MOUNT CARMEL TRAIL
- USFS Trail #1E04
- Parking: Bottchers Gap ($5/day)
- Watershed: Turner Creek
- Junctions: Ventana Double Cone Trail
- Connects: Ventana Double Cone Trail at Devils Peak with Mt Carmel Summit
- Camps: None
Conditions reported by: David Goode
Survey date: 4-AUGUST-2007
General: PASSABLE
Specific:
The trail is fine until Skinner Ridge. After that there is a steep 280 ft drop to the saddle below Devil's Peak. At one point near the top of this drop the trail takes a sharp right turn and seems to disappear into thick brush. However, the trail is merely obscured and one only needs to brush-bash for about 20 yards or so before the trail becomes clear again. There is an apparent detour to the right around this thick brush but it actually quickly leads nowhere.
You'll also encounter thick brush near the summit of Mt Carmel and for the first 0.5 mile or so of the climb up to Devil's Peak. As well there was a lot poison oak, especially along the first mile or so of the trail and during the descent into the saddle below Devil's Peak.
Conditions reported by:
Carl A. Mounteer
Survey date: 27-JANUARY-2006
General: PASSABLE
Specific:
The first third of this trail to Mt. Carmel is a "wilderness freeway". When you enter the manzanita brush for the last 2/3 of the ascent the trail becomes very brushy but easily passable with the tread well-defined.
The downed tree mentioned in the previous trail report that covers a reported approximate 40' of the trail is still there. But a new and easily negotiable detour has developed around it.
Conditions reported by:
Steven Waggoner
Survey date: 28-AUG-2004
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:
Section: Ventana Double Cone trail jct. to Mt. Carmel
Though unmarked off of Skinner Ridge Trail, someone has placed a stack of
three rocks at the Junction to this 0.8 mile trail. Though that typically
means not to pass, I believe this was ones method of marking Mt. Carmel
Trail. After the left onto the trail, about 60 yds back there is a small
fork. To the right is an area that appears to have been camped in, but
would make a good picnic area.
Heading on up the trail a short distance is a fallen tree that obstructs
about 20 to 40 ft of the trail. A short but unstable trail goes around this
impass. There is another tree or two across the path, but nothing to worry
about.
The trail eventually ventures into some undesirable underbrush that could
leave quite a collection of welts on the shorts clad hiker. It looks like
one came through and cleared some of the brush before the growing season,
but it is all back now.
The views at the top are obscured by the oaks, and the old telephone pole
has rotted away having seen better days. With a careful climb of the rock,
you can have 360 degree viewing for miles!
I recommend taking some shears at least to clear some of the trail. I
didn't happen to have mine with me.
Conditions reported by:
EW
Survey date: 13-MAR-2004
General: PASSABLE
Specific:
Section: Double Cone Trail to Mt. Carmel
I crashed through this short but brushy route in hopes of a fine view and was
not disappointed! From the interesting granite outcrop on the summit,
the Santa Cruz, Mount Hamilton, Diablo, Gabilan, Sierra De Salinas and
northern Santa Lucias ranges are all laid out in a 360 panorama, with the
Pacific ocean and Monterey Bay to the west and north, respectively.
A scrub variety of Canyon Live Oak and massive amounts of Ceanothus basically
enveloped most of the trail, but since the tread is in such good shape a
few hours with clippers on the way back down rendered it very passable,
perhaps even "clear".
I urge folks to get out on this trail - a little snipping and sawing are all
that's needed to keep this very worthy route open.
Maybe someday we can build a link to Palo Corona Ranch...
Conditions reported by:
Matt Dally
Survey date: 19-APRIL-2003
General: DIFFICULT
Specific:
While you aren't in any danger of getting lost, you'll have to do some major
bushwhacking as soon as you start going up. Following the eastward trail
from Devil's Peak, you'll come to a fork, where you take the left trail, and
again the left trail when it branches a little afterward. I personally
recommend that you have your arms and legs covered for this, and maybe even
your head, because you'll be plowing through a whole lot of brush on the
way. After following this seemingly endless maze for about half an hour,
you'll come to a small clearing with a shattered telephone pole and a
boulder pile. I suppose that you were originally supposed to climb up the
telephone pole in order to see anything, but in lieu of that, you can still
get a great view from atop the rocks. It's a stellar side hike for anyone
who doesn't mind getting slapped around a bit by all the overgrowth.
Conditions reported by: Jonathan Dirrenberger
Survey date: 21-APRIL-2001
General: CLEAR to PASSABLE
Specific:
The trailhead to Mount Carmel is just past the second summit of Devil's
Peak where the trail forks. There is no sign for it, but you can easily
see Mount Carmel (a round and rather uninteresting looking peak just to
the north), so it's impossible to miss. At the beginning of the trail
where you briefly descend to the saddle, a few major trees have fallen,
but you can easily negotiate around them. Otherwise the trail is clear
until you start the ascent. Once you start the relatively mild climb,
you have to wear long pants and a long shirt unless you want to get
scratched up with the thick and stiff brush that encroaches over the
trail. The trail is very visible (ie, don't worry about losing it), but
extremely overgrown, so be prepared for a little bushwhacking. It's
only about a 20-30 minute uphill hike to the summit of Mount Carmel,
even though you have to push through brush most of the time. At the
top, the telephone pole that I had heard so much about is unusable. It
is leaning over with brush growing all around it, and it has been split
in half (with the other half long gone). So the views are magnificent
and well worth the extra 30-minute detour, but you have to climb on top
of a small pile of boulders to see anything.
