[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].
[/size]

[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].
[/size]

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] June 10, 2020
[b]General Condition:[/b] Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)

Hiked from arroyo seco to willow spring camp. The trail from arroyo seco to tassajara creek camp is awesome. Well defined tread, and all poison oak is avoidable. From tassajara camp to willow spring the oak gets thicker and in some parts is virtually unavoidable. This is why I rated it difficult. I wish I had brought my loppers to clear some of it, but I didn’t expect it to be so bad. If you are going to do this trail, cover your legs at least to minimize oak exposure. And the biting flies are out in full force, especially near the water. The trail just Needs a little clearing and it’d be excellent. But the tread was evident all the way to willow spring camp.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] June 7, 2020
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Started at Arroyo Seco and hike marble peak to just before Shovel Handle Camp. The first bit of the trail up to Tassara Creek Camp is pretty clear. After that, you're in for LOTS of poison oak. It starts at your ankles and knees as you get past Tassajara camp, and by the time you get to Willow Spring Camp it's up to your head in some spots... Definitely recommend long pants/long sleeve shirt, and soap to clean up with. Willow Creek is still flowing strong as of today. I cleared a couple of tricky spots along the trail up to that point. I also cleared some some dense Manzanita and Cypress bushes after Willow Creek. From 36.20469, -121.57132 to 36.20576, -121.56639 is totally clear.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] May 20, 2020
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Came over from Tassajara on the Tony Trail, hiking west to the Lost Valley trailhead. Tread apparent throughout the hike. In the Willow Creek watershed there's a heavy load of poison oak, almost unavoidable. Heading up, things clear up. A few deadfalls from Willow Creek to Strawberry Valley, but all manageable. Some encroaching oak and plenty of water at Shovel Handle and Camp Creek. Tan Oak Creek was full, too, and beautiful. Really nice trail work to Indian Valley.

[b]Date Hiked:[/b] April 3, 2020
[b]General Condition:[/b] Wilderness Freeway (Heavily used and well maintained)

Hiked Marble peak between north coast ridge road and Indian valley camp. Trail is in extraordinary condition, total freeway with minimal poison oak and no deadfalls. Poison oak will likely be worse in a few months as certain sections have encroaching oak with tiny buds that will bloom and be worse, but currently the trail is amazing. thanks to the volunteers for this excellent work.