-2000
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Pine Ridge Trail Junction (on Pine Ridge) to Bear Basin Camp=DIFFICULT

Although the signs that used to be here on Pine Ridge are not visible, once at the correct spot, the beginning of the trail becomes obvious by looking for old cuts in fallen timber along the ridge to the west. Similarly, the start of the Black Cone Trail is moderately clear but unsigned. Without brush walls to define the trail to Bear Basin, trail signs become limited to a faint foot bed, sawed tree trunks, and a stripe of green grass in the old path. Heading out along the ridge, the trick is to decide where to cut northwest over the little rise and pick up the more pronounced trail on the other side, which is newly cairned and runs northeast for a while before going back to the northwest. Cairns and flags help define the trail for the next section.

Downward, the views are better than ever; all the ceanothus is gone. One sees the Double Cone, Uncle Sam Mountain, Hennickson's Ridge, and Monterey Bay beyond. On re-entering the area of standing trees, the trail makes a traverse, first horizontal and then descending, which tries the nerves of a backpacker. The trail is deep in leaves, the foot bed steeply angled down, and the views down slope open and unprotected. The ground is still soft enough to kick steps in, and the slope steep enough to steady oneself with a hand on the hillside. Fourteen heavily laden people with me went down nervously but without a fall.

Entering the first flat area, one might think one has reached Bear Basin, but the camp is still more than a quarter mile ahead and much lower. Unfortunately, the trail and flags seem to disappear. The whole basin has been changed by gravel flows, new water channels, fallen trees and burned out undergrowth. So the process of reaching the traditional campsite is one of cross-country navigating. The original trail reappears in twenty-foot sections but soon disappears into new streambeds or under fallen madrone trees.

The original camp retains its welcome; it is on a flat just north of the old camp sign near the trail crossing of the main stream out of Bear Basin. A new stream brings water closer to the camp. Fire was very sporadic in Bear Basin. Some large trees burned and fell, but most remain. The lower bushes burned, so there is less under story, but the forest canopy seems intact.

Bear Basin Camp to the Bear Basin connector=PASSABLE WITH FEW DIFFICULT PLACES

Crossing the stream and rising into the next basin (waterless), the trail is clear and obvious. Once in the basin, leaves and some fallen trees obscure the trail. As it rises to the northeastern wall of the basin, a fallen tree hides the trail for a way. A few flags mark the route up through the leaves. From there the trail is clear to the final ridge that meets the Pine Valley - Pine Ridge Trail . The last hundred yards have been very well cleared and shored up. Conditions reported by: Steve Wilson
Survey date: 2-APRIL-00
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:

Boon Hughey and I hiked the Bear Basin Trail from Pine Ridge to the junction with the Bear Basin Connector on a gorgeous day in early April 2000. The tread itself is very faint, but Schaffer's map depicts the route fairly accurately except that he doesn't show the section from Pine Ridge to Bear Basin; the USGS is a little off. The junction with the Pine Ridge trail is recognizable by a unearthed post on the very top of Pine Ridge; veer right and stay on top of the ridge, gradually ascending through burned Ponderosa. It's interesting that the trail was recognizable in parts in this section because the only grass that was growing was in the tread itself. As you near the red rock outcrop at the top look to your right, or the northeast, for a cairn that marks the start of the descent. The section from Pine Ridge down to Bear Basin passes through an oak forest, quite open, that burned in the 99 fire. But the trees are still standing and they are shedding their copious quantities of dead leaves down to the forest floor, really collecting in the trail tread. If they truly died then watch out for major deadfall in the years to come. Spots of the trail are on steep side slopes with little tread and tons of ball bearing like leaves, quite similar to walking a steep icy snow bank. Look for pink flagging, ducks, and old blazes in trees that have healed and filled in over the years. You'll enter the floor of Bear Basin with its multiple stream channels and pass fine Ponderosa shaded Bear Basin Camp marked on Shaffer's map. The floor of Bear Basin escaped major fire damage, and is a delightful, isolated, untrammeled place provided the flys aren't too robust. The tread is pretty indistinct through Bear Basin, but following Schaffer's map and very old tree blazes you'll reach a metal marker and wooden sign at the foot of the slope and next to the stream just beyond the other campsite marked on Schaffer's map. Here the tread becomes more distinct as it climbs up to the top of the ridge. We lost the trail in a flat bowl about two-thirds up the hill. Follow Shaffer's map and veer to the left (NW) and climb to the top of an ascending ridge. The tread is once again visible and takes you straight to the junction with the Bear Basin Connector. If not marked, this junction is easily recognized as the connector trail heads up the ridge to the right (east) and the Bear Basin Trail immediately descends to the NNE into Pine Valley. By the way, this trail is shown as the Carmel River Trail on the USGS topo. Conditions reported by: Steve Wilson
Survey date: January 1999
General: VERY PASSABLE
Specific:

From Pine Valley to the Bear Basin Connector Junction:

Just a couple of deadfalls, a very few spots with slightly encroaching foliage, but overall a delightful trail. When heading up the trail from Pine Valley, head towards the spring from the meadow (with the official camps in it that's circled by Ponderosa), then veer to the left. You can't miss it. Conditions reported by: Jon Benner
Survey date: January 1999
General: PASSABLE
Specific:

From the Connector Junction into Bear Basin and beyond to Pine Ridge:

The trail through Bear Basin itself and climbing out of the basin to the junction with the Pine Ridge trail at the top of the ridge can be indistinct in parts. Immediately after crossing Bear Basin Creek (heading towards Pine Ridge), you have to scout around a bit to pick up the trail again, and climbing out of the basin the tread can be lost in leaves, especially in fall. Some maps show the trail as descending into Bear Basin but not connecting with the Pine Ridge trail on top, but this isn't true; it's passable the whole way, just a little indistinct in parts.