Date Hiked: July 3, 2026
General Condition: Wilderness Freeway (Heavily used and/or well maintained)

I hiked here as part of a loop in the Ventana wilderness, connecting the Big Sur River and Carmel River watersheds. Lime Point (parking) – Church Creek Trail – Pine Ridge Trail – Big Sur Trail – South Fork Trail – Marble Peak Trail – Tony Trail – Tassajara Road – Church Creek Trail – Lime Point

Big Sur Trail from Pine Ridge junction to Rainbow Camp: Wilderness Freeway. Cienega Camp in good shape. The section downhill from the saddle to Rainbow Camp had more growth and branches and shrubs encroaching on the trail, so maybe that section could be rated ‘Clear’. But overall, the trail is in good shape, and it’s evident that many people hike it. Rainbow Camp in good shape.

Date Hiked: April 3, 2026
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

We hiked the Big Sur trail south on April 2-3, 2026 from Redwood camp to Cold Spring, camping at Rainbow camp. The trail is a good passable. There are some downed trees (all easy to navigate) and poison oak growing into the trail. The entire trail was easy to navigate. There is some ducking/crawling on the slope up from Mocho camp to Cold Spring from ceanothus overgrowth. Few ticks and no mosquitoes.

Date Hiked: March 27, 2026
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

I hiked the entirety of the trail from north to south. Brush frequently obstructed the trail. Hikers under six feet will find it easier to deal with this overgrowth, but even they will need to slog through a lot of this growth. There also a few downed trees on the trail. That said, you won't be engaging in anything close to constant bushwhacking, and the trail is usually easy to follow.

Poison oak was common on the trail.

Water was common, too.

I encountered a couple of rattlesnakes.

I seem to have no tick bites, and I encountered almost no mosquitoes. Gnats, though, were often a nuisance, flying right in front of my face. (They don't seem to be deterred by picaridin.)

Date Hiked: October 10, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

This report is for Redwood camp to Rainbow Camp only. The worst poison oak is on the downhill section going down to Cienega camp. Trail is pretty good from Cienega to Rainbow, but could use some minor brushing work. I agree with other reports that this trail is better than South Fork Trail. If South Fork Trail is a 6, and Pine Ridge is a 9, this trail would be a 7.

Date Hiked: June 1, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

My son and I hiked the Boronda/Coast Ridge/Marble Peak/South Fork/Big Sur trails on 6/1/25. I'm writing updates on Marble Peak, S. Fork, and Big Sur. We hiked these trails in a counter-clockwise loop. Flies were a constant nuisance; generally OK when moving, but headnets were nice to have when stopped for an extended time. Poison oak was horrific, mainly on S. Fork and to a lesser extent Big Sur. Aside from those nuisances, it was a fabulous day!

The Big Sur Trail is a mix of passable and clear between Rainbow Camp and Cold Springs. My memory is a bit foggy but it was mostly clear up to Cisco Creek, plenty of poison oak but dodgeable, then clear for the first part of the "Devil's Staircase," then it was still very passable but a bit overgrown and some unavoidable poison oak. I think the current rating of "PASSABLE" is apt. The work that's been done clearing out the shrub tunnels above Cisco Creek is very impressive. Between the Staircase and Cold Springs the trail is in great shape.

Date Hiked: March 6, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Some brush here and there, but very few real obstacles; only one tree fallen that seriously obstructs the path right south of Mocho Camp

Date Hiked: May 16, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

I hiked the full length of Big Sur Trail from Redwood Camp to the North Coast Ridge Road. Some overgrown sections, but definitely passable. Trail work is notable - thanks to those who did the hard work. Lots and lots of ticks - gaiters are a must!

Date Hiked: April 24, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Section: Cold Spring to Rainbow

The section from Cold Spring down to Logwood Creek and up along Logwood Ridge is Clear. Once heading down the Devil’s Staircase toward Cisco Creek, there’s a little more shrub encroachment (mostly Ceanothus), a bit more poison oak to be pushed aside, and a little more canted trail to navigate. This continues on-and-off all the way to Rainbow. All the obstacles are little ones, but they do just keep coming. While this is on the easy side of Passable, “some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident” seems a more realistic overall summary than “no obstacles and tread well defined.”

I stayed at the old original Cold Spring campsite on the 23rd. The site at the end of road was occupied. The original site is still just a niche at the side of the road across from the water tank, but it has a grate, a sort-of-table/sort-of-seat (really an old water/feed trough turned upside down), and a couple of reasonably flat bedsites (although one must remove some small rocks to make them work). Twenty-foot madrones now grow at the periphery of the site, so it is not as stark as it has been in the past. If we can just avoid burning the forest down again for a few years, it will be a wooded site. The hillside past the tank is getting nicely wooded too, so the views are good. A few respectable views to the ocean too. No one would accuse Cold Spring’s great big green tank as being a representative of wilderness, but it does have water. There’s a tap by the horse trough, along the road a few tens of feet west of the tank. (The other party was not aware of that and ended up chasing down to Logwood Creek for water.)

Mocho camp is well marked, but not well used. People seem to be staying at the use camps a few hundred feet along the trail toward Rainbow. While this area was in the footprint of the 2016 fire, there are big trees about and fire damage is not real apparent.

Rainbow remains a pretty camp under a canopy of large trees. The old table is now just a table top sitting on the ground. The old/historic wooden signs are (mostly) intact. Rainbow too was in the general footprint of the 2016 fire, but either fire didn't come through camp or what there was was very, very light.

Date Hiked: March 25, 2025
General Condition: Wilderness Freeway (Heavily used and/or well maintained)

Big sur trail is in excellent condition. Same goes for the south fork trail. Ticks are out en masse in and around mocho camp till south fork camp in areas where vegetation hangs into the trail. Stopping every 5-10 mins revealed 2-3 new ticks. PO is starting to sprout but may still be difficult to spot for the next few weeks. The whole south fork area is amazing right now and with a couple of seasons of above average rainfall including the most recent, seasonal creeks and streams are flowing strong while the post fire recovery has been incredible.

Date Hiked: January 18, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Did an out and back on this trail between Pine Ridge Trail and the south fork of the big Sur River.

The good news is that it's in better shape than it was this time last year.
The bad news is that it still needs Basic maintenance to get it out of the yellow and into the green.

This would include mostly brushing to remove encrouching vegetation.

However some tree removal could be done where the trail crosses the North Fork of the big Sur river.

I was able to clear a lot of the small trees that were down on the trail in a few locations.

Video of the trail in the segments that need brushing is linked right here[youtube]https://youtu.be/pn543JIsYHY[/youtube]