[b]Date Hiked:[/b] June 26, 2022
[b]General Condition:[/b] Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)

Horse Bridge to Tassajara Creek Camp - The trail is clear and in good condition; poison oak is present as usual

Tassajara Creek Camp to the junction of the Tony Trail - Trail is clear and is mostly good condition. In a few areas (near creek crossings) vegetation may obscure the tread briefly (growth is post trail restoration).

"Tony Camp" - the unofficial camp at the junction of the Tony Trail - is clear and has about 6 bedsites plus one fire ring.

Tony Trail junction to Willow Spring Camp - Trail is clear and followable. Tread is in fair condition, in some areas still requiring work to clear dry ravel which covered the tread following the 2021 Willow Fire.

Willow Springs Camp - is huge and spacious with one fire ring and a grill. The camp toilet is in good condition. Hundreds of face flies seem to make this Camp their home, and they come out en masse to welcome visitors.

Above Willow Springs Camp - The trail becomes brushy, with various obstacles, mostly burned brush and deadfall. The trail was not scouted beyond 1/2 mile west of camp, but hikers report it is challenging.

Water is flowing well in Tassajara Creek, and in Willow Creek all the way from Tassasjara Creek Camp to Willow Springs Camp. Willow Creek and some of side creeks have abundant green algae growth.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] May 17, 2022
[b]General Condition:[/b] Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)

[i]ED: FYI the GPS track used was Gaia, which is inaccurate there[/i]

From Horse Bridge to a little past Willow Spring Camp. The trail is freshly cleared to near Willow Spring Camp, but gets a bit overgrown close to the camp. It is always clearly visible. Immediately past the camp, we lost the trail after it crossed the creek, but eventually found it. A non-intuitive sharp-left turn after the creek crossing plus a downed tree hid it.
Beyond that, for about a quarter mile, the trail is brushy but mostly discernible, although it looks like a deer trail. However, the trail then disappeared.
We looked around for quite a while, following the map and GPS, but never found the trail again. We had planned to continue to the South Fork trail, but after reading the recent account of the fellow getting rescued on the Miller Canyon Trail, we decided to turn around. Also, this section was colored yellow and we were looking ahead to two or three miles of orange and if we completely lost the trail during the yellow part we didn't want to experience orange.
So we had a nice hike, and Willow Spring Camp is the bomb, and we also had plenty of time to spend swimming at Horse Bridge, which is as nice as it was the last time I was there 50 years ago. Nicer, even, since you can't drive there and it's not full of people.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] May 1, 2022
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Section: Indians Arroyo Seco Rd to junction with Tony Trail

Trail is clear, deadfall and brush cleared, in the burned area, tread has been restored. Poison oak is present but not overreaching.

Section: Tony Trail to Willow Spring Camp

Trail is difficult, brush and deadfalls are present, tread is partly damaged by debris flows.
Poison oak is springing back from the fire.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] March 13, 2022
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

[b]From the Junction with South Fork Trail to Marble Peak/North Coast Ridge Road: Passable[/b]

The section along Tan Oak Creek is filling in with brush (bay tree, ceanothus, tanoak). This stretch is notorious for fast growing brush. Conditions improve once the trail leaves the riparian corridor and traverses higher up the hillside but even there chamise and sticky ceanothus are starting to take over. There's a few fallen snags over the trail.

From the Tan Oak-Higgins Divide down to Indian Valley is mostly clear except for some collapsing chaparral and a little bit of brush encroachment. At present the creeklets in Indian Valley have flowing water.

From Indian Valley up to Marble Peak starts out mostly clear but deteriorates on the switchbacks below Marble Peak where aggressive post-fire regrowth has re-claimed the trail in some spots. There's lots of poison oak embedded in the regrowth as well as a few down snags over the trail.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] April 30, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Trip conditions, description and photographs described here: https://david-w-yocom.medium.com/trip-review-marble-peak-trail-38b7f8f3243

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] April 17, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

I hiked the section of Marble Peak Trail from Strawberry Valley to the North Coast Ridge road again on April 17th. After taking the South Fork, I maintain my rating as passable. There was never a moment I thought I might be off the trail, or was unsure about my path. Even better, on this return visit I think I spotted the use trail to Marble Peak. Keep your eyes peeled as you get closer to the top. There are some brushy sections and downfall but it is absolutely passable, with a good pace to boot. The brushiest sections never lasted long and the tread was always quite evident, especially compared to sections of the South Fork Trail which I had taken earlier in the day. My sunglassses are still out in this section somewhere.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] April 10, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Made the trek out to Marble Peak over the weekend. Up to Willow Springs the trail is immaculate - often traveled from what I could tell. The toilet at Willow Springs is filling up but a wonderful spot to kick off the day. I'm so regular out there.

Continuing on, the trail was periodically overgrown with occasional downfall and the sun was intense when I was on the hill sides. You cannot comfortably camp at Camp Creek, but water was flowing. I found a tick on me here. Shovel Handel Creek has a spot for one tent, and a use trail that went off into the woods but the brush was over my head and I was not particularly excited about that so I continued on. In and out of the hills, over and over. There is a section before the intersection with Strawberry Valley/Camp that was basically "gone" - it was very short, maybe 10 feet. I was able to see the trail across the ravine so don't worry, just keep working your way to the drainage and you will find the trail.

The intersection of Higgens Creek is just an amazing spot. In the afternoon you may find yourself without shade but there are so many tent sites and I doubt that areas see much tent traffic. At this point there was a large pine tree blocking the Marble Peak trail, I took a use trail to a campsite (I think) for about 500' before realizing I was headed the wrong direction. Eventually I was snaking my way up the back of Marble Peak.

I did not see any point to leave this "wagon road" that was snaking up the backside of Marble Peak, so I just stayed on it until the ridge. It spits you out on the south side of the mountain, not the north side. There is a sign here marking the Marble Peak Trail, so it seemed right. Wonderful views up by the road, I was delighted.

Returning over the same route, I camped a little past the intersection with Strawberry Valley, after Tan Oak. Sunday I pushed it really hard to make good time to the car, I was blessed with overcast skies. Lots of hikers in the first few miles up to Willow Springs, I imagine this area sees a lot of foot traffic. At Horse Bridge some guy's dog was yakking in the river, nice.

This place is amazing, I'm new to backpacking in California but I have been to many wilderness areas, Ventana is wild and untamed which provides for a magical feeling when you are really out there. Thank you all for the effort in maintaining these trails, it was because of you I was able to have this awesome weekend. There were plenty of spots I was unsure of, but would see a semi-recent cut branch or the occasional ribbon that would give me the confidence to continue on.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] April 4, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Out and back trip to Indian Valley. The trail was mostly clear through Tassajara Camp, then slightly overgrown but easy to follow through Willow springs. There was recent dead-fall roughly 9 miles in, and the trail had slid out in some places. The tread was less defined near the South Fork Trail junction, but generally easy to follow. Things were mostly clear from Tan Oak Creek to Indian Camp.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] February 12, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)

[b]*** VWA/USFS Volunteer Ranger/Trail Crew Report ***[/b]

[b]Forest/Trail Status:[/b] [color=#FF0000]PARTIALLY OPEN, Los Padres Monterey Ranger District is partially open per Forest Order 05-07-51-21-02[/color]
[b]Current Fire Restrictions:[/b] [color=#FF0000]Campfires and Stoves are permitted in the backcountry with a valid Campfire/Stove Permit.[/color]

[b]Description:[/b]

The Monterey Ranger District Forest has partially reopened, VWA/USFS Volunteer Rangers continue to prepare opening other parts of the closed forest and are continuing their regular patrols. Today volunteer Rangers patrolled the Marble Peak Trail from Arroyo Seco up the first four miles to Tassajara Camp. The Rangers did minor spot brushing and tread maintenance. Cleaned camps and put out a campfire that was still smoldering.
[b]
Trail conditions are as follows:[/b]

[b]Arroyo Seco Trailhead to Tassajara Camp -[/b] Clear with no obstacles, There is one large tree down in the camp.


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[size=85] [b]DISCLAIMER:[/b] This report is for informational purposes only. Trail conditions may change at any time. The Ventana Wilderness Alliance assumes no liability for the use of this information.
The Los Padres National Forest Website can be found here: [url]https://www.fs.usda.gov/lpnf/[/url]
To learn more about the Volunteer VWA/USFS Ranger and Trail Crew Programs visit [url]https://www.ventanawild.org/stewardship[/url].
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[b]Date Hiked:[/b] November 16, 2020
[b]General Condition:[/b] Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)

[b]*** VWA/USFS Volunteer Ranger/Trail Crew Report ***[/b]

[b]Forest/Trail Status:[/b] [color=#FF0000]CLOSED, Los Padres Monterey Ranger District is closed per Forest Order 05-07-51-20-22[/color]
[b]Current Fire Restrictions:[/b] [color=#FF0000]No Campfires, No Stoves in backcountry. Cold Camping Only.[/color]

[b]Description:[/b]

With the Monterey Ranger District Forest still closed, VWA/USFS Volunteer Rangers continue to prepare for its reopening. Today volunteer Rangers and Ranger Trainees patrolled from Arroyo Seco Campground to Tassajara Camp. They cleaned two camps at Arroyo Seco, one at Adobe Camp and two at Tassajara Camp. They did spot brushing and minor trail work on their journey as well.
[b]
Trail conditions are as follows:[/b]

[b]Horse Bridge to Tassajara Camp -[/b] Clear with minor encroaching brush

[b]Note:[/b] Arroyo Seco Campground and the road to Horse Bridge remains closed at this time.

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[size=85] [b]DISCLAIMER:[/b] This report is for informational purposes only. Trail conditions may change at any time. The Ventana Wilderness Alliance assumes no liability for the use of this information.
The Los Padres National Forest Website can be found here: [url]https://www.fs.usda.gov/lpnf/[/url]
To learn more about the Volunteer VWA/USFS Ranger and Trail Crew Programs visit [url]https://www.ventanawild.org/stewardship[/url].
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