Date Hiked: July 2, 2026
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
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
Pine Ridge Trail from Church Creek Divide to Pine Ridge Camp: Clear. Occasional brush and narrow tread, but very easy to follow. I did not find water at Divide Camp (the nearby creek bed was dry), instead I found water about 300 feet North-East of the Divide Camp access trail junction on the main trail. It’s just a small trickle but 10 feet from the trail it runs over a little ledge and forms the tiniest waterfall where water can be easily collected. Further up the trail, I explored the first couple feet of the Black Cone Trail, which was in significantly worse condition. Fern growing on the trail are thigh high and just within a few hundred feet the trail went from ‘passable’ to ‘difficult’. I turned around and continued on the Pine Ridge trail. Pine Ridge Camp is in good shape with several camp spots, a large fire ring and a toilet. The trail leading to the water source leads Northwest from the main fire ring and is starting to get hidden by manzanita, but otherwise clear. The water use trail continues past the water source, presumably to a couple camp sites with nicer views and more removed from the main camp.
Pine Ridge Trail from Pine Ridge Camp to junction Big Sur Trail/ Pine Ridge Trail: Wilderness Freeway. Great views, and it’s just fun to hike downhill through the different vegetation zones as the elevation decreases.
Pine Ridge Trail
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Paul Fine
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Santa Lucia Fir trees have leaves with very spiky tips. Bark is smooth and organized into furrows. Redwoods have leaves with flexible, soft tips. Redwoods have very fibrous, shreddy bark.
I have seen Santa Lucia Firs on the Pine Ridge Trail within a mile of China Camp.
I have seen Santa Lucia Firs on the Pine Ridge Trail within a mile of China Camp.
hikin_jim wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 10:28 am Question if Jim or anyone else has time to respond: How does one distinguish a Santa Lucia fir from a redwood? I saw some fir like trees (needles growing right out of the branch instead of in clusters as the needles of a pine do) en route from Pine Ridge Camp to Redwood Camp, but I wasn't sure if they were Santa Lucia firs or redwoods. I assume that by the time I got down to Redwood Camp what I was seeing there was all redwoods.
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: March 28, 2026
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
I hiked the trail at the very tail end of March. I'll post something more detailed perhaps this weekend, but I wanted to respond to Jim Ringland's prior post.
I know that the site with the old ice box stove has seen recent use because our group of 8 stayed in that site at Divide Camp on the night of March 28th. It was a great site for us because it's about all I saw that could host 7 tents. There was another group camped in a sort of shaded "nook" more to the SSW (and uphill of us), more over by the water course that goes through the camp area. I assume this is the well used site you were referring to. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how nice Divide Camp was. It's not as nice as the camps near the Big Sur River, but for what it is, a camp much further inland and much drier, it's actually pretty nice, having quite a number of what I believe are Gray Pines (Pinus sabiana).
Question if Jim or anyone else has time to respond: How does one distinguish a Santa Lucia fir from a redwood? I saw some fir like trees (needles growing right out of the branch instead of in clusters as the needles of a pine do) en route from Pine Ridge Camp to Redwood Camp, but I wasn't sure if they were Santa Lucia firs or redwoods. I assume that by the time I got down to Redwood Camp what I was seeing there was all redwoods.
HJ
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
I hiked the trail at the very tail end of March. I'll post something more detailed perhaps this weekend, but I wanted to respond to Jim Ringland's prior post.
I know that the site with the old ice box stove has seen recent use because our group of 8 stayed in that site at Divide Camp on the night of March 28th. It was a great site for us because it's about all I saw that could host 7 tents. There was another group camped in a sort of shaded "nook" more to the SSW (and uphill of us), more over by the water course that goes through the camp area. I assume this is the well used site you were referring to. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how nice Divide Camp was. It's not as nice as the camps near the Big Sur River, but for what it is, a camp much further inland and much drier, it's actually pretty nice, having quite a number of what I believe are Gray Pines (Pinus sabiana).
Question if Jim or anyone else has time to respond: How does one distinguish a Santa Lucia fir from a redwood? I saw some fir like trees (needles growing right out of the branch instead of in clusters as the needles of a pine do) en route from Pine Ridge Camp to Redwood Camp, but I wasn't sure if they were Santa Lucia firs or redwoods. I assume that by the time I got down to Redwood Camp what I was seeing there was all redwoods.
HJ
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Jim Ringland
- Posts: 149
- Joined: Sat May 07, 2011 12:02 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: May 6, 2026
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
I hiked the trail down from China Camp to Redwood and then back up on Sunday, May 3 through Wednesday, May 6, excepting a detour to Pine Valley on the trip in on the 3rd and 4th. So I did all twice, save between the Church Creek Divide junction to the Bear Valley Connector junction, which I only did once.
Section: China Camp to about 3100’ (between Redwood and Pine Ridge): Clear
This part of the trail is in very good shape. Pieces of the trail that look like they were worked during the 2025 dry season are interspersed with ones where the most recent work is just a few years farther back. The tread is generally in good shape. Obstructions are few and far apart. While there is a little new growth beginning to lean in, much from the current rainy season, it’s not a big deal.
Much is Wilderness Freeway quality, but there are enough small issues that I think it’s more appropriate to bounce this down to Clear. A few notes… It gets a little congested right at the top of the first hill west from China Camp, with the floppy new stems of deerbrush (Ceanothus integerrimus) being the biggest player. Mighty flowery on the hillsides beyond: clumps of loud scarlet bugler, sheets of sky lupine, many smaller things dotted about, and even one in-bloom yucca. The footing is a bit loose on the big steep downhill coming into the Church Creek Divide junction (where the PRT meets the Church Creek and Carmel River Trails). I was delighted to see how well the section between that junction and Divide Camp has been worked. When I was last though here four years ago, it was loaded with small deadfalls. Today, that half mile has no issues except the occasional leaning-in branch. Between Divide Camp to the Bear Valley Connector one log obstructs the trail, but you can scrunch around on the high side. There are two trivial step-over logs and one just-slightly-less-easy duck-under between the Connector and the Black Cone Trail junction. Narrow tread remains a few tenths of a mile east of the Black Cone Trail junction where the PRT passes through an area of Santa Lucia firs. I think this has been worked recently though. It’s wider and less canted than I remember from my last visit. Fine, wide, if rocky, trail down to the Pine Ridge Camp junction. Beyond that, a big wide, recently-cleared path leads though the brush. While the occasional lean-in remains, this basically a wide open route was a complete mess just a few years ago. The trail then comes to a more open, rocky exposure where the main hazard is trying not to step on the mats of flowers, mostly Sonoma sage (Salvia sonomensis). Equally easy walking as the trail dips around the north side a big rocky ridge. There’s some fine older stone-work.
Section: about 3100’ (between Redwood and Pine Ridge) to Redwood Camp: Passable
Then the recent trailwork ends. The trail down to the Big Sur Trail junction and then down to Redwood Camp is just a little worse than before. There are still some shrubby things leaning in, but there’s more softer stuff too: more deerweed (Acmispon glaber), more poison oak. Unlike higher up, there’s on-and-off trailbed slumping too. None of this is that bad. I’d put this on the good side of “Passable”. But it all takes a little more work than what I’d associate with a “Clear” trail.
As for camps, Divide Camp has one very nice big site and one older site with the remains of an old icemaker stove. Only the big site appears to have had recent use. I saw remains of an old fire ring at a third site, but there was nothing else there. Water was available about 150 feet SSW from the big site. It’s mostly just oozing over the ground but I found a spot with an accessible trickle where I could fill my bottles. The place is marked by a pink flag. No guarantees for that trickle in the weeks and months ahead, but the stream about a quarter mile west on the PRT was still producing nicely.
Redwood Camp now has six or seven comfortably separated, reasonably large campsites, some on each side of Redwood Creek. It’s been over a decade since I last stayed there, and I certainly don’t remember so much “development”. Lots of water, of course. It can be dark under those redwoods on a dull day.
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General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
I hiked the trail down from China Camp to Redwood and then back up on Sunday, May 3 through Wednesday, May 6, excepting a detour to Pine Valley on the trip in on the 3rd and 4th. So I did all twice, save between the Church Creek Divide junction to the Bear Valley Connector junction, which I only did once.
Section: China Camp to about 3100’ (between Redwood and Pine Ridge): Clear
This part of the trail is in very good shape. Pieces of the trail that look like they were worked during the 2025 dry season are interspersed with ones where the most recent work is just a few years farther back. The tread is generally in good shape. Obstructions are few and far apart. While there is a little new growth beginning to lean in, much from the current rainy season, it’s not a big deal.
Much is Wilderness Freeway quality, but there are enough small issues that I think it’s more appropriate to bounce this down to Clear. A few notes… It gets a little congested right at the top of the first hill west from China Camp, with the floppy new stems of deerbrush (Ceanothus integerrimus) being the biggest player. Mighty flowery on the hillsides beyond: clumps of loud scarlet bugler, sheets of sky lupine, many smaller things dotted about, and even one in-bloom yucca. The footing is a bit loose on the big steep downhill coming into the Church Creek Divide junction (where the PRT meets the Church Creek and Carmel River Trails). I was delighted to see how well the section between that junction and Divide Camp has been worked. When I was last though here four years ago, it was loaded with small deadfalls. Today, that half mile has no issues except the occasional leaning-in branch. Between Divide Camp to the Bear Valley Connector one log obstructs the trail, but you can scrunch around on the high side. There are two trivial step-over logs and one just-slightly-less-easy duck-under between the Connector and the Black Cone Trail junction. Narrow tread remains a few tenths of a mile east of the Black Cone Trail junction where the PRT passes through an area of Santa Lucia firs. I think this has been worked recently though. It’s wider and less canted than I remember from my last visit. Fine, wide, if rocky, trail down to the Pine Ridge Camp junction. Beyond that, a big wide, recently-cleared path leads though the brush. While the occasional lean-in remains, this basically a wide open route was a complete mess just a few years ago. The trail then comes to a more open, rocky exposure where the main hazard is trying not to step on the mats of flowers, mostly Sonoma sage (Salvia sonomensis). Equally easy walking as the trail dips around the north side a big rocky ridge. There’s some fine older stone-work.
Section: about 3100’ (between Redwood and Pine Ridge) to Redwood Camp: Passable
Then the recent trailwork ends. The trail down to the Big Sur Trail junction and then down to Redwood Camp is just a little worse than before. There are still some shrubby things leaning in, but there’s more softer stuff too: more deerweed (Acmispon glaber), more poison oak. Unlike higher up, there’s on-and-off trailbed slumping too. None of this is that bad. I’d put this on the good side of “Passable”. But it all takes a little more work than what I’d associate with a “Clear” trail.
As for camps, Divide Camp has one very nice big site and one older site with the remains of an old icemaker stove. Only the big site appears to have had recent use. I saw remains of an old fire ring at a third site, but there was nothing else there. Water was available about 150 feet SSW from the big site. It’s mostly just oozing over the ground but I found a spot with an accessible trickle where I could fill my bottles. The place is marked by a pink flag. No guarantees for that trickle in the weeks and months ahead, but the stream about a quarter mile west on the PRT was still producing nicely.
Redwood Camp now has six or seven comfortably separated, reasonably large campsites, some on each side of Redwood Creek. It’s been over a decade since I last stayed there, and I certainly don’t remember so much “development”. Lots of water, of course. It can be dark under those redwoods on a dull day.
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ry_andresen
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2026 6:58 pm
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: April 1, 2026
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
Hiked this east from Terrace Creek to the Big Sur Trail junction on April 1-2, 2026. The trail was heavily used, in good shape, easy to follow, and full of newts. Water crossings at both Barlow and Sykes were no more than shin deep and did not appear to rise after the rain we had overnight. (Picture is the second Barlow crossing.)
Sykes camp was busy on a rainy Wednesday but clean. The Pine Ridge Trail becomes closer to passable near Redwood camp (a few shrubs and fallen trees) but really it's all in great shape, as was the Big Sur Trail. No mosquitoes and few ticks.
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
Hiked this east from Terrace Creek to the Big Sur Trail junction on April 1-2, 2026. The trail was heavily used, in good shape, easy to follow, and full of newts. Water crossings at both Barlow and Sykes were no more than shin deep and did not appear to rise after the rain we had overnight. (Picture is the second Barlow crossing.)
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Bradley
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: January 24, 2026
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
China Camp to Big Sur Station.
Beautiful hike. Lots of water access.
5 significant tree falls between Redwood and Sykes.
Two falls on the Barlow Flat bypass.
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
China Camp to Big Sur Station.
Beautiful hike. Lots of water access.
5 significant tree falls between Redwood and Sykes.
Two falls on the Barlow Flat bypass.
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: January 11, 2026
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
Trail remains in great shape from China Camp to Pine Ridge Camp with long stretches of wilderness freeway. Water is availble near Divide Camp and Carmel River headwaters. The spring at Pine Ridge Camp is essentially a creek. Some very minor brush in a few spots and a couple step-over blow downs from the recent storms.
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
Trail remains in great shape from China Camp to Pine Ridge Camp with long stretches of wilderness freeway. Water is availble near Divide Camp and Carmel River headwaters. The spring at Pine Ridge Camp is essentially a creek. Some very minor brush in a few spots and a couple step-over blow downs from the recent storms.
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: December 29, 2025
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
Section: China Camp to Church Creek Divide
For the most part, I'd rate this as a clear+/wilderness freeway-. Tread is in great shape. Some tall brush in the first 1/2 mile that you might brush against and one or two small downed trees that you can easily step over or duck under. Never had to use my hands. Thank you to the VWA for keeping this vital section of trail in great shape.
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
Section: China Camp to Church Creek Divide
For the most part, I'd rate this as a clear+/wilderness freeway-. Tread is in great shape. Some tall brush in the first 1/2 mile that you might brush against and one or two small downed trees that you can easily step over or duck under. Never had to use my hands. Thank you to the VWA for keeping this vital section of trail in great shape.
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: December 14, 2025
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
The section of the Pine Ridge Trail between the Big Sur Trail junction and Pine Ridge Camp is currently labeled "Passable" in the Big Sur Trailmap, but should be labeled "Clear." My son and I did an out-and-back from Big Sur Station to the ridgetop on 12/14 and the trail is in great shape. There's some occasional brush which you'll rub against but there's probably more of that between Sykes and the Big Sur Trail junction, a section that is (correctly) labeled "Clear." The only real obstacles when climbing above the Big Sur Trail are gravity and the sun (at least when hiking on a glorious, clear, and unseasonably warm day like we did).
There is a bushy blowdown immediately west of Rainbow Camp that has apparently been there long enough for a use trail to develop around it. Other than that, it's over 15 miles of clear trail between Big Sur Station and the top of the ridge, which is remarkable.
Between Big Sur Station and Sykes, the trail is a Wilderness Freeway as recently noted.
At the moment, there's plenty of water in the creeks and you'll probably get wet crossing the river at Barlow Flat.
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
The section of the Pine Ridge Trail between the Big Sur Trail junction and Pine Ridge Camp is currently labeled "Passable" in the Big Sur Trailmap, but should be labeled "Clear." My son and I did an out-and-back from Big Sur Station to the ridgetop on 12/14 and the trail is in great shape. There's some occasional brush which you'll rub against but there's probably more of that between Sykes and the Big Sur Trail junction, a section that is (correctly) labeled "Clear." The only real obstacles when climbing above the Big Sur Trail are gravity and the sun (at least when hiking on a glorious, clear, and unseasonably warm day like we did).
There is a bushy blowdown immediately west of Rainbow Camp that has apparently been there long enough for a use trail to develop around it. Other than that, it's over 15 miles of clear trail between Big Sur Station and the top of the ridge, which is remarkable.
Between Big Sur Station and Sykes, the trail is a Wilderness Freeway as recently noted.
At the moment, there's plenty of water in the creeks and you'll probably get wet crossing the river at Barlow Flat.
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Guest
Re: Pine Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: November 15, 2025
General Condition: Wilderness Freeway (Heavily used and/or well maintained)
Took PRT from Big Sur Station to Terrace Creek. After a big storm on 11/13, there was one rock slide that was easily passable and one step down on wet rock that proved slippery but otherwise great condition.
General Condition: Wilderness Freeway (Heavily used and/or well maintained)
Took PRT from Big Sur Station to Terrace Creek. After a big storm on 11/13, there was one rock slide that was easily passable and one step down on wet rock that proved slippery but otherwise great condition.
